Midseason all-Horizon League teams

[dylanrocks]

Here's one man's all-Horizon League team at the season's midway point (The additional guard on each team is a nod to the league's wealth of quality at that position):

First team
PG — DaShaun Wood, Wright State
SG — A.J. Graves, Butler
SG — Quin Humphrey, Youngstown State
PF — Othyus Jeffers, UIC
C — Ryvon Coville, Detroit

Second team
PG — Brandon Cotton, Detroit
SG — Blake Schilb, Loyola
SG — Avery Smith, Milwaukee
PF — Leon Young, Loyola
C — Mike Schachtner, UWGB

Third team
PG — J.R. Blount, Loyola
SG — Keston Roberts, Youngstown State
SG — T.J. Gray, UIC
PF — Paige Paulsen, Milwaukee
C — Jordan Pleimann, Wright State

Player of the Year — A.J. Graves
Coach of the Year — Todd Lickliter

[Pantherholic]

did u forget Evanochko? he's averaging 15 ppg & 5 apg.

Paige should be in contention for Newcomer of the Year since he's averaging 11.5 ppg and 6 rpg. those stats are better than Duggins/Brown for WSU, Cotton for GB and Polka for LU.

[dylanrocks]

I should have added that this wasn't an easy process and several fine players were omitted, Evanochko certainly being one of them. On how many shots per game is he averaging 15 ppg? Is he better than Wood, Cotton or Blount?

[Pantherholic]

if he's not 1st team, there's no way he isn't 2nd team. there's no way Keston Roberts gets on any team and GB's leader in assists & scoring misses out.

[dylanrocks]

Good points, ’Holic. Therein lies the danger of trying to stick to strict position categories. Another strong candidate for honors would be J'Nathan Bullock (14.3 points, 6.6 rebounds). Of course, his team has only won one game.

[uwm9]

Ryan is at least a 2nd team all conf player

[nil]

You are crazy if you think Mike Green of Butler doesnt belong in at least the 2nd team!!!

[JimmyLemke]

I agree with AB. Mike Green is doing a helluva good job this season as A.J. Graves personal Robin to his Batman.

I don't know, Holic. I think Keston Roberts is the biggest reason that YSU is having a great season. You can't say it's Quin Humphries, his numbers certainly aren't much better than last season.

I also agree with Paul. I don't believe a player should get on an all-conference team based on points per game alone, especially when he dribbles up the court and shoots. Evanochko should be on, but for other reasons...as in, unlike Schactner, he plays DEFENSE.

[Pantherholic]

i'm not saying Roberts shouldn't be on but there's no way he gets on either team and Evanochko gets snubbed unless his play plummets. the HL selections typically favors seniors and considering Evanochko is a senior, as well as leading his team in scoring and assists, there's no way they'll suddenly drop him out of the selections.

[brewtownbrian]

This is certainly a tough thing to do, but I spent the last hour or so looking over stats and here is what I came up with:

Note: position was not factored in, b/c I don't think it is for the final HL teams...?

1st-team:
-DeShaun Wood (WSU) 19.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.63 apg, 1.92 spg
-Quin Humphrey (YSU) 18.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.88 apg, 1.42 spg
-Blake Schilb (LU) 16.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.91 apg, 1.26 spg
-Othyus Jeffers (UIC) 16.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 2.42 apg, 1.75 spg
-Ryvon Coville (UDM) 13.0 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 1.65 bpg, 54%FG

2nd-team:
-AJ Graves (BU) 18.0 ppg, 2.3 apg, 1.43 spg
-Brandon Cotton (UDM) 18.6 ppg, 47%FG; very good for a perimeter player
-Ryan Evanochko (UWGB) 15.4 ppg, 5.46 apg, 2.38 asst/TO ratio
-Mike Green (BU) 13.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.92 apg
-J'Nathan Bullock (CSU) 13.7 ppg, 6.5 rpg

If you look at the stats and see who is really the best all-around players, statistically speaking...I think you'll find that even though UIC and YSU are struggling in the standings, what Humphrey and Jeffers are doing is pretty damn good. Same thing with Bullock. I know CSU is pretty bad, but he's averaging 13.7 ppg and 6.5 rpg. Those are better numbers than Schachtner or Paulsen.

[dylanrocks]

Brewtown, here's the problem: You have the top player from the No. 9 team in the country and a candidate for some form of all-American honors on your all-league second team. I think you'd have a hard time selling that to the conference coaches or, for that matter, coaches at any level.

[brewtownbrian]

You're probably right.

And with every all-conference team an argument can be made for certain guys instead of others.

I don't have the luxury of watching Graves every game and seeing the little things that he does that don't show up on a stat sheet. Because I only watch every UWM game, I can't factor in those other things that don't appear on a stat sheet. If I did, I'd probably have him on the 1st-team.

My selections had more to do with stats than it did with the intangible stuff. And if you look over the stats, he scores and dishes out assists consistently and that's pretty much it. That is certainly not a true measure of his value. He also runs the offense, plays really solid D and in general, leads that Butler team.

I'm sure he'll get voted 1st-team b/c all the HL coaches have a ton of respect for him, but if you factor in stats heavily, he's a 2nd-teamer.

[BBFran]

A.J. Graves is the best player in the league, period. It's incredible even to think of leaving him off the first team. Impossible.

[brewtownbrian]

It's not that incredible if you consider that I was putting together the teams based on the stats, not other factors.

If you read my previous post carefully, and thoroughly, you'll see that I said,

"My selections had more to do with stats than it did with the intangible stuff."

I also posted, "That is certainly not a true measure of his value. He also runs the offense, plays really solid D and in general, leads that Butler team."

And furthermore, I posted, "I'm sure he'll get voted 1st-team b/c all the HL coaches have a ton of respect for him, but if you factor in stats heavily, he's a 2nd-teamer."

So, I don't know how to be more clear...my all-conference teams were based mostly on the available stats, not what I actually think will be the teams at the end of the year. I'm a stats guy and looked closely at the league stats to determine who is playing the best, statistically speaking.

I see that dylanrocks would swap out Schilb for Graves and that makes total sense. Schilb has been somewhat of a let down this season.

BBFran, I'm curious to know what your 1st and 2nd team's would look like.