Two-time All-League pick Noel selected as Player of the Year
Brandon Noel, one of three All-League performers from 2024 returning to Horizon League Men’s Basketball, is the HoriZone Roundtable pick for Player of the Year. The 6-foot-8 junior forward averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for Wright State last season, and our voters see a high ceiling for him with the departures of All-League picks Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden.
The other two 2024 All-League picks coming back for another season, Purdue Fort Wayne’s Rasheed Bello and Jalen Jackson, join Noel on the first team. The duo is a big part of why PFW is our pick to win the league in 2025. DQ Cole of Oakland and Sam Vinson of Northern Kentucky round out our first team.
Milwaukee wings AJ McKee and Erik Pratt lead off our second team, with both figuring to put up strong numbers for a Panther team we have picked for second in the Horizon League. Youngstown State’s Nico Gallette joins McKee as a Horizon League newcomer on the second team. Our staff projects Trey Robinson to build on his late-season success and become an All-League performer without Marques Warrick at Northern Kentucky. And finally, Purdue Fort Wayne picks up a third All-League pick in Quinton Morton-Robertson.
Familiarity won out at the end of the All-League picks, with several familiar faces narrowly beating out newcomers for spots on the team. Faizon Fields and Kentrell Pullian give Milwaukee a league-leading four All-League picks. Youngstown State’s Gabe Dynes and Wright State’s Alex Huibregtse give each school a second All-League player, while Justice Williams rounds out our picks and gives RMU it’s first projected All-League performer.
First Team
| Player | Pos. | School |
| Brandon Noel* | F | Wright State |
| Rasheed Bello | G | Purdue Fort Wayne |
| DQ Cole | G | Oakland |
| Sam Vinson | G | Northern Kentucky |
| Jalen Jackson | G | Purdue Fort Wayne |
Brandon Noel is our pick for Horizon League Player of the Year after averaging 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds on his way to earning Second Team All-Horizon League honors last year. With All-League performers Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden out of eligibility and WSU’s rotation expected to feature mostly returning faces, our staff sees Noel getting a large number of the scoring opportunities that are going to be opening up. Don’t be surprised if Noel’s 20 career double-doubles see a large jump this season.
Rasheed Bello gets a First Team All-League spot as we project he’ll lead Purdue Fort Wayne to first place in the Horizon League this year. Bello’s 14.9 points and 4.3 assists per game last year were good enough to earn Third Team All-League honors for the seventh place Mastodons. With PFW projected for a much higher finish, Bello should be positioned for a strong All-League placement regardless of whether he puts up jaw-dropping stats this season. With that said, there should be opportunities to put up better numbers following Anthony Roberts’ graduation.
DQ Cole might not have the 2024 statistics that the others on top of this list do, but with so much roster turnover from Oakland’s cinderella run in 2024 as well as Greg Kampe teams consistently having high-scoring guards it’s easy to see Cole becoming a major contributor this season. Cole averaged 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game last season while maintaining an effective field goal percentage of 56.7 percent. It’s clear Cole can take more shots and increase his overall production without getting to a level of inefficiency that hurts Oakland, and our staff expects him to do just that.
Sam Vinson earned All-Horizon League Third Team honors and a spot on the All-League Defensive Team in 2023, and was on his way to an even better season in 2024 before his season ended 13 games in due to a torn ACL. Vinson’s 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.6 steals per game were all on pace to be career highs before the injury. With Marques Warrick transferring to Missouri, our staff sees Vinson getting a good portion of the available shots and taking a spot on the All-League First Team while keeping NKU near the top of the Horizon League this year.
Jalen Jackson is another 2024 Third Team All-League PFW player who our staff believes will benefit from the Mastodons winning the league with a balanced attack. The UIC transfer guard averaged 15.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game for the Mastodons last year.
Second Team
| Player | Pos. | School |
| AJ McKee | G | Milwaukee |
| Erik Pratt | G | Milwaukee |
| Trey Robinson | G | NKU |
| Nico Galette | G | Youngstown State |
| Quinton Morton-Robertson | G | Purdue Fort Wayne |
AJ McKee is our first 2024-25 All-League pick that wasn’t in the Horizon League last year, and after averaging 18.8 points per game at Queens University it’s easy to see why the Milwaukee guard has such high expectations. While there’s always some uncertainty with finding a fit for a newcomer, McKee played for Lundy at Queens in 2021 and spent the last two years with Lundy’s top assistant out in Charlotte. Learning the system shouldn’t be an issue for McKee, which should allow him to take a large part of the burden of replacing B.J. Freeman following Freeman’s transfer to Arizona State.
