Horizon League Basketball: 2021 Conference Tournament preview, predictions
By Ryan Kay
The Favorite to Win – Wright State
Some may argue that Wright State may not be the favorites to win this year’s conference tournament. They are vulnerable as they have lost conference games to Oakland, Northern Kentucky, Cleveland State, and Youngstown State but overall they have a first-round bye in the conference tournament and they will be tough to beat due to their frontcourt, depth, and upperclassmen leadership. They have two-star players and they have a very solid starting five.
The team that may surprise by winning the tournament – Detroit Mercy
They do not have a first-round bye but they should beat the last place team at home as they had just done this past weekend in their opening tournament game. They have won ten of their last twelve games and they have beat four of the top seven seeds in the conference at least once including an impressive road victory at No. 1 seed Cleveland State.
They can shoot beyond the arc and can score points in a hurry and they are lead by conference player of the year candidate Antoine Davis who can do it all as a guard. It would not be a total shock and surprise if they found a way to win this tournament.
A team to keep an eye on – Oakland
It would be difficult for them to win the tournament due to their lack of overall depth especially in the frontcourt as they have talent but are young up front. However, the Golden Grizzlies could easily make it interesting if they win their second-round game on their home court and get a favorable matchup in the semifinals.
They could easily have a very favorable match-up for their first game of the conference tournament and they have a dynamic backcourt in Jalen Moore and Rashad Williams even though both have not played well as of late. Their frontcourt is improving every game and they are the team to keep a close eye out for in this tournament.