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Horizon League Basketball: 2021 Conference Tournament preview, predictions

By Ryan Kay

DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Loudon Love #11 walks by head coach Scott Nagy of the Wright State Raiders in the final minutes against the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Loudon Love #11 walks by head coach Scott Nagy of the Wright State Raiders in the final minutes against the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Horizon League Basketball (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
Horizon League Basketball (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

Cleveland State along with Wright State finished as the Horizon League Basketball regular-season champions as both teams finished with a 16-4 conference record. Like last season, no team from the Horizon was part of any major upsets in non-conference play.

However, the Raiders for example have a good Net Ranking for a mid-major but no team in the Horizon would make it as an at-large for the NCAA tournament this year. Wright State or any other Horizon League team needs to win the conference tournament in order to make the 2021 NCAA tournament.

The Horizon League tournament is a 12-team field as opposed to last year’s tournament when only nine-team teams participated in the tournament and it is not a guarantee that Wright State the favorite, will win the Horizon League tournament title and earn a berth in the NCAA tournament.

The tournament format is different from last year’s format and it is the first conference tournament to start in the month of February in college basketball this year. It is once again unique in comparison to other conference tournaments as well. If you look at the first-round matchups below, you will see that four teams get first-round byes.

No. 8 seed Milwaukee at No. 9 seed IUPUI

No. 10 Purdue Fort Wayne at No. 7 Green Bay

No. 11 UIC at No. 6 Youngstown State

No. 12 Robert Morris at No. 5 Detroit Mercy

There are some intriguing matchups to begin the tournament as not all teams have played in all of their scheduled games this season due to COVID-19 issues and protocols. The seeding for this tournament was based on a formula created by the Horizon League conference to ensure that teams that played a full schedule what not be penalized as some teams like Oakland may have more conference losses than another team but received a higher seed due to their overall conference victories.

Cleveland State the No. 1 seed, Wright State the No. 2 seed, Oakland No. 3 seed, and Northern Kentucky the No. 4 seed get a first-round bye in this year’s tournament. Let’s take a look at each of the twelve teams vying for the conference tournament title.