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The Horizon League has best been known as the conference that the Butler Bulldogs play in after making nine NCAA tournament appearances in the past 14 seasons. The Bulldogs will be going for their fifth straight 20 win season upcoming and were one of four Horizon League teams to win 20 or more games last season t include Green Bay, Cleveland State, and Wright State.

2008-09 Horizon League Results:

Butler                    15-3     26-6
Green Bay               13-5    22-11
Cleveland State       12-6     26-11
Wright State           12-6     20-13
Milwaukee               11-7    17-14
Illinois-Chicago         7-11    16-15
Youngstown State    7-11    11-19
Loyola                    6-12    14-18
Valparaiso               5-13     9-22
Detroit                   2-16     7-23

#1 Horizon League Team- Butler Bulldogs

The Butler Bulldogs return all five starters from last season’s squad that went 26-6 and won the Horizon League for a third straight year. Coach Brad Stevens has plused the Bulldogs schedule up to ensure they are as competitive as possible when its time for the NCAA selection committee to pick and seed tournament teams in the spring with teams such as Georgetown, Ohio State, UAB, Xavier, and Davidson on the schedule this season. Matt Howard is the lead returning scorer from last season’s squad having averaged 14.8 ppg and 6.8 rpg last season. Gordon Hayward was the second leading point producer with chipping in 13.1 ppg last year. Look for the Bulldogs to win the Horizon League again this eason and to make it back to the NCAA tournament.

#2 Horizon League Team- Wright State

Wright State goes for their fourth consecutive 20 win season this year. They missed Vaughn Douglas who only played four games last year after being an All-Horizon League choice during his sophomore season the previous year. They will have one of the most experienced squads in the league this season with four of the probably starters being seniors.

#3 Horizon League Team- Milwauke

Milwauke has three starters back and is looking to improve upon their 17 win season from last year. Senior Tone Boyle is the lead returning scorer this season with James Eayrs also chipping in pionts at a 15.6 ppg clip over the last portion of the season. If the team gets Ricky Franklin back as a fifth year senior to run the point, they will be competitive for trying to take first place in the Horizon League away from Butler.

#4 Horizon League Team- Cleveland State

Cleveland State won 26 games last season and had two great seniors in Cedric Jackson and J’Nathan Bullock. They not only won the Horizon Tournament, but had a great showing in the NCAA tournament last year. JC guard Lance James will be eligible this year to take over some of the void left by the departed starters.

#5 Horizon League Team- Green Bay

Green Bay lost Mike Schachtner, Terry Evans, and Ryan Tillema from last seaon’s team. All three players scored more than 1,000 lifetime points and were difference makers on the team. Green Bay is led by their returning backcourt of Rahmon Fletcher and Troy Cotton who will also have Randy Berry back in the post position to feed the ball to. Troy Snyder is the top rated Green Bay recruit who could be on the starting roster by the beginning of the regular season.

#6 Horizon League Team- Valparaiso

Valparaiso had only their second losing season since 1993 last year. They have a deep recruiting class along with 7 footer Beas Hamga who transferred from UNLV and wil be eligible to play in December. Brandon McPherson will also be back after going down with a season ending knee injury last January.

#7 Horizon League Team- Youngstown State

Youngstown State will be trying to crack the .500 barrier this season. Coach Jerry Slocum has his top four scorers back from last year. If the team defense can be something better than last in the league, they should have a shot to reach .500 this season.

#8 Horizon League Team- Illinois-Chicago

Senior point guard Spencer Stewart is back to lead the offense who will be missing Josh Mayo and Scott VanderMeer from last season.

#9 Horizon League Team- Loyola

Loyola is down three starters from last season’s squad who posted their second losing season in a row. Senior Andy Polka will be back after missing 21 of the final 22 games last season.

#10 Horizon League Team- Detroit

Detroit never made it to double digits for wins last year. They SHOULD exceed 10 victories, but maybe not by much this year.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 11:02 pm and is filed under Horizon League, NCAA Basketball Rankings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.