OVC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Tennessee State
- SEMO
- Morehead State
- SIUE (tied 3rd)
- UT Martin (tied 3rd)
- Lindenwood
- Southern Indiana
- Eastern Illinois
- Western Illinois
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON OVC PLAYERS TO WATCH:
-Markus Blackwell – SO, G – Eastern Illinois
-Jaden Miller, SR, G – Eastern Illinois
-Xavier Spencer – JR, G – Lindenwood
-Kellen Robinson – SO, G – Lindenwood
-Chase Dawson – JR, G – Morehead State
-Vince Dawson – SO, G – Morehead State
-Marqueas Bell – SR, G – SEMO
-Landren Blocker – JR, G – SEMO
-Darrion Baker – SR, F – SIUE
-Jordan Picket – SR, G – SIUE
-Kaden Brown – SR, G – Southern Indiana
-Ari Gooch – JR, G – Southern Indiana
-Christan Alston – JR, G – Tennessee State
-Aaron Bradshaw – SR, F – Tennessee State
-Davi Remagen – SO, G – UT Martin
-Kaan Onat – FR, G – UT Martin
-Danny Stephens – SO, F – Western Illinois
-Jack Riley – SR, F/C – Western Illinois
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COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-The OVC is now down to 9 members after Little Rock and Tennessee Tech have moved on, but neither team had really been all that great in recent yearst. Both of those schools seemed to have more in the way of resources than most of the rest of the league, and Little Rock in particular was able to amass talent, but neither team was ever able to win much. So, at least from a perspective of overall conference strength, the league doesn’t seem to be missing them.
-Tennessee State was one of the great Under the Radar stories from last year. The players from the year before opted to stay together, and it paid off as they won the league and ended a long NCAA Tournament absence. They won 23 total games, were the 1st place finishers, and then went on to blow through the conference tournament. Head Coach Nolan Smith really did a great job. Now they have to replace all those starters, though. Aaron Bradshaw comes in from Memphis, who put up respectable numbers for the Tigers. Arterio Morris was a solid player for Bethune Cookman and TyLaur Johnson comes in from San Diego, so they do have some guys with solid D1 experience. It’s hard to say if they will be as good as they were a year ago because whenever a team’s roster overturns like this, you just never know for sure.
-SEMO bounced back last year from a dreadful year the season before, went 14-6 in the conference, and finished the year winning 11 of 13 before getting knocked out in the OVC semifinals. Expectations are high for them once again. Marqueas Bell is definitely a player to watch.
-Last year Morehead State had an abysmal OOC campaign where they won just 1 D1 game and barely won it against an awful UL Monroe team. Expectations were not high when they began conference play, but they clicked at the right time, ended up tying Tennessee State for the first place spot, and then advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament. A couple of key starters are back and they are joined by a lot of transfers who put up big numbers at nonD1 schools. It will be interesting to see if those transfers can step up and compete in the OVC.
-SIUE finished last season on a bit of a high note winning six of their last nine before losing in the conference tournament. Brian Barone has done a really good job building this program up and they appear to have another solid squad this year. Two starters are back, including Darrion Baker who is a fantastic outside shooter. they also add David Wilson, who was a standout player in JUCO last year.
-UT Martin has always relied heavily on international players and is usually a fun team to watch because of their style. Just one starter is back from last year’s 22 win season and they are once again stocked with guys who were productive overseas. It’s always hard to forecast this team. The voters have them in the middle. I guess that’s a safe place to project them.
-Lindenwood lost all five starters and will have a completely new look this year. Xavier Spencer comes over from UMass Lowell, but other than him they appear to have a lot of question marks. They seem to be yet another team that’s caught in that cycle where it’s hard to develop players and then retain them.
-Southern Indiana has just not gotten it going since transferring up from D2, which is a little surprising considering how successful they were at the D2 level. I thought they’d be a dark horse last year, and they finished in next to last place. The expectations for this year aren’t all that much better. Kaden Brown is the lone returning starter and he is a player to watch, but other than him there isn’t a whole lot of proven D1 experience on the roster.
-Eastern Illinois finished just 8th last year, but there were stretches of the season where they showed a little bit of promise. Unfortunately none of the starters are back from last year and they don’t appear to have much D1 experience at all.
-Western Illinois has not been successful since joining the OVC, at least not to the level that I thought they would, and this year they are picked to finish last. Again. They won just 1 OVC game a year ago and have looked to players that were standouts at the JUCO level to try and jumpstart their program this year.
