Horizon League Notebook
by Cory Eve
Butler and Loyola (Ill.) Class of the Horizon
At this point of the season it’s usually too early to tell who the best teams in the league are and who are the worst, but in the case of the Horizon League, two teams are head and shoulders above the rest right now. Butler and Loyola (Ill.) have been playing better basketball then anyone else in the Horizon League, and they continued to do so over the weekend. The rest of the league struggled over the past week, going only 1-7 with Illinois-Chicago notching the only other win.
Butler pulled out another impressive win over the weekend in beating a much improved Purdue team. Once again, Butler got the win by playing a complete team game. Although they were out-rebounded by Purdue 38-23, they only turned the ball over 13 times, and they held Purdue to just over 40 percent shooting for the game. Butler’s guards led the way in scoring again with A.J. Graves putting up 25 points and Mike Green scoring 18 points respectively.
Game after game the Bulldogs, who are now 11-1, put on a display on how to win with sheer fundamentals and great guard play. This is a team who turns the ball over only 10 times a game, which means they are getting more opportunities to take shots. They also get to the line and hit their free-throws better than anyone else in the league. Butler shoots nearly 81 percent (A.J. Graves is shooting an incredible 98 percent) as a team from the line, and how many times do we see teams blow leads at the end of the game because they cannot hit the free ones. One would be hard pressed to find a team in the top 25 right who plays better team basketball than the Bulldogs do. Attributing the great Rocky Maivia of the WWE, each player on this team “knows their role and shuts their mouth”. The guards score and assist more than they turn it over, and the bigs rebound and play defense. Is it really possible most experts had this team finishing fourth in the league?
Other than Butler, Loyola (Ill.) is the only other team in the Horizon playing pretty good basketball. Last year’s first place team is now 8-3 after an impressive win on Saturday over a Northern Iowa team who is from the second highest RPI rated conference in the nation, the Missouri Valley. Loyola (Ill.) has a balanced attack with three of their five starters averaging over ten points per game. They are the highest scoring team early on in the Horizon League averaging just over 74 points per game, and they shoot nearly 48 percent. Like Butler, they do not turn the ball over very often averaging only 13 turnovers per game. Anytime a team does not turn the ball over and makes shots when they have opportunities, they are going to be tough to beat. Just ask Ohio State, who only beat Loyola by 12 points.
Who’s Hot
- Butler Bulldogs (11-1): With the great guard duo of A.J. Graves and Mike Green leading the way in scoring, and the rest of the team fitting into their roles, they are the team to beat in the Horizon League.
- Loyola (Il) (8-3): With all five of their starters returning from last year’s first place team and off to a good start this year, expect Loyola (Il) to have a say in who wins the Horizon at the end of the year.
Who’s Not
- Detroit (2-7): The Titans already have two separate three-game losing streaks this season including a loss to the Texas A&M-Corpus Christian Islanders. With teams like Kansas on the agenda in the next few weeks, things are not looking good for the Titans.
- Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-10): The record speaks for itself.
