MMBOW #12: Danny Horace, Miami (Ohio)

Miami (Oh.) made an early splash this season with a huge "Miami Valley Conference" win at Xavier, but they fell off the map somewhat after a letdown-game loss against a weak Butler club. The RedHawks have shaken off a slow conference start with a four-game winning streak, and they've done it with the help of one of the nation's leading rebounders. Danny Horace is our twelfth Mid-Majority Baller Of The Week.

Horace is a 6'6", 242-pound senior who plays power forward. In a week in which his team (12-5, 7-2 MAC) clarified the Mid-American Conference's Eastern division race with key wins over Western Michigan and Akron, Danny excelled despite a painful physical obstacle. In a dominating inside performance against division foes Akron on Sunday, he scored 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting and snatched 10 boards - his three-pointer snapped off a late 18-1 Zip run. In the season-defining 85-60 inter-division blowout against WMU last Wednesday, he had 11 and 10 in 27 minutes. And what's more, he's been doing it on a bad right ankle, so he'll likely only get better from here on in.

Along with point guard Chet "The Jet" Mason, the Redhawks sport an inside-outside one-two punch that's taken them to the top of the MAC East, and they've more than proven their mettle against the best of the West. Horace became the 30th member of Miami's 1000-point club two weeks ago, and is eight rebounds away from a spot on the school's top-ten glasscleaners' list.

He's averaging a double-double so far this season, with 15.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest - the latter number is good enough for twelfth nationally. He's had ten dub-dubs so far this year, and had a streak of six straight to start the 2004-05 campaign. Horace is one four-slotter that you don't want to send to the line: he shoots a highly-respectable 78% from the stripe. And he rarely gets into foul trouble - he hasn't been disqualified in 17 games, and has only reached four fouls twice. He's a decent threat for a surprise trey, too. After taking only one shot behind the arc in his freshman year, he's shot 32% in his two-or-three tries a game.

Danny's from the Cincinnati area, and attended Western Hills H.S.. He was a four-year letterman in hoops, and knocked people around on the gridiron as well. In his first year at Miami, he was named to the all-MAC Freshman Team and was given a trophy as the team's best frosh. He played a support role in his sophomore and junior years for low-scoring, underachieving versions of the Millett Men, and he's making the most of his leading-man opportunity.

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