Horizon

2008 CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major All-Americans

CHN — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:12:32 -0700

CollegeHoops.net Mid-Major Player of the Year: Stephen Curry (Davidson)

CollegeHoops.net First Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: Mike Green (Butler)
G: Courtney Lee (WKU)
F AZ Reid (High Point)
F: Jason Thompson (Rider)

CollegeHoops.net Second Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Lester Hudson (UT- Martin)
G: Patty Mills (Saint Mary’s)
G: George Hill (IUPUI)
F: Reggie Williams (VMI)
F: Gyno Pomare (San Diego)

CollegeHoops.net Third Team Mid-Major All-American
G: Al Fisher (Kent State)
G: Bo McCalebb (New Orleans)
F: Charron Fisher (Niagara)
F: Kyle Hines (UNCG)
F: Ryan Wittman (Cornell)

CollegeHoops.net FourthTeam Mid-Major All-American
G: Alex Harris (UCSB)
G: AJ Graves (Butler)
G: Demetric Bennett (South Alabama)
F: Tim Pollitz (Miami)
F: Thomas Sanders (Gardner Webb)

Mid-Major Honorable Mention:
Josh Alexander (Stephen F Austin), Marqus Blakely (Vermont), John Bryant (Santa Clara), J’Nathan Bullock (Cleveland State), Scott Cutley (Fullerton), Jeremiah Dominguez (Portland State), Justin Hare (Belmont), Brandon Johnson (San Diego), Dior Lowhorn (San Francisco), Jason Richards (Davidson), Jonathan Rodriguez (Campbell), Greg Sprink (Navy)

The CollegeHoops.net All-American teams are voted on by staff writers. Up tomorrow are our All-Rookie teams.

CHN 2007-08 Postseason Awards

All-Americans, All-Rookie, Top Coaches & more!

Horizon League Finals: No Upset Here, Butler Wins

Bill Kintner — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:58:09 -0700

INDIANAPOLIS – This group of Butler seniors have been ranked since the third week of this season, were ranked most of last year, won last year’s Pre-season NIT, won this year’s Great Alaskan Shootout, knocked off Ohio State, Maryland, Purdue, Tennessee, Michigan, Texas Tech, Gonzaga, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Florida State over the last two years, but they never have cut down the nets in the Horizon League Championship.

They can now cross that off of their to-do list since they beat Cleveland State tonight in the Horizon League Championship on their home court 70-55.

Early in the first half it looked like a Butler beat-down of Cleveland State as Drew Streicher hit two 3-pointers and Mike Green, Pete Campbell and A. J. Graves all hit 3-pointers to go up 20-6 at the 13:24 mark.

But Cleveland State (21-12) regained their composure and fought back behind J’Nathan Bullock’s nine points to tie it at 34-34 on two free throws by Cedric Jackson with 1:50 remaining in the half.

Two free throws by Green and another two by Graves sent Butler (29-3) into the locker room up 38-34.

In the second half the Bulldogs came out firing as Green and Streicher both hit 3-pointers to put Butler up 43-36. But a 3-pointer by Bullock and a layup by D’Audray Brown got the Vikings within two points at 43-41.

That is when Butler put the lockdown on Cleveland State, for just about the next 10 minutes Cleveland State was held to just three points as Butler scored 17 points to go up 60-44.

According to Cleveland State coach Gary Waters that was the difference in the game.

“They clamped down a little harder defensively and I thought they did a better job on us in the second half,” said Waters. “For about 10 minutes we had a hard time scoring. I thought that was the difference in the game.”

Butler coach Brad Stevens thought it was some adjustments they made in the second half and rebounding that allowed his team to open up the game in the second half.

“I thought our guys adjusted and did a better job on the glass. I thought the first two processions of the second half when we turned them over set a tone for the rest of the game,” explained Stevens.

From that point on Butler held a double digit lead until the end.

“It is something we talked about from the beginning of the year we were setting our goals. None of us had ever cut down the nets in March, “said a relieved Streicher. “Fortunately we were able to play here at Hinkle. To cut them down here was very special. I think it is something we are going to treasure forever.”

Green led all scorers with 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds too. Bullock led the Vikings with 21 points.

Notes:

-Butler has been nationally ranked (Top 25) for 33 weeks since November 27, 2006.

-Butler set a new Horizon League record for the best two-year total with 57 victories since the start of last year.

-This is Cleveland State’s first ever appearance in the Horizon League Finals.

-As strange as this may seem this is the first time Cleveland State and Butler have met in the Horizon League Tournament.

-Former Wright State coach Ed Schilling was in attendance sitting next to his father former Butler player and Hall of Famer Big Ed Schilling.

-Cleveland State had maybe 50 enthusiastic fans in attendance which would be the most fans the Vikings have produced at a league tournament road game since they joined the Horizon League in 1994.

