Written by Tom Mieskoski

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Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters said he's not a fan of playing conference games so early in the season.

"What happens is you stop what your doing and then you put total concentration on (these two league games)," Waters said at Tuesday's media gathering. "It's not an easy thing to do, but everybody does it so you have to live through it."

According to Waters, the Horizon League plays these early conference games because ESPN sets the dates when the conference tournaments begin (ESPN owns the broadcasting rights of most conference tournaments), and BracketBusters weekend also takes away a week of games.

The Vikings (6-1) are off to the second best start in school history after taking two-of-three last weekend to win the TicketCity Legends Classic subregional round at Kingston, Rhode Island.

They open Horizon play this week with two very important road games at Wright State (2-4) tonight and Detroit (3-4) on Saturday.

WSU were picked to finish eighth in the Horizon League preseason poll.

The Raiders have lost three straight and are in a rebuilding mode as they have the sixth-youngest team in Division I with eight newcomers on the roster, including seven true freshmen.

"They're young, but they are feisty and play hard on defense," said Waters. "They (always) play well at home."

WSU averages 60.2 points a game (ninth in HL) and only have two players averaging in double-figures. They are junior guard Julius Mays (11.2 points), a North Carolina State transfer, and freshman guard Reggie Arceneaux (10.2).

Detroit were picked to finish second in the Horizon preseason poll.

The Titans have lost three of its past four games and are playing with only eight scholarship players as the team has been decimated by suspensions and injuries.

Detroit lost senior forward Nick Minnerath (12 points, four rebounds) for the season after he tore his ACL against Bowling Green last week.

"It's a short term devastation for (Detroit) because of how much they were counting on him," said Waters on the loss of Minnerath.

They are also playing without all-league center Eli Holman and backup guard Chris Blake.

Holman is on a leave of absence after an off-court incident in September, and Blake has been suspended for a violation of team rules.

Detroit is the top scoring team in the Horizon averaging 78.9 points per game and have seven players averaging at least seven points. However, the Titans are also the worst defensive team in the league allowing 73 points per game.

The Titans are led by all-league guards Chase Simon (16.9 points) and Ray McCallum (13.1).

Waters said there is a benefit of playing two early conference games if you can win them both.

"We went to the Wisconsin trip (last year) and won them both and it put us a step ahead (of everybody)," said Waters.