Whenever I fly somewhere, I always take a moment to examine the giant “departures” board, that airport staple doing its honest best to document every outbound flight on gigantic LED screens. The concept of the board is a little dated in an era of digital boarding passes with links to a concourse map showing the every-300-feet Starbucks locations, and airline apps that send push notifications if a flight is delayed.

As the first week of the college basketball regular season came and went, it’s safe to say that the Detroit Mercy Titans men’s basketball team certainly didn’t have the week that they were hoping to have. After dropping an opening decision to the UIC Flames in a 91-71 decision on the road Monday night, the trip to South Bend ended with a loss to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by a score of 102-70 on Friday night.

Sometimes when you face a big cat, you get B1G scratched. Northwestern did not serve up any ingredients for upset potion on Monday night as they dominated Cleveland State 110-63. The Wildcats cut up the Vikings defense early, establishing the paint, taking advantage in transition off turnovers and sinking threes as soon as the defense collapsed in. Northwestern dominated the glass and shot a better percentage from three than I did on my college calculus final.

It may not have been the prettiest game, but after starting the 2025-26 season on the road for its opening pair of games, the Green Bay Phoenix men won its home opener over in state, D3 foe Ripon College, taking down the Redhawks 83-63 in front of a packed Kress Center on Monday afternoon. Early on, Green Bay found itself deadlocked, against a smaller school, in front of school kids from all around the area, very reminiscent of a certain game last season.

The Youngstown State men's basketball team (2-1) overcame a slow start and eventually found their way to a 115-53 blowout of the Penn State-Shenango Nittany Lions (1-2) on Monday evening at Zidian Family Arena at Beeghly Center. PSU-Shenango head coach Michael Wernicki, who spent 12 seasons as YSU's Associate Head Coach (2006-18) under both Jerry Slocum and Jerrod Calhoun, had his Nittany Lions squad ready to go as they had the lead five different times through the first 7:34 of the contest.

MOON TOWNSHIP – The UPMC Center was buzzing as RMU men's basketball (2-1) weathered Geneva (0-1) in Monday night exhibition play with a final tally of 93-47. The 2025 Horizon League champions returned to their home court after a successful road trip to Drake, ending the Bulldogs' non-conference win streak dating back to 2016 by a score of 81-79 in overtime.

Entering Friday night, the expectations surrounding how Oakland would fare taking on the top ranked team in the land inside maybe the most hostile arena in college basketball were low. After the loss that took place on opening night at Michigan, it was a fair assessment. But head coach Greg Kampe said postgame he liked what he saw in Ann Arbor, and after an 87-77 loss at Purdue on Friday night, the veteran coach might be more understood.

There is no earthly or sane reason that anyone should do this to themselves. A sane person would have just waited until after the second week of the regular season to start cranking these rankings out. But, as you’ve probably figured out over more than a decade, I am not that person. So, given the most limited of data points and the promise that these will undoubtedly serve as a foundation for teams to significantly improve or decline as the season wears on, with no more ado, here’s how the Horizon League men’s basketball teams shape up after Week 1:

INDIANAPOLIS – The IU Indianapolis Jaguars took on last year’s MAC Champion, the Ball State Cardinals, Sunday at home in The Jungle. The Jaguars fought to keep the battle close, but Ball State mana…

In a contest that largely defies clean explanation, Cleveland State overcame a slow start, a resulting 12-point second-quarter deficit, Colbi Maples’ severe foul trouble, and a staggering 32 turnovers, to improve to 2-0 with a 68-61 victory at Cal State Fullerton on Sunday. Nevertheless, here’s an attempt at identifying five things that stood out through the chaos. 1. One of the major storylines on Sunday concerned Cleveland State’s ability to handle Fullerton’s intense, press-whenever-possible defense.

The 2025-26 season is now officially underway, and Bob and Jim break down everything that went down in the Horizon League in the first week of competition. Subscribe: ⁠⁠⁠horizoneroundtable.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ Donate: ⁠⁠⁠horizoneoundtable.com/donate⁠⁠⁠ Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/horizoneroundtable

Creating Podcasts and Content

NKU traveled to Knoxville for their second game of the season as they took on the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers at the Food City Center on Saturday. NKU came out strong but ultimately fell short down the stretch, as the Volunteers defeated the Norse 95-56 in front of a packed house. From the tip-off, the Norse showed they were not intimidated by the moment.

It was a terrific evening on the hardwood for the Youngstown State Penguins basketball teams as Melissa Jackson and Ethan Faulkner's clubs pulled off a west coast sweep under the Friday night lights. The women's team defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks 65-58 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Folks, ND; while the men's team knocked off the Grand Canyon Antelopes 90-81 and silenced their 7,142 fans at the Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix, AZ.