The Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship hits Valparaiso on Friday, with second round matchups featuring strength versus strength at Detroit takes on Youngstown State and Milwaukee battling Butler.

Both games will be carried on the Horizon League Network, with the games carried live on Sports32 (Wisconsin), HomeTown Sports Network (Indianapolis), MyYTV (Youngstown), SportsTime Ohio and Time Warner Dayton. ESPN Full Court and Watch ESPN will also pick up the feed from the Athletics-Recreation Center.

Seeds held on the opening night of the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship, with the home teams claiming wins on Tuesday night, setting up rematches that each featured nail-biting finishes in the regular season. Detroit will meet Youngstown State, while Butler will take on Milwaukee.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Valparaiso senior catcher Jordan Rutkowski (Alden, N.Y.) has been named Horizon League Softball Player of the Week, while Wright State sophomore Krystian DeWitt (Pacifica, Calif.) has earned Horizon League Softball Pitcher of the Week honors, for the week of Feb. 20-26.

After one of the most balanced Horizon League men’s basketball regular seasons in conference history, the exciting carries over to the League Tournament, with perhaps the most wide open field in the tournament’s 33 years.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wright State freshman Lauri Makikalli (Hyvinkaa, Finland) has been named Horizon League Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week, while Milwaukee freshman Christina Colarossi (Dearborn Heights, Mich.) has earned Horizon League Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week honors, for the week of Feb. 20-26.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Leading Green Bay and Milwaukee to unblemished records on the week, Phoenix freshman guard Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill./Marshall) and Panthers senior forward Tony Meier (Wildwood, Mo./Wildwood) have been named the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week, for the week of Feb. 20-26. The honor is the first of Sykes’s career and second for Meier.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Valparaiso junior Ryan Broekhoff was tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year, leading the youngest First Team in Horizon League history in voting of the League’s coaches, sports information directors and media.

INDIANAPOLIS -- It took until the final game of the regular season for the second straight year, but the field is now set for the 2012 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship, with Valparaiso collecting its first regular season conference championship since joining the League.

VALPARAISO, Ind. – Playing without the burden of needing to win to satisfy a seed, Valparaiso raced out to a 16-2 lead and held off Butler throughout, closing the regular season with a 14-4 Horizon League record.

It wouldn't be the final weekend of play in the Horizon League without a myriad of scenarios in play. There is guaranteed to be plenty of scoreboard watching throughout the League, beginning with tonight's Butler-Valparaiso game, in which the Bulldogs could clinch the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League Tournament.