Horizon League historical strength

[SRT4driver]

Another way to tell how historically bad of a season the HL is having is by looking at the number of terrible teams (sub-250 RPI) in the league each year. Looking back, the HL's never had more than 1-2 "RPI anchors" per season, until the last 4 years...


HL RPI finish - Year - sub-250 finishers - teams

15 '03-04 - 2 - YSU 256, CSU 306
20 '04-05 - 2 - CSU 280, YSU 326
15 '05-06 - 1 - YSU 304
12 '06-07 - 1 - CSU 266
11 '07-08 - 1 - UDM 287 *Valpo joined*
12 '08-09 - 2 - Valpo 260, UDM 281
12 '09-10 - 2 - YSU 269, UIC 288
12 '10-11 - 2 - UIC 289, YSU 291
13 '11-12 - 2 - UIC 298, LOY 310
12 '12-13 - 1 - MKE 310  *Butler departed for A-10*
14 '13-14 - 1 - UIC 317  *Loyola departed for Valley; Oakland joined*
17 '14-15 - 3 - WSU 267, YSU 296, UIC 297
18 '15-16 - 4 - YSU 272, CSU 277, NKU 296, UIC 346 *NKU joined*
18 '16-17 - 4 - YSU 256, MKE 260, CSU 263, UDM 289
28 '17-18 - 6 - 263, 290, 312, 319, 322, 344  *Valpo departed for Valley; IUPUI joined*

[BBFran]

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. There are -- possibly -- three one eyed men in the HL: NKU, OU and UWM.

Oh, the excitement! Which of us will get the chance to be embarrassed in Dayton!?

[nickpanther]

Making it to the Dance is a positive Fran. even if, as likely, we'd get a playin game. Who knows, if we win the HL championship game and get to the dance last year, whether Baldwin is our coach now? any time, for my money, you get to the Dance, is a good thing. and 1 or 2 very low seeds make runs every year it seems, Florida Gulf Coast, Middle Tennessee state, etc. they make the run and get into the spotlight, as we did in 2005. what the program needs , imo, is a run like that.

[BBFran]

Sure, but what chance do you have to make a run when you will most likely be paired against a 1 seed even if you survive Dayton? That’s what the collapse of the league has done to us.

Of course, logically we have only a 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 chance even to get to the play-in, so no sense getting ahead of ourselves.

The kids are playing good basketball. It’s a shame the administration has failed them. Again.

[nickpanther]

I would suggest rooting for the kids, in spite of the administration. which I agree has not served the school or athletics well. Consistency is needed, and we've lacked that for a long time on the AD end. in the meantime, I'm going to watch the kids play, this team has the makings of a very good one. a good team SHOUlD feast on a conference like this, its why Gonzaga's made the dance going on 20 straight years- their conference isnt a threat to them.

[BBFran]

The West Coast conference hasn't been lower ranked than 14th since 2002. The Horizon is currently 25th!

I root for the kids too. But the administration needs a complete change before it gets another penny from me. That's what mendacity and incompetence buy you: the desertion of your biggest supporters - not to mention of your everyday fans, as is only too obvious from our plummeting attendance.

The administration is the dead weight anchor that will prevent us from ever getting our program's head above water again. Keeping a ruinous administration in favor of "consistency" is madness. Imagine if, just once, we simply hired a competent, honest leader and manager as our AD. What a concept!

[nickpanther]

let me be clear Fran, by consistency I mean stability and good performance on the AD end, which, by necessity requires good leadership. poor leadership does not lead to consistency. we need a new administration, imo. some one who can 'sell' UWM to the area, and support our coaches and players. when was the last time we had that? Look at Wisconsin, they've had the same AD for 10+ years. yes it also helps they are a high major, with much deeper pockets than we do, and have been to 19 straight Tourneys (although that streak is in jeopardy this year). but it all starts with the AD. get a good AD who makes good decisions on coaches, and things flow from there.