College basketball’s first games of the 2015-16 season are just one month away. With preseason in full swing, here is a look at how the Horizon League shapes up. 1. Valparaiso Notable departures: None Projected starters: Lexus Williams, Tevonn Walker, Darien Walker, Alec Peters, Vashil Fernandez Valparaiso…
Updated May 8 at 2:52 p.m. The Missouri Valley Conference returned to its status as a two-bid league last season with Wichita State and Northern Iowa making the NCAA Tournament. The conference’s depth also improved as Evansville and Loyola won postseason tournament titles, and Illinois State advanced to…
The Missouri Valley Conference has performed well across the board this postseason. Wichita State and Northern Iowa advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, Illinois State is in the second round of the NIT, Loyola Chicago is in the CBI quarterfinals and Evansville…
Looking at the stat lines of Northern Iowa’s win Friday against Wyoming, one would not expect the Panthers to have won by 17 points. MVC Player of the Year Seth Tuttle had 14 points and 9 rebounds, but needed to attempt 12 field-goals to get there and…
ST. LOUIS — Northern Iowa clamped down defensively Saturday to beat Loyola 63-49 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals. “They’ve got 5 guys in sync that don’t miss their assignment defensively,” coach Porter Moser said. “Sometimes you get young teams, you get guys missing their…
From the outside, Sunday’s 66-60 win against Cleveland State may have seemed meaningless for Milwaukee. Although the Vikings are vying for a Horizon League title and conference tournament seeding, the Panthers are ineligible for the Horizon League and NCAA tournaments as the result of a ban due to a low…
CHICAGO — UIC (7-21, 3-10 Horizon) had an opportunity to gain serious ground in the Horizon League standings Thursday. The Flames are competing for a coveted first round home game in next month’s conference tournament. However, UIC fell to Milwaukee (11-16, 6-7) at home 71-60…
CHICAGO — Northern Iowa is incredible defensively. The Panthers have the 16th-most efficient defense in the nation, according to kenpom.com, after a 58-39 throttling of Loyola on the road Wednesday. That’s surprising because Northern Iowa had nearly the exact same group of players last season, and that…
This is a guest post by Tim Balk (@TimBalk). Balk is a freshman at Northwestern University studying journalism, and he writes with The Catch and Shoot’s Jesse Kramer at The Daily Northwestern. While Northern Iowa’s 58-39 win over Loyola on Wednesday at the Gentile Center…
CHICAGO — It appeared Loyola had finally adjusted to playing without star guard Milton Doyle. The Ramblers had won three of their last four games while averaging more than 1.03 points per possession during that stretch. Going up against the Missouri Valley Conference’s best defense, Loyola’s offensive…
