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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors
Belmont has been picked the preseason favorite for the 2016-17 season. It marks the second-straight year the Bruins have been tabbed preseason favorites.
Belmont, who has won three of the past four OVC regular season championships, picked up 16 of 24 first-place votes in being picked the preseason favorites as overall regular season champions. The Bruins were also tabbed the East Division favorites, picking up 16 of 24 first-place votes in that category, while
Murray State was picked the West Division favorites.
In the overall champion voting, in addition to Belmont picking up 16 first-place votes, other teams with first-place votes included
Tennessee State (6),
Eastern Kentucky (1) and
Morehead State (1). All the teams who received an overall first-place vote came from the East Division.
Since Belmont was picked as the overall champion, they were also an overwhelming favorite to take first place in its own division; the Bruins have finished first in the East in each of the first four years of divisional play. Belmont received 126 total points to top the East and were followed by Tennessee State (6 first-place votes and 106 points), Morehead State (1 first-place vote, 98 points),
Tennessee Tech (62 points), Eastern Kentucky (1 first-place vote, 60 points) and
Jacksonville State (40).
Murray State picked up 21 of 24 first-place votes and 131 points to be picked the West Division favorites. The Racers have finished at the top of the West Division in each of the first four years of divisional play.
Eastern Illinois was picked second (95 points) and followed by defending tournament champion
Austin Peay (2 first-place votes, 88 points),
UT Martin (1 first-place vote, 82 points),
SIUE (54) and
Southeast Missouri (42).
Belmont has compiled a 51-13 record in OVC play since joining the OVC prior to the 2012-13 season including winning three OVC regular season championships. Last year the Bruins were 12-4 in Conference action but were upset in overtime in the OVC Tournament semifinals and went on represent the OVC in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Belmont lost just one contributor and returns 12 players from a season ago including reigning OVC Player of the Year
Evan Bradds who was named OVC Preseason Player of the Year this season. The senior has led Division I in field goal percentage each of the past two seasons including hitting 71.4 percent (210-of-294) from the field a season ago while averaging 17.6 points and 9.2 rebounds/game. Also returning is senior guard
Taylor Barnette, who was also tabbed a Preseason All-OVC pick this year, who connected on 74 3-pointers a season ago. Also back is junior forward
Amanze Egekeze (9.0 points, 3.4 rebounds/game) and junior guard
Austin Luke (15th nationally in assists last year at 6.3/game). Head coach
Rick Byrd begins his 31st season as Belmont’s head coach and is one of just six active Division I coaches to have to be with the same program for 25 or more years; his 731 career victories rank him sixth among active DI head coaches.
Entering last season Tennessee State was picked to finish last in the OVC after winning just five games the prior season. But head coach
Dana Ford exceeded all expectations in tying the program’s all-time Division I record with 20 victories; the 15-win improvement was second among all Division I schools during 2015-16. Now entering his third year on the TSU bench, Ford (last year’s OVC Coach of the Year) has nine players back from that team including last year’s OVC Defensive Player of the Year
Tahjere McCall. McCall ranked ninth nationally in steals at 2.32/game while adding 14.6 points (12th in the OVC) and 3.0 assists/game (13th in the OVC). McCall was named to the Preseason All-OVC team along with senior forward
Wayne Martin who ranked third in the OVC with 10 double-doubles a season ago. Martin started 18 of 30 games and averaged 11.1 points and 9.1 rebounds/game (third in the OVC). The Tigers also welcome seven newcomers including Georgia Tech transfer
Chris Bolden and Binghamton transfer
Jordan Reed.
Morehead State became just the second team in OVC history to play a game in the month of April a season ago when they advanced to the Best-of-Three Championship Series of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The Eagles topped Nevada at home in the first game of the series before dropping the final two games on the Wolfpack’s home court. MSU won 23 overall games a season ago including finishing with an 11-5 Conference mark, just one game out of first place. The Eagles were successful with a balanced attack that saw eight players average between 11.0 and 5.4 points/game. This season 10 players return for head coach
Sean Woods including two starters (
Xavier Moon and
DeJuan Marrero) while the program welcomes five newcomers. Moon, a senior guard, was tabbed a Preseason All-OVC selection after averaging 10.2 points/game (third on the team) and connecting on 47.5 percent of his field goal attempts and 41.2 percent of his 3-point attempts. Marrero, a senior forward, led the team with 7.2 rebounds/game while also netting 40 steals and blocking 24 shots.
