detroit titans ( 9-7 / 14-14 )
at
uw-milwaukee panthers ( 14-2 / 23-5 )
horizon league and espn couldnt have asked for a better championship game in this conference. both of these teams are dominating their opponents right now, but obviously doing it in different ways.
milwaukee has the #1 offense in the horizon
* scoring average: 75.0 ppg
* average margin of win in league play: 11.8
detroit has the #1 defense in the horizon (and one of the best in the country)
* allowing just 58.8 ppg
* holding opponents to 39.3% from the field
* best rebounding team in horizon at +7 rpg
season series:
1/3/05 at milwaukee.....detroit 76-68
1/22/05 at detroit .......milwaukee 61-48
milwaukee is definitely the class of this conference. theyre solid in every area of the game and they score in bunches. theyve legitimately got four guys that can beat you, and their starting five is as good as youll find at any level of college hoops. mccants is a stud and capable of scoring from everywhere on the floor. putting him on the line doesnt help either, as he's 83% from there. tucker and tigert are solid inside and each is capable of having a 16 or 18 point night every time out. theres just not a lot of weaknesses on this team.
detroit, however, is the one team in this conference that can match up with milwaukee. as good as the starting 5 is for milwaukee (and its friggin good), detroit will have the best player on the floor tonight in brandon cotton. any time you have a mcdonalds all-american on a horizon league roster, youre gonna be able to compete. cotton has scored 45 of the titans 122 pts in the 2 horizon tourney games and has averaged almost 22 ppg in his last 5. the kid can just flat out score. but detroit hangs their hat on their defense.
* theyve held their last 6 opponents this season to 53.8 ppg
* in their last 6 horizon league tourney games (spanning 3 years) theyve allowed 51.6 ppg
so it should be pretty clear how detroit is gonna try and win this game. what stands out to me, though, is the way detroit played defense on milwaukee in the two meetings this year. titans held uwm to 32% and 36% from the field. they also won the battle of the boards in both games (44-37 and 42-40). very few teams, if any, can go toe-to-toe with milwaukee like that.
im backing detroit here. its not easy for me to go against milwaukee because theyre a team capable of a blowout every time they step on the floor. but the titans match up really well with uwm and cotton is giving this team something they havent had in the last few years: a bona fide scorer to go with a top-flight defense. milwaukee wants this game in the 70s. detroit wants it in the 50s. its gonna be a real battle to establish tempo. if detroit can avoid extended scoring droughts (which is my only concern, as the titans sometimes go a few minutes w/o scoring) then they should be right there at the end.
PLAYING: DETROIT TITANS (+9)
at
uw-milwaukee panthers ( 14-2 / 23-5 )
horizon league and espn couldnt have asked for a better championship game in this conference. both of these teams are dominating their opponents right now, but obviously doing it in different ways.
milwaukee has the #1 offense in the horizon
* scoring average: 75.0 ppg
* average margin of win in league play: 11.8
detroit has the #1 defense in the horizon (and one of the best in the country)
* allowing just 58.8 ppg
* holding opponents to 39.3% from the field
* best rebounding team in horizon at +7 rpg
season series:
1/3/05 at milwaukee.....detroit 76-68
1/22/05 at detroit .......milwaukee 61-48
milwaukee is definitely the class of this conference. theyre solid in every area of the game and they score in bunches. theyve legitimately got four guys that can beat you, and their starting five is as good as youll find at any level of college hoops. mccants is a stud and capable of scoring from everywhere on the floor. putting him on the line doesnt help either, as he's 83% from there. tucker and tigert are solid inside and each is capable of having a 16 or 18 point night every time out. theres just not a lot of weaknesses on this team.
detroit, however, is the one team in this conference that can match up with milwaukee. as good as the starting 5 is for milwaukee (and its friggin good), detroit will have the best player on the floor tonight in brandon cotton. any time you have a mcdonalds all-american on a horizon league roster, youre gonna be able to compete. cotton has scored 45 of the titans 122 pts in the 2 horizon tourney games and has averaged almost 22 ppg in his last 5. the kid can just flat out score. but detroit hangs their hat on their defense.
* theyve held their last 6 opponents this season to 53.8 ppg
* in their last 6 horizon league tourney games (spanning 3 years) theyve allowed 51.6 ppg
so it should be pretty clear how detroit is gonna try and win this game. what stands out to me, though, is the way detroit played defense on milwaukee in the two meetings this year. titans held uwm to 32% and 36% from the field. they also won the battle of the boards in both games (44-37 and 42-40). very few teams, if any, can go toe-to-toe with milwaukee like that.
im backing detroit here. its not easy for me to go against milwaukee because theyre a team capable of a blowout every time they step on the floor. but the titans match up really well with uwm and cotton is giving this team something they havent had in the last few years: a bona fide scorer to go with a top-flight defense. milwaukee wants this game in the 70s. detroit wants it in the 50s. its gonna be a real battle to establish tempo. if detroit can avoid extended scoring droughts (which is my only concern, as the titans sometimes go a few minutes w/o scoring) then they should be right there at the end.
PLAYING: DETROIT TITANS (+9)
