# 2024–25 Horizon League men's basketball season

The 2024–25 Horizon League men's basketball season began with practices in September 2023 and will end with the 2025 Horizon League men's basketball tournament in March 2025. This is the 45th season for Horizon League men's basketball.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes

* On March 6, 2024, IUPUI (now IU Indy) fired head coach Matt Crenshaw after three seasons. On March 25, the school hired Division II Indianapolis head coach Paul Corsaro to replace Crenshaw.
* On March 7, 2024, Detroit Mercy fired head coach Mike Davis following a 1–31 season, ending his six-year tenure with the team. On April 3, Michigan State assistant coach Mark Montgomery was named the team's new coach.
* On March 28, 2024, Wright State head coach Scott Nagy was hired as the head coach at Southern Illinois. That same day, Wright State promoted assistant Clint Sargent to head coach.
* On March 30, 2024, Youngstown State head coach Jerrod Calhoun was hired as the head coach at Utah State. On April 1, Youngstown State promoted assistant Ethan Faulkner to head coach.
* On May 12, 2024, Green Bay head coach Sundance Wicks was hired as the head coach at Wyoming after one season with the Phoenix. Two days later, Green Bay named talk radio host and Oklahoma State all-time assists leader Doug Gottlieb as head coach.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Season | Overall record | Horizon record | NCAA Tournaments |
| Cleveland State | Daniyal Robinson | Iowa State (asst.) | 3rd | 42–29 (.592) | 25–15 (.625) | 0 |
| Detroit Mercy | Mark Montgomery | Michigan State (asst.) | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Green Bay | Doug Gottlieb | none | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| IU Indy | Paul Corsaro | Indianapolis | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Milwaukee | Bart Lundy | Queens | 3rd | 42–27 (.609) | 26–14 (.650) | 0 |
| Northern Kentucky | Darrin Horn | Texas (asst.) | 6th | 97–60 (.618) | 64–32 (.667) | 2 |
| Oakland | Greg Kampe | Toledo (asst.) | 41st | 694–526 (.569) | 117–72 (.619) | 1 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Jon Coffman | IPFW (asst.) | 11th | 178–141 (.558) | 92–84 (.523) | 0 |
| Robert Morris | Andrew Toole | Robert Morris (asst.) | 15th | 226–232 (.493) | 139–115 (.547) | 2 |
| Wright State | Clint Sargent | Wright State (asst.) | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
| Youngstown State | Ethan Faulkner | Youngstown State | 1st | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 |
Notes:
* Season number includes 2024–25 season.
* Records are prior to 2024–25 season.

## Preseason
### Preseason coaches poll

2024–25 Horizon League Preseason Coaches Poll :
| Rank | Team (First Place Votes) | Points |
| 1. | Milwaukee (15) | 421 |
| 1. | Purdue Fort Wayne (14) | 421 |
| 3. | Northern Kentucky (4) | 389 |
| 4. | Oakland (5) | 345 |
| 5. | Wright State (4) | 315 |
| 6. | Youngstown State (1) | 272 |
| 7. | Cleveland State | 252 |
| 8. | Green Bay | 171 |
| 9. | Robert Morris | 148 |
| 10. | IU Indy (1) | 91 |
| 11. | Detroit Mercy | 79 |

### Preseason All-Horizon League

| First team | Second team |
| Trey Robinson, Northern Kentucky | AJ McKee, Milwaukee |
| Sam Vinson, Northern Kentucky | Erik Pratt, Milwaukee |
| Rasheed Bello, Purdue Fort Wayne | DQ Cole, Oakland |
| Jalen Jackson, Purdue Fort Wayne | Quinton Morton-Robertson, Purdue Fort Wayne |
| Brandon Noel, Wright State | Alex Huibregtse, Wright State |
| Preseason Player of the Year: Brandon Noel, Wright State ||