Last season Tennessee Tech finished just one game behind Belmont for the best record in the OVC, going 11-5 in Conference play. The Golden Eagles won 19 overall games and competed in the inaugural Vegas 16 Invitational. This season head coach
Steve Payne returns seven players while infusing a talented group of newcomers and transfers including fifth-year senior
Kajon Mack who transferred from Tulane. Among the returning players is junior guard
Aleksa Jugovic, a Preseason All-OVC selection. Jugovic averaged 12.1 points and 2.9 assists/game a season ago and knocked down 71 trifectas in 31 games. Also returning is senior guard
Hakeem Rogers who averaged 9.9 points/game and canned 59 3-pointers coming off the bench.
Eastern Kentucky came up one game short of making the OVC Tournament field in
Dan McHale’s first season as head coach. McHale installed an up-tempo style for the program, seeing the Colonels rank 18th nationally in scoring (80.5 points/game) including hitting the century mark three times during the campaign. EKU was also efficient in shooting and was the only OVC team to rank in the top three in the Conference in 3-point percentage (39.5%, 1st), field goal percentage (49.1%, 2nd) and free throw percentage (73.0%, 3rd). This season the Colonels return six players and welcome 10 newcomers to the roster. The top returnee is sophomore forward
Nick Mayo who earned OVC Freshman of the Year and first-team All-OVC honors after a fantastic debut season. Mayo ranked 18th nationally in field goal percentage (60.7%) and was the top freshman scorer in the league (14.5 points/game); he also ranked sixth in the OVC in blocked shots (1.1/game) and seventh in free throw percentage (80.2%).
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Ray Harper begins his first season as head coach at Jacksonville State after compiling 431 victories in 17 years as a collegiate head coach, most recently at Western Kentucky. Harper has also won four national championships during his career, two at the Division II level and two in the NAIA. Harper inherits a team that returns three starters including junior guard
Malcolm Drumwright. Drumwright led the Gamecocks in scoring (14.0 points/game, 15th in the OVC) while dishing out 92 assists (sixth in the OVC) and knocking down 31 3-pointers. The junior was also seventh in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6) and scored 30 points in a game against Jacksonville University in December.
A season ago Murray State finished tied with UT Martin atop the West Division, but after tiebreakers earned the No. 6 seed for the OVC Tournament, the first time in six years of the current format the Racers did not receive either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed and double bye to the semifinals. MSU topped Eastern Illinois in the first round before falling to Morehead State. Overall Murray State recorded its 29th-straight winning season, a streak that is tied for fourth longest in Division I behind only Syracuse, Kansas and Arizona. This season second-year head coach
Matt McMahon returns four players, including three who were starters last year. Among the returning players is Preseason All-OVC selection
Bryce Jones who ranked 22nd nationally in free throw percentage (87.1%) in his debut season with the Racers. The point guard was fifth in the OVC in assists (4.2/game) while also adding 12.7 points/game in 31 contests. Also back is senior guard
Damarcus Croaker (9.6 points, 4.5 rebounds/game) and senior guard
Gee McGhee (9.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists/game).
Eastern Illinois made its fourth-straight OVC Tournament appearance under head coach
Jay Spoonhour last year and is one of just four OVC teams to appear in the event in each of those years. The Panthers were 9-7 in OVC play for the second-straight season, marking its first back-to-back Conference winning seasons since 1999-00 and 2000-01. This season EIU has four starters returning including Preseason All-OVC selection
Cornell Johnston. The 5’7 junior guard ranked 11th nationally in minutes played (37:42/game), 22nd in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.95) and 28th in assists (5.7/game) in directing the team’s offensive attack. In two seasons with the program Johnston had dished out 327 total assists (already third in EIU history) while knocking down 119 trifectas (9th in EIU history). Also back is senior guard
Demetrius McReynolds who was second on the team in scoring at 12.1 points/game in 2015-16.
Austin Peay made history a season ago when they became the first No. 8 seed to win the OVC Tournament, knocking off four teams in four days to win its fifth OVC Tournament Championship and first since 2008. The team did graduate OVC Tournament MVP Chris Horton (he averaged 22.5 points and 14.0 rebounds during the team’s tournament run) but returners 10 players and three starters this season. Among the returning players is junior guard
Josh Robinson who ranked sixth in the OVC in scoring at 16.9 points/game while also adding 3.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 steals/game and hitting 83.4 percent from the free throw stripe. He will be joined in the backcourt by sophomore
Jared Savage who averaged 16.8 points/game and knocked down a record 19 3-pointers in four OVC Tournament games (after hitting just 33 3-pointers in 31 regular season contests). Head coach
Dave Loos, a five-time OVC Coach of the Year selection and winningest coach in OVC history, returns for his 27th season with the Govs; he is one of six active Division I coaches to be with his program for 25 or more years.
