5. Green Bay Phoenix (18-14, 12-8)
Green Bay showed significant improvement in Doug Gottlieb‘s second season. While the Phoenix have won six of their last eight, they went 2-4 against Wright State, Milwaukee, and Youngstown State. Green Bay advanced in the Horizon League Tourney with a 64-56 victory over IPFW.
Green Bay is an outstanding shooting team, compiling shooting splits of 49.4/39.5/81.4 during conference play. The Phoenix don’t turn the ball over much, though they are just ninth in scoring (75.8) because of their slow pace. Guard CJ O’Hara and forward Marcus Hall are the Phoenix’s top players, combining to average 28 points and 10 rebounds.
Defensively, Green Bay held its opponents to a league-low 74.7 points a game. While the Phoenix defended the paint well, they struggled guarding on the perimeter.
Strengths: Shot-selection and half-court execution.
Weaknesses: Not deep and needs to control pace as they struggle when the speed picks up.
