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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 11:44 PM Tuesday, October 20, 2009

No surprise that Butler has been chosen as the favorite to win the Horizon League men’s basketball championship this season.

The surprise is three votes for No. 1 went to other teams, one of them Wright State (not mine, by the way), and two to Cleveland State.

Butler not only is coming off a 26-6 season and at least a share of three straight regular-season championships, the Bulldogs have every player returning, including player of the year Matt Howard, just a junior.

Of course, the Bulldogs did lose the HL tournament championship to Cleveland State, but the Vikings have graduated their two best players, J’Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson.

The do have two Dunbar High School grads in junior Norris Cole, a 6-foot-2 guard who has become an integral part of the Vikings’ offense and could be all-league, and 6-9 Aaron Pogue, who will be playing for the first time after spending a season at a junior college and sitting out last season to get his academics in order.

Wright State was picked by media, coaches and sports information directors to finish second, with CSU third, followed by Milwaukee, Green Bay, Detroit, Youngstown State, Valparaiso, UIC and Loyola.

Today, preseason all-league teams will be announced.

Dancing hoopsters

Halloween Hoops will be more than just basketball and candy on Thursday, Oct. 29, when both the men’s and women’s teams will participate in an evening of fun and frivolity.

Oh, yeah, frivolity.

Joyce Whitaker, in charge of WSU spirit through the cheerleading and dance groups, was asked to involve the players from both teams in a dance number with the Emerald Jazz, the school’s dance team.

They will dance to the music of Thriller.

“It’s refreshing and fun,” Whitaker said.

More details next week.

Camilleri triumphs

Senior Nick Camilleri of the men’s tennis team won the Flight A consolation bracket at the Louisville Winter invitational and also won the consolation championship in Flight A doubles with freshman Tore Waldhausen as the Raiders went 15-9 during the event.

Camilleri lost 6-4, 6-4 to Indiana’s Will Kendall in the opening match, then didn’t lose again. The same thing happened in doubles as Camilleri and Waldhausen lost their opening doubles match to a team from Xavier, then won out.

Thursday, the WSU team will play at the ITA Regional at Indiana.

Ring bearers

Championship rings will be distributed to the Horizon League-winning baseball team on Thursday, Nov. 5, during halftime of the women’s exhibition basketball game with Central State.

The team was led by league player of the year Jeff Mercer and tournament MVP Kory Twede.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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