EXHIBITION GAME ONE
Madonna Crusaders at Detroit Titans
Date:  Sat., Oct. 29, 2011 - 7:00 pm EST
Location: Detroit, Mich.
Arena: Calihan Hall (8,295)
Tickets: FREE ADMISSION
Live stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/udmercy/mbball/index.htm

ON TAP
Anticipation will meet reality Saturday when the Detroit Titans men's basketball team will finally get a chance to take the court as a team when UDM hosts Madonna in the first of two exhibition contests for the 2011-12 season. The match-up is the back-end of a Titan tripleheader on campus with men's soccer hosting Butler at 2 p.m. before the women's basketball team entertains Madonna in an exhibition at 4:30 p.m. prior to the men's game at 7 p.m.  NO ADMISSION charge for either exhibition game.

RUNNERS-UP TO THE NATIONAL RUNNERS-UP
Two-time national finalist Butler edged-out Detroit in the team predictions in the 2011-12 Horizon League Preseason Poll.  The Bulldogs grabbed 28 first-place nods for 468 points in the preseason predictions submitted by league coaches, sports information directors and media.  Detroit was just 15 points behind with 19 first-place nods while third-place Cleveland State (388) had a pair of top picks and Milwaukee (356) had the final first-place vote in a tightly-bunched group at the top of the standings.  Valparaiso was fifth with 255 points with Green Bay close behind at 247 points.  Youngstown State (195), Wright State (157), Loyola (145) and UIC (86) rounded-out the poll.

THREE'S COMPANY
Three Titans were named to the 2011-12 Preseason All-Horizon League First Team: Ray McCallum, Chase Simon and Eli Holman.  The trio are the first teammates to all be on the first squad in the league's history.  McCallum and Simon each scored 13.5 points per contest last year-- the highest returning scoring average in the HL-- while Holman was the league's top rebounder a year ago.

SUPER SOPH
McCallum was honored as the Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year, becoming the first sophomore gain that distinction.  Last season, McCallum became the first UDM true freshman to be named to an All-Horizon League Team. He also grabbed the Newcomer of the Year Award from the HL, the fifth Detroit player to earn that honor. McCallum-- who was named an '11-12 Wooden Preseason Award Top 50 player-- led the team in scoring, assists and steals a year ago. The coach's son turned a busy summer schedule into a spot on the Team USA roster at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China. That squad finished fifth, competing against some of the top talent in the world.

1,000-POINT CLUB
Simon has 1,007 collegiate points to his credit after two solid seasons in a Detroit uniform following his freshman campaign at Central Michigan.  Simon's 909-point total in a Titan uniform leaves him in striking distance early in the season to become just the 35th Detroit player to reach the 1,000-point plateau at the school.

LAST YEAR IN EXHIBITIONS
*82-60 win vs. Hillsdale-  Nick Minnerath and Donavan Foster each hit all six of their shots from the floor, part of five Titan players in double figures.  Eli Holman had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Chase Simon chipped-in 10 points and nine boards.  

*101-61 win vs. Lake Superior State- Jason Calliste hit 8-of-12 triples en route to a game-high 34 points as the Titans raced past the Lakers in the final exhibition.  McCallum added a double-double with 22 points and 10 assists.  Detroit scored 62 second-half points in the rout.

TITANS ON TV
The Titans will appear on regional and national outlets a minimum of a dozen times in the 2011-12 season.  UDM will play a four-game slate on FOX Sports Detroit, complementing an ESPN package that includes a minimum of seven on the ESPN family of networks and one Horizon League "Game of the Week" on WADL-38.  In addition, 15 other games will be streamed live via the Horizon League Network, now in its seventh season as a free content provider for league schools.  All told, there are just four games on Detroit's 31-game regular season schedule that are not televised or available on the HLN.

DICK VITALE COURT AT CALIHAN HALL TO BE DEDICATED DEC. 5
Dick Vitale, ESPN broadcaster, college basketball ambassador and former Titan head coach and athletic director, will be honored in December when the University of Detroit Mercy athletics department names its basketball court at Calihan Hall in his honor.  Dick Vitale Court at Calihan Hall will be dedicated in conjunction with a nationally-televised event against Big EAST foe St. John's on December 5, 2011 with tip at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2.

Vitale will be celebrating his 32nd anniversary of calling games for ESPN at the event.  Vitale sat courtside for ESPN's first-ever NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979 (a 90-77 DePaul win).  Since then, he's called close to a thousand games, including NBA contests for ESPN during the 1983 and '84 seasons.