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Post by HLFanaticus on May 22, 2015 10:29:56 GMT -6
Just for fun. In honor of NKU joining the Horizon League and them having to win sometime in the league, who will that first victory come against?
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Post by commissioner on May 22, 2015 19:24:38 GMT -6
Just for fun. In honor of NKU joining the Horizon League and them having to win sometime in the league, who will that first victory come against? Have to see the schedule |
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Post by HLFanaticus on May 22, 2015 20:28:29 GMT -6
Why? The poll is asking who will NKU get their first HL victory against? That shouldn't have anything to do with non-con.
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Post by commissioner on May 23, 2015 15:19:24 GMT -6
Why? The poll is asking who will NKU get their first HL victory against? That shouldn't have anything to do with non-con. Their first conference win depends on the order in which they play teams. If they open the season with YSU at home, that's a good pick. But if they have UIC and Wright State at home in the first go around, and not YSU at home until late, YSU likely would not be my pick. BTW, just thinking about this makes me realize that the Horizon will again be really competitive this year. Valpo should be a big favorite to win it, but after than there's a lot to argue about. |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 17:47:25 GMT -6
Why? The poll is asking who will NKU get their first HL victory against? That shouldn't have anything to do with non-con. Their first conference win depends on the order in which they play teams. If they open the season with YSU at home, that's a good pick. But if they have UIC and Wright State at home in the first go around, and not YSU at home until late, YSU likely would not be my pick. I kinda see your point Commish, but I'm gonna go with YSU being the first to go down to NKU anyway. BTW, just thinking about this makes me realize that the Horizon will again be really competitive this year. Valpo should be a big favorite to win it, but after than there's a lot to argue about. The "Hoity Toity" of this league believe that it will be crappy, especially with the addition of Northern Kentucky. Some of them also think their program should be in the Valley or the A-10. After finishing 16th (not 17th because NJIT is a school and shouldn't have been included as a "conference" in the rankings), the 10-year average rpi for the Horizon is still a respectable 12.1* So how are we falling in the crapper? I also believe that the HL will be really competitive this season. Valparaiso should be the favorite, but I don't know about "big". Oakland has a lot of talent. If they could just scale down their out-of-conference schedule and win some of those games and come into the league with a below 100 rpi, then we'll be cookin'! Detroit is still loaded, as is Cleveland State, even with the loss of Lewis and Grady. Don't forget about Milwaukee. The key to the League's upward trend is getting more than one team into the Dance. * Link: NKU: A-Sun vs Horizon Comparison |
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Post by commissioner on May 24, 2015 13:06:20 GMT -6
I agree with you Chuck, that the Horizon is better than some want to credit. We are feeling the loss of Butler more than people at first realized. But this is still a solid league. Cleveland with Lewis and Grady is a scary team. Without, they're thin - I wouldn't say "loaded" by any means - but I do agree that they should be competitive. I'm not sure about Oakland. They should be good, but will Martez Walker play? (well, yes, probably). And we've seen repeatedly that bench warmers at the high majors don't automatically translate into mid-major stars. So there's a jury out on Percy Gibson and Sherron Dorsey-Walker. Still, they'll be the consensus choice for second place, I'll bet. UIC has been recruiting well but is probably a year away from competing in the top half of the league. Detroit was 15-18 and loses its leading scorer. We'll have to see. Looks like Green Bay will be down, at least compared to recent years. Wright State will, I think bounce back after an injury plagued year. Milwaukee looks solid. I don't know much at all about NKU's lineup except that they lost their leading scorer.
Overall, I'd look for Milwaukee, Detroit, UIC, Wright State, Oakland to be up, but I'm not sure I see any improving by leaps and bounds; I see Green Bay down quite a bit, CSU down some, but both competitive; Valpo will be very good but will miss Fernandez and may not repeat last year's gaudy W-L record even if they're a better team; YSU is YSU. I'd guess NKU would do well to win 3 to 5 conference games, but since I know little about their players, I could be way off. Anyway, I won't pick that first win 'til we see the schedule, but YSU is always a safe guess.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 29, 2015 10:17:47 GMT -6
Conference play begins 1/2/16 and in revisiting this post and looking at the non-con portion of the season, I am unfortunately going to go with UIC being the Norse's first Horizon League victim. Our team, though talented, is a bit behind in the D1 culture and might take until the end of Conference to put it together.
