Much is made of growing parity in college basketball and there is a lot of evidence that basketball in the Mid-Major conferences is every bit as good as it is in the six major conferences that rule the media outlets and, to a great extent, dominate the governance and management of the NCAA including Tournament selection process.
Studying The Horizon
Since I am a Midwesterner, living in its largest city (Chicago), I have been observing one of the more successful Mid-Major Conferences first hand through a season’s ticket for the University of Illinois at Chicago Flames who are in the Horizons League. I have not been disappointed as the style of play, competitiveness, competence of players, coaching, and officiating are at least equal to that observed in the Big Ten. The Horizon League was founded as the Midwestern City Conference in 1979, renamed the Midwest Collegiate conference in 1985, and renamed again as the Horizon League in 2001.
There are ten schools in the league with Butler and Loyola remaining from the six charter members. The current schools include: Butler, Loyola, Detroit, and Valparaiso (Privates), and University of Illinois at Chicago,Cleveland St., U. of Wisconsin at Green Bay, U. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Wright St., and Youngstown St. (Publics). Their media markets are strongly rooted to the Midwestern cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee, a population of 10 million TV households.
They have a 5 year agreement with ESPN for televising selective regular season games. Valparaiso, the newest member, is playing its first year in the League. While the League does not have its own TV network, or the media exposure that matches the big six conferences, there is a loyal fan base and intense rivalries that heat up the various arenas during the coldest of Midwestern nights.
Another Cradle Of Coaches
The coaches in the Horizon League include some of the most successful veterans in the college game. Principal among these currently is Homer Drew, who has been head coach for 18 years at Valparaiso, the newest member of the League. Coach Drew has had great success in his 18 years at Valparaiso. He started his coaching career as an assistant to Dale Brown (LSU) and teaches a brand of basketball that knits together sound fundamentals in both the defensive and offensive ends of the court.
Probably his proudest moment in coaching was making the NCAA’s Sweet 16 in 1998 on the great three-point shooting of his son Bryce, who is now one of his assistants. Drew’s teams always have a strong international representation and the current team is no exception with two from Finland, one from Germany, and one from New Zealand. The addition of Valparaiso to round the League to ten teams is a good omen for the continued success as classic spoilers in the NCAA first and second tournament rounds.
Jimmie Collins, long time assistant to Lou Henson at the University of Illinois in Campaign, has the most wins as a UIC coach in his 12 seasons there. Jimmie was a star guard for New Mexico State University squad that made the Final Four in his senior year with 27 wins and 3 losses. Jimmie’s UIC teams won the League championship in ’98, and won the League’s Tournament Championships in ’02 and ’04, which earned them invitations to the NCAA Tournament.
Collins’ teams feature strong guard play built around smaller, but very quick athletes who can shoot, dribble penetrate, and play defense. Martell Bailey and Cedric Banks, both on the highly successful Westinghouse High School team (Chicago) that won the Illinois State 2000 Class AA Championship, are typical Collins’ recruits. The current team runs a three guard offense featuring Josh Mayo who is a great three-point shooter with athleticism that makes him a dangerous player any place on the court.
The Horizon League schools has been fertile ground for the Majors when looking for coaching talent. Bo Ryan, though he established his reputation for a winning formula at UW at Platteville, moved to the UW at Milwaukee where he turned around a losing program in two years before moving to UW- Madison where he has established himself as one of the best in the Big Ten.
Bruce Pearl succeeded Ryan at UW- Milwaukee, where he had great success with a 51 and 13 record in the Horizon including upset wins over Alabama and Boston College in the NCAA’s and a Sweet 16 appearance before moving to the U. of Tenn.
Iowa selected Todd Lickliter to restore the missing luster to its basketball program. Lickliter in six years at Butler had a 131- 61 won-loss record and two trips to the Sweet 16 in 2003 and 2007. His squad was in the top ten in a number of statistical categories that would impress any basketball junkie- first in turnovers per game (9.5), 5th in scoring defense at 57.1 points per game, 7th in free throw shooting at 76 percent, and finally the highest graduation rate among the Sweet 16 teams at 82 percent.
