The OVC has come up with a goofy format for its tournament, although their heart is in the right place. In order to give the teams that did the best in the regular season a better chance to advance to the NCAA's, the conference has given the top two seeds (Murray and Morehead) byes to the semi-finals. The next two seeds (Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech) were given byes to the quarter-finals. The next four seeds then played to see who would meet Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech. (The rest of the league doesn't get to participate in the tournament at all).
So here were last night's games, which mark the end of the road for Eastern Kentucky:
SE Mo. St. 65, E. Kentucky 49
UT Martin 68, Tennessee St. 64
Eastern becomes the first of Kentucky's six Division I schools to see its chances for the NCAA title come to an end. Maybe next year.
Meanwhile, here are tonight's matchups:
Austin Peay v. SE Mo. St. (the winner will play Morehead St.)
Tennessee Tech v. UT-Martin (the winner will play Murray St.)
I think this is a solid idea to help those teams that did so well in the regular season.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I should point out that the OVC Tournament is taking place in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium, an ancient facility built in 1962. To be honest, I thought it had been torn down by now. The only time I went there was in college, when some friends and I went to see Jimmy Swaggert at the absolute height of his fame. (He was tremendous, by the way. And I think I was the only person at Vandy who saw both Jimmy Swaggert and Hunter Thompson in the same year.)
ReplyDeleteMy mom and dad did a pottery show at Nashville's Municipal Auditorium one year. It felt so strange to be unloading pickle barrels of stoneware from the back end of a pickup in such a big city.
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