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iaa
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Post by iaa on Jan 4, 2016 10:55:07 GMT -6
I agree with you Chuck, that the Horizon is better than some want to credit. We are feeling the loss of Butler more than people at first realized. But this is still a solid league. Cleveland with Lewis and Grady is a scary team. Without, they're thin - I wouldn't say "loaded" by any means - but I do agree that they should be competitive. I'm not sure about Oakland. They should be good, but will Martez Walker play? (well, yes, probably). And we've seen repeatedly that bench warmers at the high majors don't automatically translate into mid-major stars. So there's a jury out on Percy Gibson and Sherron Dorsey-Walker. Still, they'll be the consensus choice for second place, I'll bet. UIC has been recruiting well but is probably a year away from competing in the top half of the league. Detroit was 15-18 and loses its leading scorer. We'll have to see. Looks like Green Bay will be down, at least compared to recent years. Wright State will, I think bounce back after an injury plagued year. Milwaukee looks solid. I don't know much at all about NKU's lineup except that they lost their leading scorer. Overall, I'd look for Milwaukee, Detroit, UIC, Wright State, Oakland to be up, but I'm not sure I see any improving by leaps and bounds; I see Green Bay down quite a bit, CSU down some, but both competitive; Valpo will be very good but will miss Fernandez and may not repeat last year's gaudy W-L record even if they're a better team; YSU is YSU. I'd guess NKU would do well to win 3 to 5 conference games, but since I know little about their players, I could be way off. Anyway, I won't pick that first win 'til we see the schedule, but YSU is always a safe guess. I think we are missing Loyola much more than people realize as well. Maybe they have not done much recently, but they were our only national championship ...that is a tough thing to lose & one of they main reasons they were grabbed by the MVC. |
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 14, 2016 15:06:31 GMT -6
I agree with you Chuck, that the Horizon is better than some want to credit. We are feeling the loss of Butler more than people at first realized. But this is still a solid league. Cleveland with Lewis and Grady is a scary team. Without, they're thin - I wouldn't say "loaded" by any means - but I do agree that they should be competitive. I'm not sure about Oakland. They should be good, but will Martez Walker play? (well, yes, probably). And we've seen repeatedly that bench warmers at the high majors don't automatically translate into mid-major stars. So there's a jury out on Percy Gibson and Sherron Dorsey-Walker. Still, they'll be the consensus choice for second place, I'll bet. UIC has been recruiting well but is probably a year away from competing in the top half of the league. Detroit was 15-18 and loses its leading scorer. We'll have to see. Looks like Green Bay will be down, at least compared to recent years. Wright State will, I think bounce back after an injury plagued year. Milwaukee looks solid. I don't know much at all about NKU's lineup except that they lost their leading scorer. Overall, I'd look for Milwaukee, Detroit, UIC, Wright State, Oakland to be up, but I'm not sure I see any improving by leaps and bounds; I see Green Bay down quite a bit, CSU down some, but both competitive; Valpo will be very good but will miss Fernandez and may not repeat last year's gaudy W-L record even if they're a better team; YSU is YSU. I'd guess NKU would do well to win 3 to 5 conference games, but since I know little about their players, I could be way off. Anyway, I won't pick that first win 'til we see the schedule, but YSU is always a safe guess. I think we are missing Loyola much more than people realize as well. Maybe they have not done much recently, but they were our only national championship ...that is a tough thing to lose & one of they main reasons they were grabbed by the MVC. We definitely miss Loyola. I think their market has more to do with them getting taken by the MVC than anything else, but they do have some good hoops history. I hated to lose them because I think they are a sleeping giant, and I would like to see that type of program in our conference when they wake up. As for the original question of this poll, I NKU has a couple of chances coming up with home games against YSU (January 14) and UIC (January 22). Maybe they get one of those, or maybe I am punished for past sins and they get their first win against my Titans. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2016 21:56:34 GMT -6
Well, it's happened. NKU gets its first ever Horizon League victory and it is indeed against Youngstown State, 84-64.
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Post by commissioner on Jan 15, 2016 7:43:59 GMT -6
Chuck, beat NKU and we can see the old "who beat" thread ... UIC beat NKU, NKU beat YSU, YSU beat OU, OU beat Washington, Washington beat UCLA, UCLA beat Kentucky, Kentucky beat (Duke, Louisville - should be pretty easy to complete the last step or two to beating the national champ -unless Kentucky wins in March, it's already complete). Voila! UIC is national champ!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2016 8:09:52 GMT -6
It's a wrap!
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Post by commissioner on Jan 15, 2016 8:53:03 GMT -6
BTW, I still think there is a lot of talent in UIC's freshman class. Tough year, even tougher than everyone thought, but still hope. Played pretty well last night. Freshman mistake at the end cost the game.
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Post by motorcitysam on Jan 15, 2016 11:06:46 GMT -6
BTW, I still think there is a lot of talent in UIC's freshman class. Tough year, even tougher than everyone thought, but still hope. Played pretty well last night. Freshman mistake at the end cost the game. Agreed. UIC is going to be much improved in a year or two, barring injuries, transfers, etc. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2016 14:30:47 GMT -6
UIC is going to be much improved in a year or two, barring injuries, transfers, etc. I actually had that dreadful thought: what if we have some transfers? Nobody likes to lose and lose consistently. You can be promised a bed of roses all you want, but to experience losing is no fun. I just hope these guys hang in there. |
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