There are new, lesser known coaches to be watched for they seem to have the mentoring and pedigrees for continuing a succession of good coaches. Jim Whitesell is in his 4th year at Loyola University. His Loyola teams have posted 53 wins in 3 years, reaching the 20 win level in the 2006-07 for the first time since 1985. His teams emphasize solid defense, taking advantage of the home-court, and academic performance. He is an energetic recruiter, searching the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Indiana for diamonds in the rough. One of his assistants, Pat Baldwin, was a 4 year starter at Northwestern University. Pat works with the guards, teaching them the techniques of hard-nosed defensive play for which he was known.
Tod Kowalczyk in his sixth season at UW- Green Bay (UWGB) is typical of the younger coaches in this League. He grew up in Wisconsin and dreamed of coaching at UWGB. He is known as a teacher of toughness and sound fundamental play.
It is certain that Coach Kowalczyk grew up watching Dick Bennett lead the Phoenix to some very successful years including several very successful NCAA tournament performances. Bennett then moved to the U. of Wisconsin in Madison where he had great success leading them to the Final Four. He and his son now have the Washington St. basketball program on track as one of the teams to fear in the Pac-10.
Having seen Kowalczyk’s current team play UIC in early December play, they displayed the characteristics of tough play even though they lost to the UIC Flames in Chicago. He was an assistant at Marquette, playing a major role in player recruitment for that program. He also places strong emphasis on academic performance with the team achieving a combined GPA above 3.0 in 2003.
Another newcomer to the League who bears watching is Brad Brownell in his second year at Wright St. (Dayton, OH.). Having served as Jerry Wainwright’s (now at DePaul) assistant for 8 years, he took over as the head coach of UNC- Wilmington where he compiled a 83-40 record. In his first season at Wright St. (Dayton), his team compiled a 23 and 10 record and the Raiders made their first appearance to the NCAA Tournament. In early December, the Raiders upset the Butler Bulldogs 43 to 42, with both teams scoring only 15 points in the 2nd half. Obviously, defense played a major role in this game resulting in low shooting percentages. Brad is a graduate of DePauw (’91) in the heart of Indiana basketball country.
Rob Jeter, now the head coach at UWM, played for Bo Ryan at UW-Platteville, then worked as Bo’s assistant for 10 years. Given this mentorship, Jeter is another coach who seems destined for success.
The youngest coach in the League is Brad Stevens who replaced Lickliter when he made the move to Iowa City and the Haweyes. Brad has been working his way up in the Butler program, starting as an Assistant for Basketball Operations for Thad Matta. Brad was a great high school player in Indiana (Zionsville), a 4-year member of the DePauw basketball team and its team captain in 1998-99.
With his Economics degree he started his professional career as a marketing associate at Eli Lilly, but yearned to return to the game he loves. He volunteered as an assistant coach for a very successful AAU team, but realized a golden opportunity when Matta offered him a position as Coordinator of Basketball Operations, primarily an administrative position. When Matta moved to Xaiver in Cincinnati, Lickliter moved into the head coach position and promoted Stevens to an assistant coach.
This represents a pattern at Butler in that they have been very successful in growing great coaches and promoting from within. The yield of good coaches from this program is high. Barry Collier was a player and coach at Butler before moving to the head coaching position at Nebraska. He has returned at the Butler A.D. Matta has been highly successful with a string of NCAA tournament visits including last year’s championship game. With the Lickliter move to Iowa, it appears that Butler basketball is gaining the reputation of the “cradle of coaches” similar to the reputation of its neighbor to the east, Miami University in Ohio, has achieve in football coaching.
Most of the remaining coaches have full resumes. Gary Waters at Cleveland State was highly successful as head coach of Kent St. where he had a 92 win and 60 losses over 5 years. In 2000-01, he led Kent St. into the NCAA Tournament where they upset Indiana 77 to 73. He moved on to Rutgers in ‘02, but did not have the success he had achieved at Kent St. Perry Watson has been head coach at Detroit Mercy for 15 years. He was a legendary high school coach at Detroit Southwest, had a brief stay as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan before moving to the Detroit Mercy position. In 1998, his team beat St. Johns in the first round of the NCAA Tournament followed by an upset win over UCLA in the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
Jerry Slocum at Youngstown St. has been coaching for 32 years and has amassed more than 600 wins, primarily at the Division II and III levels. He is into his third season at Youngstown State.
