NCAA Basketball: Cleveland State, Nebraska and Villanova make up Mailbag
By Bryan Mauro
1. Who did I pick to win the Horizon League Tournament? – Chris Thedinga (@CThedinga)
Late last week an article was published that looked at my picks for all 31 conference tournaments and the biggest sleeper in each conference tournament to make a run. The Horizon League Tournament was the first conference tournament to start and doesn’t finish up until Tuesday night. The tournament is nuts every single year with a ton of upsets of the top seeds.
This year has not disappointed so far as the No. 2 seed Wright State Raiders are already out as they were upset by Milwaukee. That is okay though, while I am sure some of you individuals picked Wright State in your Jerome bracket they were not the team that I picked to win it all. I went out on a limb and picked the team who won the regular season and who looked like the best team in the Horizon all season long the Cleveland State Vikings.
The Vikings have everything they are going to need to win this tournament including three scoring guards. Cleveland State isn’t going to light the nets on fire and is likely going to be overwhelmed by a one seed in the NCAA tournament but they are the best team in the Horizon this year. The backcourt led by Torrey Patton, D’Moi Hodge, and Tre Gomillion is extremely balanced and all of them can get hot and carry this team.
Head coach Dennis Gates is a hot name in coaching circles to get a bigger job at the end of the year due in large part to the quick turnaround he executed at Cleveland State. The Vikings are the best remaining team in the tournament but who knows what can happen given the way this tournament usually goes.