The Weekend That Was

So we're finished with conference play...for now. Three teams are 2-0, three teams are 0-2. Let's take a look at the 2-0 teams and how they managed to make it through the first weekend of league play unscathed.

It's snowing outside and the Pack plays tonight so we'll start with Green Bay. The Phoenix dismantled Loyola, 90-69, and then cruised past UIC, 85-59. That's two wins by a combined 47 points. Not bad for a team that didn't win a league game by 20+ all of last year. They showed this weekend that they're going to be a handful to beat at the Resch all year.

How are they doing it?

A three-headed monster of Rahmon Fletcher, Troy Cotton and...and...Bryquis Perine? Coming in to the year, everybody was asking who was going to be the third scorer for the Phoenix. Most people had Cordero Barkley pegged as "the guy". Nope. It's been Agent Zero for the Phoenix. Perine, a junior from Milwaukee, is tied for the league lead in assists and is shooting 48% from the field and 55% from the 3-point line. 55%! He's already made more threes than he did all of last year in 300 fewer minutes played. He worked the two Chicago schools this weekend to the tune of 66% shooting and a 14:2 assist to turnover ratio.

In getting caught up in Perine's great start let's not overlook Rahmon Fletcher, who went for 53 points (26.5 per) in his first two league contests. Fletcher played marvelously in the first half against Loyola, getting the Phoenix a good win over a suddenly tough Rambler team. He shoots tremendously well from the field for a point guard, especially for one his size (5-10). He'll need to limit his turnovers to keep the Phoenix rolling through a tough couple of games in the next week against Wisconsin and at Oakland.

Detroit is the next team sitting atop the league standings at 2-0. The Titans disposed of Youngstown State and Cleveland State on what I'm calling their 2009-10 Horizon League Revenge Tour. They now have as many wins in conference as they did all of last year. Maybe the most impressive part of Detroit's weekend was the fact that they did it without Eli Holman. Holman, who leads the league in FG shooting at 59% and rebounding at 10.3 pg, is stuck in day-to-day purgatory with a knee ailment.

How are they doing it?

Xavier Keeling is managing to stay on the floor and is staying involved offensively. While he can seemingly float in and out of games at times, Keeling is still one of the most physically gifted players in the Horizon League and it showed on Saturday. "X" went for 24 points on only 10 shot attempts, including 4-6 from 3-point territory. As long as he doesn't fall in love with the three, Keeling will give a lot of Horizon League teams fits this season.

I was disappointed when I found out that Woody Payne wouldn't be starting the exhibition game Damon and I went to in late October. I was pained (no pun intended) to see Lamar Lee's point guard play against Cal in Detroit's season opener. It was easy to see that the young Titans needed a veteran presence on the floor. Enter Woody Payne. In games where Payne has played 20+ minutes the Titans are 5-0. When Payne plays less than 20 minutes UDM is 1-2. (The win being a blowout against Alcorn State).

Our last 2-0 team is the Wright State Raiders. They bounced back from the Northeastern Nightmare with two wins against their in-state, in-league ‘rivals'. WSU is currently the only HL school, besides Butler, to reside in the RPI top 100. Coach Brownell has a nice, experienced 8-man rotation working well together.

How are they doing it?

They can shoot. Despite Green Bay's gaudy point totals this weekend, Wright State leads the league in almost every important shooting statistic. Most shooting metrics are kind to you when you get the the free throw line and knock them down. That is what Wright State does very well. They shot 39 free throws against CSU then went to the line 29 more times against YSU. They shoot free throws at a 75% clip, which is tops in the league.

Troy Tabler blew up for 24 against the Penguins on Sunday. How unlikely was this kind of scoring outburst from Tabler? His previous career high was 16, which he had accomplished 5 times. Tabler also went 10-10 from the free throw line. His previous career high for free throw attempts in a game? Six. These are big spikes in production for a guy that has seen almost 1,000 minutes of college basketball playing time. It's Troy's world, we're all just living in it.

The only other undefeated team is Butler who took care of Valpo at home on Saturday.

Overall, it was an entertaining first weekend of conference play. The Horizon League sits at 14th in the Pomeroy rankings, which is a little down from the 11th place finish last year. All ten teams now go back out of conference and continue to make adjustments in preparation for the real conference play to begin on the 19th of December.