#HLMBB Power Rankings – Week 1

There is no earthly or sane reason that anyone should do this to themselves. A sane person would have just waited until after the second week of the regular season to start cranking these rankings out.

But, as you’ve probably figured out over more than a decade, I am not that person.

So, given the most limited of data points and the promise that these will undoubtedly serve as a foundation for teams to significantly improve or decline as the season wears on, with no more ado, here’s how the Horizon League men’s basketball teams shape up after Week 1:

1. Youngstown State
2. Robert Morris
3. Milwaukee
4. Wright State
5. Cleveland State
6. Purdue Fort Wayne
7. Northern Kentucky
8. Oakland
9. IU Indy
10. Green Bay
11. Detroit Mercy

Any time you get a win on the road in non-conference, that always bodes well for you. And Youngstown State cashed in on one of the two chances to take down a prominent opponent. While the Penguins’ opener against Pitt didn’t go as well, with YSU running out of gas at the end, there was no stopping the Guins in the desert against Grand Canyon, keeping the Lopes at arm’s length throughout the contest. Though a small sample size, it’s clear that Youngstown State has plenty of weapons that can hurt foes, whether it’s Cris Carroll, Jason Nelson, Immanuel Zorgvol (who led all scorers in the win over GCU), Tae Blackshear, Drew King or any other player on the Penguins roster. Even more impressive is that YSU is still without the services of Vlad Salaridze, who’s been hurt to start the season. Once he’s back, head coach Ethan Faulkner will have yet another weapon in his already-stacked arsenal.

For Robert Morris, the road win against a Drake team that hasn’t lost at home in the non-conference in forever is quite significant. Sure, the Bulldogs have a new head coach, but the Colonials have an almost completely new team. And after an understandable drubbing at the hands of Iowa in the opener, the new RMU guys turned around and pulled out a win over Drake in OT. Nikos Chitikoudis lived up to the hype (well, our hype, at least), looking great in a double-double performance. Also notching a double-double, seemingly picking up where he left off when he was at IU Indy, was Desean Goode. And lone holdover Ryan Prather, Jr. remained the connective tissue, chipping in 12 in the win.

You’d think that Milwaukee would actually be higher on this list, given how the Panthers started. But the win in the home opener against Hampton was anything but easy, and they struggled the entire time in a road loss to a Wofford squad who probably isn’t in as much turmoil as it was a couple of months ago. Milwaukee is still making adjustments to losing John Lovelace, Jr. before the season even tipped off, and it looks like Danilo Jovanovich will be called on to shoulder the load.

A late-night contest in Berkeley to face Cal had all the earmarks of a game that could easily get out of hand. But for Wright State, which began the season by blowing out non-D1 Franklin College, the contest against the Golden Bears was closer than most thought. And while the Raiders ended up losing by 10, they may have found some glimpses of what the offense might look like, a question that many had in the off-season. Freshman Michael Cooper was a bright spot this week for Wright State, dropping 17 against Cal, and Stephen F. Austin transfer Dominic Pagonis chipped in 11 on Thursday night as well. Whether others besides them (and Michael Imiarigbe, who scored 10) emerge remains an ongoing question, though.

Why is Cleveland State ranked below Wright State, even though the Vikings came within a hair of upsetting Loyola-Chicago in their opener? That tends to happen when, for some reason, you find yourselves dangerously close to losing to Capital, a Division III team. D2 upsets have been happening across college basketball early on, but a loss for CSU here would have made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Vikings emerged victorious, nonetheless, and look to forget that contest was even that close as they return to Chicagoland to face Northwestern.

Getting beaten back at Grand Canyon, then getting bested easily by Ohio State notwithstanding, Purdue Fort Wayne pasted non-D1 Dominican to notch its first win. It’s clear that head coach Jon Coffman has seen his backcourt fully transition from the trio of Jalen Jackson, Rasheed Bello and Quintin Morton-Robertson to Corey Hadnot, Mikale Stevenson and DeAndre Craig in pretty short order. And with Western Michigan and non-D1 Boyce on tap, there’s a good chance that the Mastodons won’t be in this position for long.

For Northern Kentucky, the pendulum swung both ways. In their opener, the Norse demolished Non-D1 UC Clermont. Then, on Saturday, NKU themselves were demolished, compliments of Tennessee. Northern Kentucky does appear to have found what it’s been looking for on the offensive end, as Kael Robinson has settled nicely into the starting lineup, leading the Norse in scoring in both games. Holdovers Dan Gherezgher, Jr. and LJ Wells have picked up where they left off from last season, and Cal State Fullerton transfer Donovan Oday appears to be making a seamless transition to NKU as well.

Oakland is one of four Horizon League teams that have yet to win, and given its schedule, it’s going to be tough to see the wins piling up before conference play starts. That didn’t deter the Golden Grizzlies from taking the No. 1 team in the country, Purdue, to the absolute limit. And even though they fell by 10 and they have Houston to look forward to, Oakland can at least take some respite next Saturday, coming home to face Defiance.

Everyone was introduced to The System on Monday night, when IU Indy, which was fully expected to get blown out by Ohio State, made a game of it with the Buckeyes. The gas tank appeared to run low for the Jaguars as the week wore on, getting nipped by LIU in the home opener, then getting trounced by Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday. The only home game at Corteva Coliseum looms against IU Columbus, and in front of the crowd of schoolchildren, Ben Howlett’s system will certainly put some smiles on their face and, most likely, net him his first win as IU Indy head coach.

There was a chance on Saturday for Green Bay to get its first road win in nearly a year against Buffalo, especially considering how good Caden Wilkins was beyond the arc. But alas, that was not meant to be, and the Phoenix, who started the season getting rolled by Kansas, will have to press on. After a stopover at home to play a day game against non-D1 Ripon, the road trip continues and doesn’t get any easier, with St. Thomas and Minnesota on tap.

Detroit Mercy’s first two games against UIC and Notre Dame were nothing to write home about, with the Titans falling by 20 and 32, respectively. In both contests, Orlando Lovejoy was relatively neutralized, scoring 11 against the Flames and six against the Irish. Detroit Mercy has a non-D1 tilt against Cleary at home, then on the road to Toledo coming up, and head coach Mark Montgomery and his squad will be actively looking to put the tough first week behind them.