Ohio Valley Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 19: Kevin McClain #11 of the Belmont Bruins celebrates with teammates during the second half against the Temple Owls in the First Four of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 19, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

1 of 13

HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT – MARCH 21: The Murray State Racers celebrate (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Ohio Valley Basketball is perennially one of the strongest mid-major conferences in the country, 2020-21 should be no different in the OVC. Here’s a look at how the teams stack up.

The college basketball season is slowly coming into focus and although details are fuzzy, it is looking more and more like the season will start as soon as Thanksgiving Eve. We still don’t know what a non-conference schedule will look like, whether or not there will even be one, or what kind of impact bubble locations will have, and how many of the 357 teams will be participating in them, but it looks as though there will be basketball!

With that in mind, it is time to start looking at the 2020-21 season from the standpoint of what is going to happen on the floor. One of the things college basketball fans look forward to most is trying to figure out where that mid-major team that is the team nobody wants to face is going to come from. For the past couple of seasons, the focus has been on the Southern Conference, whether it be Wofford, Furman, UNC-Greensboro, or East Tennessee State the SoCon was very strong at the top.

This season could very well shift to a conference that is coming off multiple bids in the 2019 tournament and coming away with two wins and had one of the most electrifying players in college basketball that ended up as the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft with Ja Morant.

I am speaking of course of the Ohio Valley Basketball Conference, whether it’s Belmont, Murray State, Austin Peay, or the two or three other teams that could make the jump to join those three, the OVC is going to be a battle every night. Here is a look at how I think one of the best mid-major conferences in the country will shake out.