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daboy · 12-16-2003, 11:23 PM

What do ya think about Cleveland St. being a sleeper team out of the Horizon? The way I look at it, UIC is the team to beat, but outside of them it's wide open. Butler is down this year, UW-Milwaukee lost all-everything Clay Tucker, Detroit looks like another sleeper, but Cleveland St has had sucess with them even when they had lil' Iverson (Rashad?? can't think of his last name). Anyways, I think CSU might be a surprise team this year. One they have senior leadership in Jermaine Robinson from Simon Gratz in Philly who is averaging 20 a game. They also have JUCO all-american Omari Westley from the city (Cleveland that is) who was offered by Cincy and Maryland out of high school but didn't have the grades (he was supposed to be a package deal with his cuz..Jawad Williams at UNC). Not only that they also have Patrick Tatham, Canada's POY from last year and Walt Walters who originally commited to Pitt last year, but went to CSU when Howland went to UCLA (he was also Hoopscoop 52nd rated prospect) They will make some noise this year in the horizon, what ya'll think? I think they have a shot come horizon tourny time. Their only 2 losses are to UNC by 6 (J. Will's homecoming game) and at Penn St. by 10 where they were down 33-7 off jump street but fought back.

**HKF** · 12-16-2003, 11:36 PM

They definitely have a shot, no question because Garland will preach defense and rebounding. However I think UIC will win the league and unless someone can beat them in the conference tournament it looks like a one bid year for the Horizon.

**xubrew** · 12-16-2003, 11:45 PM

cleveland state is obviously off to a good start. as far as how they will do in terms of making the ncaa tournament, it is a shame that they could not pull off the upset against north carolina because one of the major categories is quality wins. beating north carolina would have certainly been a quality win. they followed it up with a loss at penn state, which may have been in large part due to the hangover, but if you want to make the ncaa tournament, you have to be able to win games like that on the road.

right now, the horizon is not off to the start that i thought it would be. detroit is the only team in the rpi top 100. i know it is early and that can certainly change if a lot of your ooc opponents do well in conference, but it is getting to the point to where you only have 3 or 4 more games until conference play begins and i don't think that florida a&m or penn state are going to do a whole lot. the other 2 wins you guys had against div ii teams do not count. unfortunately, it doesn't look like they are going to get a whole lot of shots at beating some really big teams and get themselves in position for an at large bid. this would mean they would need to win the conference tourney in order to get an invite (which i guess they could certainly do)

as far as how they will do in the conference, it appears that they play very well at home. they took north carolina to the wire and that is the only home game they have lost. detroit is certainly good and had it not been for such a poor shooting night they may have knocked off duke. i think wisconsin milwaukee is better than their record simply because they have played some really tough teams. southern illinois is good. wisconsin, of course, is good (although they were beaten like a drum) and they really had a chance to win that game at nc state and probably should have. butler is down as you have pointed out. they have lost to some decent teams, but they really did not appear to be impressive in losing to indiana and ball state.

based on the one game i've seen against north carolina, i think they could definitely be a force in the conference. however, they need to play with that kind of intensity and consistency and not have any letdowns.

**xubrew** · 12-16-2003, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by <b>GQStar10</b>!
They definitely have a shot, no question because Garland will preach defense and rebounding. However I think UIC will win the league and unless someone can beat them in the conference tournament it looks like a one bid year for the Horizon.

i don't know why i keep thinking uic is in the mvc??

i forgot about them. they have only lost two games and will be a force in the conference as well.

daboy · 12-17-2003, 12:46 PM

I know they don't have any shot at an at-large bid losing to UNC. They still have a couple tough non-conference games against Kent (tonight) and Akron on Dec. 21. They always have trouble against Kent, so I guess we'll see how for real they are tonight.

**HKF** · 12-17-2003, 05:28 PM

Tonight's Cleveland State game is exactly why I think it is a good idea to temper your enthusiasm.

The Vikings were outscored 61-31 in the first half and are trailing 72-36 right now to the Flashes.

Ugly.

daboy · 12-20-2003, 10:54 PM

I may have spoke to soon about CSU....but I will add this.

1. They always struggle to Kent.
2. Like another Cleveland basketball team, they struggle on the road.
3. I was at the Kent game, they gave up after they were down by 20 halfway through the first half. Kent is definetly the better team, but you got to be crazy to think they are 50 points better.

CSU could've redeemed themselves tonight at home against Akron (a better team then Kent), but like the UNC game, they blew a late lead. CSU was up 6 with 3 minutes left, but found a way to lose.

I still feel Mike Garland will be a good coach and this team has a bright future. They are playing 3 freshman quality minutes. Plus Westley will be back next year.

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