Bracketology 2024: Green Bay and Richmond among surprise title contenders

Green Bay Phoenix 17-10, 12-4 in Horizon League

The Horizon League has 11 teams in it and the Green Bay Phoenix were picked as the 11th team in the preseason poll. It seems as though the joke may be on the voters of that poll because, with just four regular-season games remaining, the Phoenix lead the Horizon League along with Oakland after Wednesday’s loss to Northern Kentucky.

The Phoenix are 17-10 under Sundance Wicks who is in his first year at the helm in Green Bay. They’ve made the NCAA Tournament just once since 1996 and Wicks in his first year has already surpassed the win total the previous regime had for three seasons.

Noah Reynolds is far and away the leader offensively for the Phoenix with 19.7 per game while shooting 51% from the field. No other player averages more than 8.6, but those other players got a huge boost of confidence in a recent game when they went on the road and knocked off Youngstown State without Reynolds.

Even though the Phoenix only score 69 points per game, they are a very efficient offensive club. In terms of effective field goal percentage they are in the top 81 on both ends of the floor, and are very good at all three levels, knocking down 35% of their threes, 54% of their twos, and 74.5% from the charity stripe and are one of the best teams in the country at defending the three, allowing opponents to shoot just 30%.