Collectively, the Horizon League group of coaches have substantial experience on their resumes, many of them having been assistant coaches at some of the top major conference programs. It is not surprising that the majors look to this League for new coaching talent.
The Last Amateurs
What stands out in this review of a Mid-Major conference is the emphasis on good basketball fundamentals and academic performance. Success in this League is strongly correlated to the quantity of seniors in the line-up as is exemplified by the Butler team this year where often five seniors start. Because these teams can not compete for the high school players who have a beam on playing in the NBA, their approach to teaching the basics of basketball fundamentals and strong emphasis on academic performance and graduation, representing the ideal of balancing athletics and academics that often is missing with many of the major conference programs.
John Feinstein in his “The Last Amateurs” book provides an in-depth insight into college basketball in the Patroit League, and the struggles each of the schools in this League confront simply to make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. To some extent, life in a Mid-Major conference is similar to the portrayal in the Feinstein book, but the success the Mid-Majors have had in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament is becoming more prevalent, not just an occasional upset here and there. Clearly, the Mid-Majors are achieving the ideal Feinstein describes as “playing for glory and honor” of the game many of us love.
The Season At Hand
This year’s battle for League supremacy should be between Butler and Valparaiso. Both of these programs have scheduled top major conference teams in their early season schedules, often playing away games in hostile arenas. Valparaiso has lost to Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, and the University of North Carolina. They performed respectably against Vanderbilt and Wisconsin. Butler defeated Ohio State on its home court, a game that Matta probably wishes he had not scheduled. They also beat an average Bobby Knight Texas Tech team and Virginia Tech. After the Texas Tech game, Knight expressed superlatives over quality of play by the Bulldogs.
But the chase for the League title has just begun and already, Butler’s only defeat was at the hands to Wright State, a League opponent a bus ride to the East on I-70. There will be upsets in the next two months, but one of these two teams should be standing as the champion before the League’s tournament starts.
As to players to watch, there are many from which to choose. A.J. Graves is at the top of my list, but his team mate, Mike Green also is quite impressive. Matt Howard, a freshmen, was heavily recruited by Purdue and Indiana and he has demonstrated that he has a strong future with the Bulldogs. Josh Mayo at UIC is a great shooter who has athleticism that makes him extremely dangerous.
Shoot blocking Scott Vandermeer at UIC makes space under the basket an unfriendly territory for opponents. Schachtner from UW Green bay is a good, long man who can score very effectively within 15 feet of the basket. With support from more effective guard play, he would be even more productive for the Phoenix.
Valparaiso has a number of very productive players including Sam Haanpaa, Urule Igbavboa, Shawn Huff, Jarryd Lloyd, and Jake Diebler, whose brother John plays for Matta at OSU. Nathan Bulluck at Cleveland State, J.R. Blount and Andy Polka at Loyola, Avery Smith and Paige Pulsen at UW- Milwaukee, and Brandon Cotton at Detroit are experienced players who should be watched. As the League’s race unfolds, there are other players who will emerge for mention.
Another observation about this League is the quality of officiating that seems to better than that observed in the Big Ten. The Horizon League officials are younger and therefore have more active bodies, do not seem to make as many questionable calls, and do not get into long and contentious dialogs with the coaches.
When a coach is out of line, they quickly tell them to cease, and if the coaches continue to harass, they are T’d up. I do not know about officiating in the other Big Six Conferences, nor do I know about the level of officiating in the other Mid-Major Conferences, but the Big Ten would be well-advised to take a look at the quality of officiating in the Horizon League games.
To this observer, the Horizon League has set a proper tone for its officiating crews in that they are in control of the games, but they do not become primary obstacles to enjoying games. The Big Ten might find the Mid-Major conferences a fertile ground to recruit some new officiating talent as well as coaching talent.
I am looking forward to following the teams in the League through a tough race for the championship.
