The Murray State Racers cut down the nets last season, winning the championship . . . of the CIT. The Racers defeated Yale 65-57 for the title, and will be looking to turn last season’s late momentum into a shot at an NCAA tournament bid this season. The Racers return eight of their top nine players from last season and add several new pieces that should contribute immediately at well. Cameron Payne, Jarvis Williams and T.J. Sapp could all be in contention for first team all-conference honors. Quite simply, the Racers, at least on paper, look to be a level above the rest of the conference — even potentially good enough to steal an at-large bid.
Like the MAC, the OVC does still have divisional play, and it rewards the two division champions with its top two conference tournament seeds and byes into the semifinals. Six other teams also qualify for the tournament, regardless of division, while four teams will not play beyond the end of the conference regular season. The East Division looks like a three team battle this season between Eastern Kentucky (last season’s automatic bid winner), Belmont (which played in the NIT last year) and Morehead State (which played in the CBI). If anyone can challenge Murray State in the West, the most likely contenders are Southeast Missouri State, Austin Peay or SIU Edwardsville. SIUE has not won more than 11 games in a season since moving up to the Division I level, but appears poised to easily surpass that win total this year.
Predicted Order of Finish:
EAST DIVISION
1. Morehead State: Angelo Warner, Brent Arrington, and Bakari Turner lead a very deep team that should have what it takes to capture the division title.
2. Belmont: Craig Bradshaw and Reece Chamberlain are back, but J.J. Mann’s graduation leaves a huge hole that needs to be filled.
3. Eastern Kentucky: Corey Walden, the OVC Defensive Player of the Year, is back from last season’s conference tournament champions. Unfortunately, three other starters, including leading scorer Glenn Cosey, are not.
4. Tennessee Tech: Dwan Caldwell will be the team leader and probably the best player for the Golden Eagles. However, there are not enough other pieces here to contend.
5. Jacksonville State: The Gamecocks will be led offensively by Darion Rackley, but another 20+ loss season seems likely.
6. Tennessee State: At only 29 years old, Dana Ford takes over as the youngest head coach in Division I. He has his work cut out for him though with the majority of last season’s 5-25 team gone.
WEST DIVISION
1. Murray State: Payne, Williams, Sapp, and Jeffery Moss are just a few of the pieces on this deep, talented team. Freshman JayQuan McCloud could get some significant playing time too. If the Racers score a few key non-conference wins, an at-large bid could be possible if needed.
2. SIU Edwardsville: The Cougars return an experienced team that had a balanced scoring attack last season. They could definitely be one of the surprise teams this year.
3. Austin Peay: Chris Horton is good enough to average a double-double, just missing one last season with 13.2 points per game and 9.1 rebounds. Head coach Dave Loos has brought in a talented group of newcomers that could have the Governors among the conference’s best teams.
4. Southeast Missouri State: Jarekious Bradley may be the best player in the conference, but the Redhawks will need to find enough other pieces to help him out if they want to challenge for a high seed in the conference tournament.
5. Tennessee-Martin: Myles Taylor is the Skyhawks’ top returning player, but keep an eye out for 7-2 freshman Nick Detlev. In the end, this team’s ceiling, at least this year, may be just finding a way to qualify for the OVC tournament.
6. Eastern Illinois: Reggie Smith will be the team’s best player, but another long season looms — especially if they cannot improve their 345th ranked defense against three point shooting.