Erik Pratt gives Milwaukee a second All-League pick, and like McKee he should see a large number of opportunities due to the departure of B.J. Freeman. Pratt got off to a slow start at Milwaukee last year before being pushed into the lineup due to Freeman getting injured. Pratt averaged 12.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game on the year but his numbers jumped pretty drastically after the first seven games of the season when he was consistently getting over 20 minutes per night. After those first seven games Pratt averaged 14.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Its easy to see Pratt picking up where he left off, and even doing more for the Panthers with a larger role this year.
Trey Robinson‘s paragraph could practically just be a copy/paste of Erik Pratt’s. Robinson averaged 11.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game for Northern Kentucky last year, but didn’t score in double figures until a 20-point outing against Akron in NKU’s tenth game of the season. From there, he hit double figures in 19 of the team’s remaining 24 games. During that stretch, Robinson’s scoring jumped to 13.8 points per game. While Vinson will be back in the lineup for NKU, Marques Warrick’s departure gives both Robinson and Vinson significant opportunities to put up numbers.
Nico Galette comes to the Horizon League after scoring 1,351 points and grabbing 722 rebounds in the last four seasons at Sacred Heart. The 6-foot-6 wing has averaged over 12 points per game in each of the last three seasons, and with a near-complete overhaul at Youngstown State he seems primed to become another highly productive incoming transfer for the Penguins.
Quinton Morton-Robertson is the third Purdue Fort Wayne guard projected to get more recognition of the Mastodons live up to our expectations and win the Horizon League. Morton-Robertson averaged 13.0 points per game for PFW last year and could also see some benefit from Roberts’ graduation.
Third Team
| Player | Pos. | School |
| Kentrell Pullian | G | Milwaukee |
| Gabe Dynes | C | Youngstown State |
| Alex Huibregtse | G | Wright State |
| Faizon Fields | F | Milwaukee |
| Justice Williams | G | Robert Morris |
Kentrell Pullian is Milwaukee’s second leading returning scorer, and our staff sees him getting a production bump from B.J. Freeman’s departure en route to an All-League selection. Pullian averaged 10.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists for Milwaukee last year. Like Quinton Morton-Robertson above him, the combination of additional opportunities and an expected higher finish in Horizon League play has our staff optimistic about Pullian this season.
Gabe Dynes put his size to good use in his freshman year at Youngstown State, and our staff sees him causing even more headaches this year. The 7-foot-3 sophomore averaged just 3.9 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last year, but he did it while playing under 14 minutes per game and while hitting over 70 percent of the shots he attempted. With Dynes being one of a handful of returning players for YSU, it wouldn’t be a surprise for internal promotion Ethan Faulkner to look to get easy baskets by setting up Dynes.
Alex Huibregtse is the second best scorer coming back for what was a high-octane Wright State offense in 2024, and our staff sees him doing more for the Raiders this year. Huibregtse averaged 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while hitting 52.5 percent of his shots from the field and 41.7 percent of his 3-pointers on the year. Like Noel, Huibregtse should see an increase in opportunities this year with so much offensive firepower leaving.
Faizon Fields is the fourth Milwaukee Panther to make our All-League team, averaging 9.3 points and 6.4 rebounds a season ago. Like teammate Erik Pratt, Fields took awhile to get going last year. From the start of 2024 on, Fields’ averages jumped to 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. During that stretch, Fields recorded all six of his double-doubles on the season. As is the case with the other Panthers, our staff predicts an increase in production and an increase in team success, leading to Fields earning a spot on our All-League Third Team.
Justice Williams rounds out the HoriZone Roundtable All-League selections as our staff expects him to build on his debut season where he averaged 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game for Robert Morris. With a year under his belt as RMU’s primary ballhandler, it’s easy to see Williams’ production increasing. With some promising additions via the transfer portal, RMU could be more competitive this year to help Williams’ chances at an All-League nod.
