With the Ohio Valley Conference we see our first tournament where not every team qualifies as only the top 8 make the tournament. If you’ve been following college basketball at all this season you know who won this league and that was Murry State. The Racers were just simply dominate, going 28-1 overall and 15-1 in the OVC.
Their only loss came at the hands of 2nd place Tennessee State who comes in after a pretty good conference campaign of 11-5 with an overall record of 19-11.
Murray State may end up running through this tournament rather easily, but if you’re looking for the best game it may very well come in the quarterfinals should Austin Peay get past their first round game. That would set up a matchup with Morehead State who split the season series with them. Each team won at home and with this being a neutral site game it’s the ultimate equalizer for these two teams who were seperated by just 4 points in each of their regular season matchups.
Picks & Predictions:
Champion: Mike & Andy – Murray State
Sleeper: Mike & Andy – Morehead State
MVP: Isiah Canaan – Murry State
– One of the best players in the country this year, Canaan averaged 19.4 points per game, good for 22nd nationally at the moment. This pick is an absolute no-brainer. Canaan was also named the OVC player of the year recently so should the Racers not slip up he’s the leading candidate for his 2nd OVC Tournament MVP award, having won it his freshman season as well.
Tournament Schedule: *all games at Nashville, TN
1st Round – Feb 29th
#5 SE Missouri vs. #8 Eastern Kentucky 6pm (CT)
#6 Austin Peay vs. #7 Jacksonville State 8pm (CT)
Quarterfinals – March 1st
#4 Tennessee Tech vs. SEMO/EKU Winner 6pm (CT)
#3 Morehead State vs. APU/JSU Winner 8pm (CT)
Semifinal – March 2nd
#1 Murray State vs. Game 4 Winner 6pm (CT)
#2 Tennessee State vs. Game 5 Winner 8pm (CT)
Final – March 3rd
Semifinal Winners 1pm (CT)
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