UT Martin advanced to the OVC Tournament Championship game for the first time last season after finishing tied for first in the OVC West Division with a 10-6 mark. This season the Skyhawks are under the direction of first-year head coach
Anthony Stewart who spent the previous two seasons as the program’s associate head coach (a span that saw the team win 41 total games, the most wins in the school’s history over a two-year period). The team lost its top three scorers from last season but does return senior guard
Jacolby Mobley who averaged 10.8 points/game and knocked down 65 3-pointers mainly coming off the bench, as well as senior forward
Kedar Edwards who averaged 8.2 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds/game.
In its first season under head coach
Jon Harris, SIUE won its highest number of road games since 2011-12 in addition to topping sister school Southern Illinois for the first time ever. This season Harris has eight players returning including the backcourt of senior
Burak Eslik and sophomore
Carlos Anderson, each of who started all 28 team games a season ago. Eslik led the Cougars in scoring at 14.0 points/game including scoring an OVC single-game high of 40 points against Morehead State in January. Anderson chipped in with 10.3 points and 4.7 rebounds/game.
Southeast Missouri State returns four starters from last season which was
Rick Ray’s first with the program. Among the returning players is senior guard
Antonius Cleveland who has started 76 games over the past three seasons. A year ago he ranked fifth in the OVC in steals (1.6/game), ninth in rebounding (6.6/game) and 10th in scoring (15.2 points/game). Cleveland also added 61 assists and 15 blocked shots while hitting 43.7 percent from the field. Also returning is senior forward
Joel Angus III who averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 rebounds/game while hitting 50 percent from the field.
The 2016-17 season kicks off with an exhibition contest on October 28 while the first regular season games will be played on Friday, November 11. The 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will be held March 1-4 at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
2016-17 Preseason OVC Men’s Basketball Predicted Order of Finish
Overall OVC Champion: Belmont (16 first-place votes)
Other Teams Receiving Overall First-Place Votes: Tennessee State (6), Eastern Kentucky (1), Morehead State (1)
East Division
1. Belmont (16 first-place votes) – 126 points
2. Tennessee State (6) - 106
3. Morehead State (1) - 98
4. Tennessee Tech - 62
5. Eastern Kentucky (1) - 60
6. Jacksonville State - 40
West Division
1. Murray State (21 first-place votes) – 131 points
2. Eastern Illinois - 95
3. Austin Peay (2) - 88
4. UT Martin (1) - 82
5. SIUE - 54
6. Southeast Missouri – 42
2016-17 All-OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball Team
The 2016-17 OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball Team is headlined by Belmont senior
Evan Bradds who was named the OVC Preseason Player of the Year.
Bradds, the 2015-16 OVC Player of the Year, is the second-straight Belmont player tabbed Preseason Player of the Year (following Craig Bradshaw a year ago).
Overall nine different schools were represented on the team with Belmont and Tennessee State having two selections apiece and Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State, Murray State, Southeast Missouri and Tennessee Tech having one pick apiece. The squad features four players who were either first or second-team selections last season. The team is comprised of seven seniors, three juniors and a sophomore.
Bradds led Belmont to a 12-4 Conference mark a season ago while leading Division I with a 71.4 percent field goal percentage (210-of-294). He also averaged 17.6 points (fourth in the OVC) and 9.2 rebounds (second in the OVC) and dished out 70 assists.
The other returning All-OVC selections from a year ago include OVC Defensive Player of the Year
Tahjere McCall (9th nationally with 2.32 steals/game plus 14.6 points/game) from Tennessee State, OVC Freshman of the Year
Nick Mayo (14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds/game, 60.7 FG%) from Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay junior guard
Josh Robinson (16.9 points, 2.6 assists/game, 83.4 FT%).
The Preseason All-OVC Team is rounded out by Belmont senior guard
Taylor Barnette (10.6 points/game, 74 made 3-pointers), Southeast Missouri senior guard
Antonius Cleveland (15.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.6 steals/game), Eastern Illinois junior guard
Cornell Johnston (11.0 points, 5.7 assists/game), Murray State senior guard
Bryce Jones (12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists/game), Tennessee Tech junior guard
Aleksa Jugovic (12.1 points, 2.9 assists/game, 71 made 3-pointers), Tennessee State senior forward
Wayne Martin (11.1 points, 9.1 rebounds/game) and Morehead State senior guard
Xavier Moon (10.2 points, 2.6 rebounds/game).
2016-17 Preseason All-OVC Men’s Basketball Team
Taylor Barnette, Belmont
Evan Bradds, Belmont
Antonius Cleveland, Southeast Missouri
Cornell Johnston, Eastern Illinois
Bryce Jones, Murray State
Aleksa Jugovic, Tennessee Tech
Wayne Martin, Tennessee State
Nick Mayo, Eastern Kentucky
Tahjere McCall, Tennessee State
Xavier Moon, Morehead State
Josh Robinson, Austin Peay
Preseason Player of the Year: Evan Bradds, Belmont