## Regular season
### Player of the Week awards

| Week | Player of the Week | School | Freshman of the Week | School |
| 1 | Alex Huibregtse | Wright State | Nate Johnson | Detroit Mercy |
| 2 | Rasheed Bello | Purdue Fort Wayne | Keenan Garner | IU Indy |
| 3 | Themus Fulks | Milwaukee | Antallah Sandlin-El | Robert Morris |
| 4 | DQ Cole | Oakland | DeSean Goode | IU Indy |
| 5 | EJ Farmer | Youngstown State | Je'Shawn Stevenson | Cleveland State |
| 6 | Jamichael Stillwell | Milwaukee | Je'Shawn Stevenson (2) | Cleveland State |
| 7 | Tevin Smith | Cleveland State | Je'Shawn Stevenson (3) | Cleveland State |
| 8 | Alvaro Folgueiras | Robert Morris | Je'Shawn Stevenson (4) | Cleveland State |
| 9 | Trey Robinson | Northern Kentucky | Andrea Holden | Wright State |
| 10 | Rasheed Bello (2) | Purdue Fort Wayne | DeSean Goode (2) | IU Indy |
| 11 | Jalen Jackson | Purdue Fort Wayne | Ryan Kalambay | Detroit Mercy |
| 12 | Jalen Jackson (2) | Purdue Fort Wayne | Reece Robinson | Cleveland State |
| 13 | Chase Robinson | Cleveland State | DeSean Goode (3) | IU Indy |
| 14 | Alvaro Folgueiras (2) | Robert Morris | Je'Shawn Stevenson (5) | Cleveland State |
| 15 | Alvaro Folgueiras (3) | Robert Morris | Nassim Mashhour | Oakland |
| 15 | Nico Galette | Youngstown State | Nassim Mashhour | Oakland |
| 16 | Kam Woods | Robert Morris | Nate Johnson (2) | Detroit Mercy |
| School | POTW | FOTW |
| Cleveland State | 2 | 6 |
| Detroit Mercy | 0 | 3 |
| Green Bay | 0 | 0 |
| IU Indy | 0 | 4 |
| Milwaukee | 2 | 0 |
| Northern Kentucky | 1 | 0 |
| Oakland | 1 | 1 |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | 4 | 0 |
| Robert Morris | 4 | 1 |
| Wright State | 1 | 1 |
| Youngstown State | 2 | 0 |

### Early season tournaments

The following table summarizes the multiple-team events (MTE) or early-season tournaments in which teams from the Horizon League will participate.
| Team | Tournament | Location | Dates | Finish |
| Cleveland State | Viking Invitational | Cleveland, OH | November 26–29 | – |
| Detroit Mercy | Jacksonville Classic | Jacksonville, FL | November 26–27 | N/A |
| Green Bay | Ohio State MTE | Evansville, IN Columbus, OH | November 22–30 | – |
| IU Indy | Bulldog Bash | Huntsville, AL | November 22–25 | – |
| Milwaukee | Cream City Classic | Milwaukee, WI | November 22–24 | – |
| Northern Kentucky | Twyman-Stokes NKU Classic | Highland Heights, KY | November 14–19 | – |
| Oakland | Diamond Head Classic | Honolulu, HI | November 22–23 | 4th |
| Purdue Fort Wayne | Sunshine Slam | Daytona Beach, FL | November 20–26 | – |
| Robert Morris | Urban-Bennett Invitational | Moon Township, PA | November 14–17 | – |
| Wright State | Myrtle Beach Invitational | Conway, SC | November 21–24 | 4th |
| Youngstown State | Axe 'Em Classic | Nacogdoches, TX | November 21–23 | – |

## Postseason
### Horizon League tournament

The conference tournament will be played from March 4 to March 11, 2025. The first round and quarterfinals are hosted at campus sites, while the semifinals and finals are held at Corteva Coliseum (formerly Indiana Farmers Coliseum) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Teams are seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary. The top five teams receive a bye to the quarterfinals and the bracket is re-seeded after every round.

## National awards
### Preseason watchlists

Horizon League players were selected to the following preseason award watchlists:
| | Henson |
| Rasheed Bello, Purdue Fort Wayne | Y |
| AJ McKee, Milwaukee | Y |
| Brandon Noel, Wright State | Y |

## Conference awards

2025 Horizon League Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Alvaro Folgueiras, Robert Morris |
| Coach of the Year | Andy Toole, Robert Morris |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Amarion Dickerson, Robert Morris |
| Sixth Man of the Year | Chase Robinson, Cleveland State |
| Freshman of the Year | Je'Shawn Stevenson, Cleveland State |
| Newcomer of the Year | Jamichael Stillwell, Milwaukee |
| Sportsmanship Award | Jalen Jackson, Purdue Fort Wayne |
| Reference: ||||
2025 Horizon Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | Defensive Team | Freshman Team |
| Tevin Smith, CSU Jamichael Stillwell, Milwaukee Rasheed Bello, PFW Jalen Jackson, PFW Alvaro Folgueiras, RMU | Themus Fulks, MKE Allen Mukeba, OAK Amarion Dickerson, RMU Kam Woods, RMU Brandon Noel, WSU | Dylan Arnett, CSU Tahj Staveskie, CSU Trey Robinson, NKU EJ Farmer, YSU Nico Galette, YSU | Reece Robinson, CSU Je'Shawn Stevenson, CSU Nate Johnson, DMU DeSean Goode, IUI Solomon Callaghan, WSU | Dylan Arnett, CSU Tevin Smith, CSU Rasheed Bello, PFW Amarion Dickerson, RMU Gabe Dynes, YSU |