Mid-major basketball: Observations of the Ohio Valley Conference
By Logan Butts
The OVC has pulled off some surprising upsets in the NCAA tournament. This season there could be a few teams capable of doing the same.
For a true mid-major league, the Ohio Valley Conference has produced a surprising number of NBA players over the past several years.
Guys like the Denver Nuggets’ Kenneth Faried, formerly of Morehead State, and the Phoenix Suns’ Isaiah Canaan, a Second-Team All-American at Murray State, have carved out a spot as a rotational player in the league.
Robert Covington, currently of the Philadelphia 76ers and formerly of the Tennessee State Tigers, earned a large paycheck for his hard work during the #TrustTheProcess era.
Former Belmont Bruin Ian Clark won an NBA Championship with the Golden State Warriors before signing as a free agent with the New Orleans Pelicans this summer.
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Even former Murray State Racer Cam Payne grabbed his 15 minutes of NBA fame during his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder as Russell Westbrook’s trusted pre-game hype man.
Leagues like the West Coast Conference, with its two-headed juggernaut of Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, and the Missouri Valley Conference, still thriving without two of their powerhouses in Creighton and Wichita State, deservedly garner much of the mid-major praise.
But, with their consistent output of NBA-level talent and quality teams on a yearly basis, the OVC has at least merited consideration in the best true mid-major league discussion.
Heading into the final stretch of this season, Belmont and Murray State once again have proven themselves to be the cream of the OVC crop. However, other programs like Jacksonville State, Austin Peay, and Tennessee State looked poised to challenge Murray State and Belmont for the OVC crown.
The Racers and Bruins are tied at 12-2 atop the OVC standings, while the former has a slight advantage in overall record (20-5 vs 20-7). Belmont won the head-to-head matchup earlier this season, 79-72 in Nashville at Belmont’s Curb Event Center. They sit 15th and 16th in the latest mid-major poll.
The Bruins have an advantage in non-conference wins, as they knocked off fellow Nashville squad Vanderbilt 69-60 and recent march madness darling Middle Tennessee 69-63 in back-to-back games at the beginning of the season. This came after narrowly falling 86-82 at Washington to open the season.
Meanwhile, Murray State has the marquee player edge. The Racers’ senior Jonathan Stark was tabbed the Preseason Player of the Week, has won three OVC Player of the Week honors this season, and is the odds-on favorite to be named Player of the Year at the season’s-end.
Stark leads the league and is 27th in the nation with 20.9 points per game. He has scored 20 or more points 14 times, including a season-high 36 point-outburst in a 89-73 victory against SEMO, a skill that becomes even more important when opposing defenses clamp down come tournament time.
Belmont shares its scoring load with Amanze Egekeze and Dylan Windler, who are tied for the team lead with 16.9 points per contest. Winder leads the OVC with 8.9 rebounds per game, while point guard Austin Luke dishes out a conference-best 7.2 assists per game.
It’s a different approach than the usual Belmont way, which generally features go-to scorer (Clark, Evan Bradds, J.J. Mann, Craig Bradshaw, etc.) and a host of quality role players. It will be interesting to see how they compete in the OVC (and possibly NCAA) Tournament with a more democratic approach.
Along with the loss at Belmont, Murray fell to Jacksonville State 76-71 on the road. The Gamecocks, who also won 64-60 at Belmont the game before the Murray win, will be looking to repeat after their surprise NCAA Tournament bid last season.
JSU sits at 18-8 with a veteran-heavy, balanced squad that features five players who average eight or more points per game.
Belmont’s other OVC loss came across town at Tennessee State, where the Bruins fell 64-56. The Tigers sit at 14-11 with a narrow 47-46 loss at Texas earlier this year. Like Jacksonville State, TSU is an experienced, deep squad who could cause problems in the OVC Tournament.