HORIZON LEAGUE CBB CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW 2012

The Horizon League Men's College Basketball Tournament is set and will begin on Tuesday February 28. Valparaiso finished with a 21-10 overall record and a 14-4 record in the Conference to finish 1st in the regular season. Cleveland State earned the 2nd seed and a bye into the semi-finals. The Horizon League tournament is a little different from other tournaments as the Top 2 seeds advance automatically into the semi-finals.

Detroit, Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Butler all tied for 3rd with 11-7 conference records with Detroit getting the #3 seed due to a 3-1 record against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Butler. Wisconsin-Milwaukee will grab the #4 seed and Butler sits in the #5 seed which is their worst seeding since 2005.

Youngstown State and Wisconsin Green Bay finished at 10-8 in the conference and will be seeded #6 and #7 respectively and will meet in the 1st round on Tuesday. This is the first time in the 33 year history of the Horizon Conference that seven teams have finished with 10 wins or more in conference play.

Here is a view of the upcoming tournament schedule:

2012 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship: First Round - Tuesday, Feb. 28 (campus sites) Game 1: (10) Loyola at (3) Detroit, 7 p.m. ET Game 2: (7) Green Bay at (6) Youngstown State, 7:05 p.m. ET Game 3: (9) UIC at (4) Milwaukee, 8 p.m. ET Game 4: (8) Wright State at (5) Butler, 7 p.m. ET

Second Round - Friday, March 2 (Valparaiso) Game 5: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 6 p.m. ET (Horizon League Network | ESPN3) Game 6: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 8:30 p.m. ET (Horizon League Network | ESPN3)

Semifinals - Saturday, March 3 (Valparaiso) Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. (2) Cleveland State, 6 p.m. ET (ESPNU - tape delayed at 10:30 p.m. ET; live on ESPN3) Game 8: Game 6 winner at (1) Valparaiso, 8:30 p.m. ET (ESPNU)

Championship - Tuesday, March 6 (highest remaining seed) Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner

Let's take a look at the Rocketman Power Ratings for the Horizon League. My ratings differ from the seedings so we'll look to take advantage of some soft lines here.

1. Cleveland State 78.32
2. Butler 77.45
3. Valparaiso 75.93
4. Detroit 75.53
5. Youngstown State 74.52
6. Wisconsin Milwaukee 74
7. Wisconsin Green Bay 73.64
8. Wright State 69.49
9. Loyola Chicago 67.65
10. Illinois Chicago 63.41

I have felt like Cleveland State was the Top team in the Horizon League all year and they finished on Top in my ratings. Butler has had an off year compared to what they normally do but this is still a very dangerous team come tournament time. Valparaiso should make some noise especially with them playing on their home court and having to only win 2 games at home to advance to the Big Dance.

ROCKETMAN HORIZON WINNER: CLEVELAND STATE

ROCKETMAN SLEEPER: BUTLER

ROCKETMAN LONG SHOT: DETROIT

The Rocketman is now 26-16 62% his last 42 College Basketball releases! Rocketman has cashed an amazing 60% the past 4 YEARS with all his College Basketball picks and that includes two documented #1 CBB Titles the past 4 years alone! Make sure you join the Rocketman for all his March Madness selections! Rocketman cashed a very nice 90% two years ago in March Madness!

Rocketman Sports

HORIZON LEAGUE CBB CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT PREVIEW 2012

Many years ago I received a newsletter from Mike Lee, a sports handicapper who just recently passed away in the past few years. I?m not sure if he came up with this Returning starter angle or if he was just passing it along but it has really been a nice addition to my own personal handicapping arsenal. He had said in his newsletter that the previous year the angle had hit above 70%. I was skeptical but I started following the angle and the next two years it achieved the 70%+ mark again. In recent years the angle has not been as strong but still profitable.

The Returning Starter angle is as follows: Play On: Any team returning five or more net starters against their opponent. I use Marc Lawrence?s Playbook Yearbook for returning starter information. Go down the list and compare each team?s returning starters. An example from the 1st week would be Mississippi State vs Memphis. Mississippi State has 15 starters returning for Head Coach Dan Mullen while Memphis returns only 9 starters for Head Coach Larry Porter. That?s a difference a 6 returning starters in favor of Mississippi State. Mississippi State won the game easily by a score of 59-14 in the Thursday night opener.

Let?s take a look at this week?s returning starter angle and see if it can produce us another winning week. Keep in mind several other factors should go into your handicapping methods, so be sure to use this as an addition to your overall handicapping formula. We?ll put returning starters in parenthesis.

Week 1 Results only 2-6 ATS and Week 2 were 6-5 ATS and Week 3 3-5 ATS and Week 4 5-3 ATS and Week 5 4-4 ATS and Week 6 6-2 ATS and Week 7 9-5 ATS. We?ll keep a running total for the season.

Cincinnati (16) vs South Florida (10) Play On: Cincinnati

Texas A&M (18) vs Iowa State (13) Play On: Texas A&M

Army (11) vs Vanderbilt (19) Play On: Vanderbilt

Memphis (9) vs Tulane (14) Play On: Tulane

Oregon State (12) vs Washington State (17) Play On: Washington State

Auburn (6) vs LSU (15) Play On: LSU

New Mexico State (17) vs Hawaii (9) Play On: New Mexico State

Louisiana Lafayette (12) vs Western Kentucky (17) Play On: Western Kentucky

Louisiana Monroe (19) vs North Texas (13) Play On: Louisiana Monroe

Hope this helps you find some extra winners this week! Keep in mind the Rocketman has won 13 of 15 years overall in football in his history and 14 out of 15 years in all sports combined in his history as a Sports Analyst! Be sure to get on board this week with us! I have a 3* CFB play for Friday night, THREE TOP RATED 5* CFB plays and two 3* CFB plays going on Saturday! Also hopefully some NHL to mix in with it where I have several documented #1 titles! I am on a 25-15 63% run my last 41 picks in all sports! Also I cashed my TOP and only Nascar play last weekend. Hopefully we?ll have some more Nascar for you this Sunday!

CFB RETURNING STARTER ANGLE WEEK 8 (2011)