HoriZone Roundtable

"Fire Baldwin" chants echoing throughout the sparse crowd at the once packed Panther Arena in downtown Milwaukee. Never thought those words would be coming out of fans mouths after landing a Five-Star recruit in Patrick Baldwin, Jr., son of former Head Coach Patrick Baldwin. An incredible offseason in 2021 as the Panthers had landed Baldwin, kept DeAndre Gholston, added transfers Samba Kane (San Francisco) and Moses Bol (UCF), and even landed commitments from Markeith Browning (Coffeyville JC), Jasin Sinani (Oak Creek HS), and Kyle Ross (Lake Central HS). The Panthers even had a former four star recruit Jordan Lathon from UTEP who was regarded as a four star recruit out of High School. The stars were aligning with the Panthers for the first time in years, even after their miraculous run to the Horizon League semifinals, where they lost to eventual champion, Cleveland State. However, Milwaukee is going to Milwaukee. The Panthers endured their worst KenPom ranking in the Baldwin era, the team went 10-22, Baldwin, Sr. got fired, and Baldwin, Jr. entered the transfer portal and got drafted 28th by the Golden State Warriors. The Panthers had eventually entered the coaching search and landed Bart Lundy, formerly of Queens University in Charlotte. Lundy comes in to Milwaukee after a couple of stints elsewhere, as he was an assistant at North Texas, Head Coach of High Point University, and even was a Director of Basketball Operations at Marquette with Buzz Williams.

The Vikings return a solid core for new coach Daniyal Robinson to work with Following an offseason that included the departure of head coach Dennis...

Multiple new players will be an adjustment for the Phoenix For fans of the Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball team the 2022-23 roster may...

Leo picked to win Player of the Year award For the first time in quite a while, the Horizon League’s Player of the Year race...

In a wide-open race following the abrupt rebuilding task ahead of defending conference champion IUPUI, Green Bay is HoriZone Roundtable's narrow pick to take...

After being named the Horizon League's co-Player of the Year in 2022, it's probably not a surprise to see that Antoine Davis is our pick to repeat as POTY in 2023 in a poll of our writers and podcast staff.. Davis enters his final year just 180 points behind former Loyola star Alfredrick Hughes' Horizon League record 2914 career points, a mark he should easily surpass with a healthy season. Davis is joined on the first team by four guards who are prolific stat-stuffers in their own right: Jalen Moore of Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne's Jarred Godfrey, Youngstown State's Dwayne Cohill and Marques Warrick of Northern Kentucky. If the league's poll is similar to ours, don't expect to see an article complaining about the lack of love newcomers get. Our second team is led by highly touted transfer Rocket Watts of Oakland and former All-Horizon League guard Amari Davis, now with Wright State after spending a year at Missouri. Robert Morris' Kahliel Spear is the first big man to appear on our list, joined by two more guards Trey Calvin of WSU and Northern Kentucky's Sam Vinson. Damian Chong Qui makes our preseason Third Team All-League for the second year in a row, giving HoriZone Roundtable's preseason pick to win the regular season crown a second projected All-League performer. Trevon Faulkner and Chris Brandon give NKU four of our 15 All-League selections, while Trey Townsend gives Oakland one player on each of the three teams. And finally, Spider Johnson joins Brandon at the tail end of the third team to give at least one of the squads some decent size.

Purdue Fort Wayne — a 2022 Horizon League Regular Season Co-Champion — has been picked to repeat as the league's champion in a poll of HoriZone Roundtable writers and podcast staff. Much like last year's pick Cleveland State, the Mastodons earned the top spot a season after making a surprise jump for a co-championship the season before. PFW loses All-League guard Jalon Pipkins, but return four starters and 2022 Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year Deonte Billups. Returning talent was clearly a significant thought in our voters' minds, as Northern Kentucky with four starters and several bench pieces coming back was tabbed for second. Oakland lost starpower but added depth that the team will hope to keep key players rested, and wound up third in our projections. Wright State was hit hard by the transfer portal after making the 2022 NCAA Tournament, but added a former All-Horizon League talent to convince our pollsters to pick them for fourth. Youngstown State found itself just on the outside of a logjam of teams expected to contend, and is projected for fifth place after losing its top player but arguably outperforming the rest of the league in the portal. Detroit Mercy was fortunate enough to have Antoine Davis return for his final year of eligibility, but lost most of the rest of its key contributors, refreshing its roster through the portal to be projected to wind up in the middle of the league in sixth. Our voters believe some stability could be just what was needed for Robert Morris to put some distance between itself and the bottom of the Horizon League this year. Milwaukee and Cleveland State have new coaches and will heavily rely on new players to produce, and were picked for eighth and ninth in the league. Last year's 10th and 11th place finishers Green Bay and IUPUI were also hit hard by the transfer portal even though neither had a coaching change, and were selected to round up the bottom of the league again this season.