“We want to be the first team to do it. We’re trying to make history.”
The Penguins have never finished higher than fourth in the Horizon League and are seeded seventh in the conference tourney.
But in a year that has seen unprecedented balance in the top half of the league, Cohill’s lofty ambitions don’t seem so out of place.
Co-champions Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne both finished 15-6. That’s the most losses for the regular-season winner in league history, which officially goes back to 1979-80.
Third-place Northern Kentucky (14-6) and fourth-place Wright State (15-7) finished a half-game out of first, while Oakland (12-7) and Detroit Mercy (10-7) had just one more loss than the champs.
YSU (12-9) appears to have the firepower to make a run, too.
Even Wright State coach Scott Nagy — whose team swept PFW and Oakland and was swept by CSU and NKU — can’t remember a time when the tourney had so many teams with legitimate title hopes.
“There are seven or eight of us saying, ‘You know we can win this thing,’” he said.
The contenders (by seed with their NET ranking):
1. Cleveland State (173): The Vikings claimed their second straight regular-season title (they shared it with Wright State last year), but they aren’t going into the tourney with the same mojo. The schedule did them no favors, putting them on the road for their last five games. They lost three of them, falling at Detroit Mercy and Oakland last week. They may be the top seed, but no one will be surprised to see an early exit.
2. Purdue Fort Wayne (226): In only their second year in the league, the Mastodons won their last nine games and pulled off an impressive turnaround from their 6-14 maiden season. The top three teams in the standings all missed games against IUPUI, which is about as close to an automatic win as the league offers. But to their credit, CSU and PFW played a third time to get another game in. The Mastodons prevailed, 102-98, in three overtimes at home in what likely was the league game of the year.
3. Northern Kentucky (206): The Norse have won three of the last five league tourneys (2017, ‘19 and ‘20) and are capable of doing it again. They have an explosive guard in Marques Warrick and surround him with ample athleticism. And they’re one of the HL’s hottest teams, having won three straight and 10 of their last 12.
4. Wright State (209): The Raiders have been puzzling all year. They returned four starters, including all-league picks Grant Basile and Tanner Holden, but they’ve lacked consistency for such a veteran team. Still, after a 2-7 start, they finished 16-6. They missed out on a fourth straight regular-season crown, but they’ll be a tough out in the tourney.
5. Oakland (153): The league’s top-ranked team in the NET fizzled at the end of the season before knocking off Cleveland State on Saturday. The Grizzlies beat Oklahoma State on the road and started 7-2, prompting CSU coach Dennis Gates to anoint them as a potential NCAA at-large team. That didn’t pan out, but with player of the year candidate Jamal Cain and assist specialist Jalen Moore, they have a high ceiling.
6. Detroit Mercy (229): The Titans pulled off some stunning wins in the last two weeks, beating Northern Kentucky, Wright State and Cleveland State. But all of them were at home, where they had a 15-game winning streak over two seasons before losing to Fort Wayne on Saturday. They get one home game against Green Bay, but they’ll have to win three straight away from Dick Vitale Court to claim the title.
7. Youngstown State (242): The Penguins, who open at home against Robert Morris, are getting 14 points per game from Michael Akuchie and Cohill, but their supporting players are going to need to rise up if they hope to advance. Like several teams in the league, they have athletes at every position, which make them a tough matchup for those who get it done with bigger lineups like Wright State.
Capable of advancing
8. UIC (291): SOMEBODY had to fill the eighth spot and get a first-round home game, but after a 9-10 league finish, the Flames don’t deserve to take any bows. They’re probably just grateful to be playing. The HL initially declared them ineligible for the tourney (and banned all other UIC winter and spring sports from the postseason) for jumping to the Missouri Valley Conference without providing the required one-year notice. The league, under heavy criticism, had a change of heart and reinstated them.
9. Milwaukee (330): One of four HL teams with NET ratings among the bottom 28 teams nationally, the Panthers (8-14) seemed to play better without top-five national recruit Patrick Baldwin Jr. The coach’s son has been nursing an ankle injury all season and has appeared in only 11 games, missing the team’s best win, an upset of Wright State. The 6-9 forward averages 12.1 points and 5.9 rebounds. Decent numbers for a freshman, but far below what was expected.
10. Robert Morris (331): Nagy goes out of his way to heap praise on RM coach Andrew Toole — and he’s not one to toss around compliments unless he means them. But it’s hard to figure out what he sees in the Colonials. They’re 11-38 in two years since joining the HL, and they’re probably regretting the move from the NEC at the moment since they were coming off a league tourney crown.
Can we get the season over with, please?
11. Green Bay (344): The Phoenix went 5-24 overall and 4-15 in the league this season. They were 8-17 and 8-12 last season. Tell us again why Linc Darner was fired? He had winning seasons in four of his five years there and made an NCAA tourney trip in 2015. They also had a rising star in Trotwood-Madison product Amari Davis, who didn’t like Will Ryan’s methodical offense and transferred to Missouri. He’s third on the team in scoring with a 9.3 average.
12. IUPUI (358): There are 358 Division-I teams in the country, and the Jaguars are ranked dead last in the NET. That’s what happens when you go 3-25 overall and 1-16 in a league that’s not having an especially good year. The semifinals and finals of the tourney will be played on their home court, Indiana Farmers Coliseum, on March 7 and 8. The games will be broadcast on various ESPN channels in case the Jaguars care to watch.
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