OVC Basketball Preview

Here are Ken Pomeroy's rankings for the Ohio Valley Conference. The numbers next to each team are their national ranking:

110. Murray St.
117. Austin Peay
162. Tennessee Tech
173. Morehead St.
178. Tennessee St.
234. E. Kentucky
261. E. Illinois
266. SE Missouri St.
289. UT-Martin
308. Jacksonville St.
340. SIU-Edwardsville

1. After years of frustration, the OVC has enjoyed big victories in each of the last two NCAA tournaments. In 2010, Murray knocked off Vandy and lost to eventual NCAA finalist Butler by only two points. (Has any team ever won as many close NCAA games as Butler over the last two seasons?) In 2011, Morehead shocked Louisville 62-61 and then lost to Richmond.

2. Austin Peay (2008), Murray (2010), and Morehead (2009 and 2011) have dominated the OVC in recent years, and that trend is likely to continue.

3. Murray lost its excellent coach, Billy Kennedy, to Texas A & M, but the Racers kept things in the family by promoting Kennedy's assistant, Steve Prohm. Murray is always losing coaches, and the Racers usually manage fine. It must be admitted, however, that Kennedy (who went 54-14 in his last two seasons at Murray) will be particularly difficult to replace. We will also want to keep Coach Kennedy in our prayers, as he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

4. Morehead kept their coach, the entertaining Donnie Tyndall, who has a remarkable record of 69-37 in his last three seasons with the Eagles. However, Morehead lost their great center Kenneth Faried -- one of the best players in OVC history.

5. Austin Peay has had the same coach -- Dave Loos -- since 1991, making him one of the longest-tenured coaches in all of Division I. (Only 13 D-I coaches have been in their current jobs for a longer period.) Loos always has the Governors in the heat of competition, and he will likely do so again this year.

6. I should probably say something about Tennessee Tech -- who shocked Murray State in the OVC tournament last year. Longtime Eagle coach Mike Sutton retired last year to due to his battle against a neuromuscular disease known as GBS. He will be replaced by assistant Steve Payne, who will have difficulty keeping pace with the traditional powers in the league.

7. As ever, the OVC regular season is merely a warm-up for one of the most traumatic post-season conference tournaments in the nation. We will root for Murray as always, but no one can predict what will happen in that tournament.