-This is Butler’s first Horizon League Championship they have won on their home court.

-At the end of the game about 40 Butler students from the Dawg Pound ran on to the court for the obligatory celebration on ESPN, the other few hundred of the Dawg Pound Students stayed in their bleachers at the end of the court and cheered like this was just another win. The Dawg Pound had just a few hundred students tonight instead of the usual thousand or so they usually have. Their numbers are a little low since it is Spring Break on campus.

-Brad Stevens had a little piece of the net in his pocket during the game tonight from 2001, Butler’s last Horizon League Championship.

-This is Butler 5th championship since 1997, second only to Xavier’s six championships.

-The all-tournament team:

Mike Green -MVP - Butler
Matt Howard - Butler
J’Nathan Bullock - Cleveland State
Drew Streicher - Butler
Jarryd Lloyd - Valpo

Horizon League Semis: Clevelend State Advances

Bill Kintner — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:26:11 -0700

INDIANAPOLIS – When Valparaiso beat Wright State yesterday for the third time this year, three was the magic number. Tonight three was the magic number for Cleveland State as they beat Valpo for the third time this season 78-73 to advance to the Horizon League Championship game.

Cleveland State started the game on fire going up 10-2 at the 17:09 mark. At that point Valpo (21-13) looked like a team was playing for the second time in 24 hours. Their shots were falling a little short and they seemed to be a step behind the Cleveland State players.

The Vikings’ lead was up to 18 points when J’Nathan Bullock popped in a 3-pointer with 6:38 left in the half.

Cleveland State (21-11) was led by Cedric Jackson’s 11 first half points as they shot 51.7 percent (15-29) including 53.3 percent (8-15) from 3-point land in the first half.

At the same time Valpo was just 3-12 (25 percent) from 3-point land and shooting just 39.3 percent (11-28) for the first half.

Valpo’s Shawn Huff was amazed at how Cleveland States players were hitting outside shots as his team packed it inside to try to stop them from dominating inside.

“They were just making shots. Everyone was making shots, everyone who came in made a shot,” said a dejected Huff. “They shot over 50 percent from threes. We didn’t want them to dominate the inside and we were going to take our chances with that and they made us pay.”

The Crusaders did manage to work the deficit down to six points by half time at 39-33 by going on a 15-3 run over the last six minutes of the half.

Coming out to start the second half the Vikings went on a 9-0 run over the first 1:47 to make it 48-33 that ended when Valpo’s Shawn Huff made a layup.

At the 6:16 mark Jackson made a jumper to put Cleveland State up by nine at 63-54. Seven seconds later Valpo’s Jarryd Lloyd made a 3-pointer.

Bullock responded with a layup, then a 3-pointer by Huff, another by Lloyd followed by a layup by Lloyd and the score tied for the first time at 65-65.

Breyohn Watson came right back and hit a 3-pointer to give Cleveland State the lead for good.

“That play developed off Cedric’s (Jackson) penetration and he ended up finding me. I stepped into it and knocked it down,” explained Watson.

A few seconds later a jumper by Norris Cole and then two foul shots by Cole got the Viking lead up to seven at 72-65 with :44 left.

Two late 3-pointers by Lloyd got the score down as close as three points at 76-73 with :08 remaining but when Valpo fouled Cole he made both free throws and that was how it ended with the score at 78-73.

Cleveland State coach Gary Waters felt fortunate that his team withstood the runs that the Crusaders made.

“Let me just say that we had some big plays down the stretch by a number of people to finish that game out,” said Waters. “Even though we had leads in the game I have to give Valparaiso credit because they never gave up.”

Daily Poll: Best Non-BCS Conference?

Shawn Siegel — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:32:48 -0800

Daily Poll: Who Will Win the Horizon?

Shawn Siegel — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:59:44 -0700

Horizon League Preview

CHN — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:55:32 -0800

Conference Previews | Top 144 | 06-07 Preview Home

Horizon League Preview

Conference Rank: 15th

Conference Page

All-Conference

Player of the Year - Blake Schilb, Loyola, G

Ryan Evanochko, UWGB, G

DeShaun Wood, Wright St, G

Quin Humphrey, Youngstown St, G/F

Othyus Jeffers, UIC, F

Nat'l	Team (Click for Preview)	Conf	Tourney
88	Loyola Chicago	1	NCAA
106	Butler	2
132	UW Green Bay	3
145	Illinois Chicago	4
163	Wright State	5
176	Detroit	6
220	UW Milwaukee	7
229	Cleveland St	8
283	Youngstown St	9

Preseason Head Coach Interviews

Brad Brownell - Wright State

Rob Jeter - UW Milwaukee

Tod Kowalczyk - UW Green Bay