Plenty on the Line in Final Weekend of Horizon League Men's Hoops

Feb. 24, 2005

The final weekend of the 2004-05 Horizon League men's basketball regular season promises to be the most exciting ever as six of the nine seeds are still up for grabs with only four games to play. Entering the weekend, all four games can impact the third through eighth seeds in the League championship, and several teams can end up as one of three different seeds. The two key battles are for third place, which includes a first-round tournament bye, and for sixth, which guarantees a first-round home game.


Wednesday's four games clarified a few things but did not finalize any additional seeds from the three that were set at the start of the week. The only confirmed seeds remain regular-season champion UW-Milwaukee (21-5, 13-2) as the No. 1 seed, runner-up UW-Green Bay (17-9, 10-5) as the No. 2 seed and Youngstown State (5-21, 2-13) as the No. 9 seed. Both the Panthers and Phoenix have clinched byes to the tournament semifinals.


Detroit (11-15, 8-7) and UIC (14-12, 8-7) are tied for third place entering the weekend but the Titans own the tiebreaker and can clinch the first-round bye with a victory Saturday at home over Youngstown State (4:05 p.m. ET). The Flames can guarantee themselves the fourth seed with a win Saturday at Butler (noon ET) and could earn the third seed with a victory and a Detroit loss. The Titans also could lose to Youngstown State and still clinch the third seed if UIC loses because Detroit wins every 8-8 tiebreaker. Both Detroit and UIC clinched at least a first-round home game with their wins Wednesday over UW-Green Bay and Wright State, respectively.


Loyola (11-16, 8-8), too, guaranteed itself a first-round home game with its win Wednesday at Cleveland State. With their regular-season already completed, the fifth-place Ramblers can not move up to the third seed but could be fourth if UIC loses at Butler. They would earn the tiebreaker based on a better record against second-place UW-Green Bay.


Wright State (13-14, 7-8) can clinch the final first-round home game with a victory at home Sunday over UW-Green Bay (2 p.m. ET) in the League's regular-season finale. Even with a win, however, the Raiders would lose all the 8-8 tiebreakers and could be seeded no higher than sixth.


Cleveland State (9-15, 6-9) could overtake Wright State for the sixth spot with a win Saturday at home over UW-Milwaukee (5:30 p.m.) and a Raiders loss Sunday to UW-Green Bay, based on that Vikings' win over the top-seeded Panthers. The Vikings also could fall to the eighth seed if they lose to UWM and Butler (12-14, 6-9) beats UIC earlier Saturday. If Cleveland State loses to Milwaukee, then Sunday's game would not impact the tournament seeding. Butler can finish no higher than the seventh seed due to losing tiebreakers to both Cleveland State and Wright State individually and as a group.


The 2005 American Family Insurance Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship will begin with first-round games on the campuses of the fourth through sixth seeds Tuesday, March 1. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be hosted by regular-season champion UW-Milwaukee and played Friday and Saturday, March 4-5, at U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee. The championship game will be held Tuesday, March 8, at the site of the higher remaining seed and will be televised live on ESPN at 9:05 p.m. ET (8:05 p.m. CT) as part of "Championship Week."

Tracking the Bracket