Ohio Valley Conference Overview

Fulks is not the only stud in the Racer lineup as Luther can rotate good players next to his scoring machine including seniors Big Dick Cunningham and Stewart Johnson at center, seniors Howie Crittenden and Claude Virden plus sophomore stud Jeff Martin on the wings.  The biggest question will be who is running the show as senior Benny Purcell and sophomores Don Mann and Lamont Sleets (better known as the S&M boys) vie for a starting role. Purcell is legendary here but at 5’9 and more of a scorer than a distributor this position will almost assuredly decide the team’s outcome this season.  There are rumors that with Martin stepping up so big in his first year as the two guard Luther might convert the hard driving Crittenden to the point.  Howie has an innate ability to get into the paint but usually goes to the hoop and draws fouls so if he can learn to pass from here he could be exceptional as a point.  

If the Racers stumble there are several other teams waiting to carry the baton for the OVC foremost of which are the Tennessee State Tigers.  Coach John McLendon developed a powerhouse in NAIA (winning the national title by a HBC) and then in D-2 but has found the sailing a bit rougher in D-1.  Still, McLendon has a roster full of studs who if disciplined and play together can compete at this level.  Seniors Dick Barnett and John Barnhill are one of best backcourts in the country plus a heck of a hound dog combo guard behind them in junior Ted McClain.  The front line is full of big, physical men ready to tear up this league led by legendary Boid Buie (a one-armed wonder from Arkansas who is one heck of a shooter) and fellow seniors Ben Warley, Ed Johnson, Willie Porter and true seven-footer George Finley.  And as good as those guys have been none of them might start as juniors Lloyd Neal and Truck Robinson plus sophomore Anthony Mason are penciled in to start.  The irony is all three are exactly 6’7 and 225 and tough as nails but the reason they have surpassed the seniors is they have incredible real basketball skills as well.   McLendon has a machine in place in Nashville with a truck load of underclassmen waiting their as there is more potential talent than any program in this league but sometimes too much depth can hurt a team.  We shall see how they do in their third season in D-1 and second in the OVC. 

The Eastern Kentucky Colonels are not only in the shadow of Kentucky and Louisville but having been in the OVC since its inception. There are only 6 D-1 Bluegrass state basketball programs but EKU is at best $ 5 as they are also in the shadows of Western Kentucky and Murray State.  The Colonels are a darn good program but have never won an NCAA tournament game primarily due to lack of opportunity as this school has more third place finishes (behind MSU and WKU) than any school in D-1.  The rare times they qualified they could not win a game and Coach Paul McBrayer wants to change that this year.  The Colonels will always play together but does he have the horses to compete with the Racers and the Tigers?  Well, seniors Jack Adams up front and Bobby Washington at the point are up to that level and senior Jim Baechtold plus juniors Charles Mitchell and George Bryant can score from the wings but is there enough around them and most importantly does this team have enough size and muscle when it comes to trying to push around those beats from the top two teams in the OVC?  After all seniors Garfield Smith and Eddie Bodkin can play and have some size at 6’9 and 6’7 respectively but as good as Adams is (and he is a legend in Richmond) he is a 6’4 power forward. 

Morehead State is the 3rd and final team still around from the league’s birth (though Tennessee Tech did join a year later) with Murray and EKU and are locked into a long-term war with the Colonels for mediocrity or let’s say next best teams in this league.  The Eagles have at least won a few games in the BD when they got there which is just about as often as the Colonels but they have been stuck in that 4-5 hole for along dang time.  Coach Bobbby Laughlin has a bit more beef than the Colonels with seniors Steve Hamilton (when he is not on the baseball diamond), Lamar Green and Dan Swartz forming a pretty nifty front line and junior Leonard is a mighty fine sixth man coming off the bench for instant offense.  They are vastly undersized though this does not seem to hurt on the boards as they have been a top ten team in rebounding nationwide the last two years.  The backcourt has some scorers in seniors Sonny Allen and Harold Sergent and junior Herbie Stamper but are not quick, athletic and can’t guard anyone.  This season comes down to how the young kids develop but even if Laughlin gets two studs out of his freshman class the Eagles aren’t keeping up with the Racers. 

The Austin Peay Governors do not have to worry about keeping up with anyone as they are by far the best offensive team in the OVC.  Coack Lake Kelly has as talented of group of wings that can flat score in the Midwest and perhaps the country.   Led by superstar James ‘Fly’ Williams (who will get to return to the Big Apple where he made his legend in an early season tourney) the Governors are loaded on the wings but are rather small and do not have a true point guard though they do have enough talent everywhere else if and this is a big if they can stop the other team once in a while.  Seniors Tom Morgan and Howie Wright are two more offensive studs who look to start but Wright needs to play point for this team to win and he is not a passer, like most Govs he is a scorer.  Trying to outscore the other team can work as we see in Vegas and other places but it will be hard in the OVC as most teams can score and the tough style of ball wears down high scoring teams that do not rebound or pass well.  And that my friends are the Governors.  Two more Howards, juniors Howard Jackson and Otis Howard, are the muscle up front for Kelly and they are solid and do not look to score as much as the rest and they can bang down low.  There is much hope in Nashville for the Governors but it all relies on the ‘wings’ of one of the best but erratic players in the country in the Fly. 

The aforementioned Tennessee Tech Eagles (lots of patriots in this conference) have had a difficult history in the tough OVC.  Eagles’ Coach Johnny Oldham knows he has an uphill battle and will rely on more youth than most teams in this league as they are rebuilding once again in Cookeville with the hopes of trying to get into the upper half of this league and the dream of getting to the BD for the first time in forever.  Of course that one time they got there they lost by 69 points so be careful of what you wish for!  Senior big man Jimmy Hagan is the best returning player and will be relied upon the score and board in the middle.  He can do both and at 6’10 has some size but is awfully svelte for this league at only 215 pounds.  A slew of solid seniors return as well including stalwart Kenny Sidwell in the backcourt but juniors Wayne Pack and Frank Jones will probably start on the perimter as Oldham tries to get more athletic.  Speaking of athletic, the future of this program is the young high-flying forwards who stepped up last year.  Sophomores Stephen Kite and Earl Wise came on strong and can do it all on the court.  The biggest question and hope is another sophomore Milos Babic.  Babic is a seven footer from Serbia who barely played last year but has some of those Euro skills but this team needs him to be a rim protector and board guy and to eat up space. 

Middle Tennessee State is almost in the same exact boat as their Volunteer brethren to the east.  The Blue Raiders (yes folks that’s 27 letters in their whole name) have some talent especially senior Willie Brown but the trailblazing guard does not have much help.  Coach Bruce Stewart will rely on toughness down low and quickness on the perimeter but just don’t have the athletes go after the elite teams in this underrated league. 

The last and most recent member of this league are the Eastern Illinois Panthers.  The Panthers were a solid lower-level program but since joining D-1 have had little success even in the lowly Mid-Continent.  They are jumping up to the much more difficult OVC this year so things are not looking up in this directional University.  Seniors John Milholland (a gifted shooter, Tom Katsimpalis and Lloyd Ludwig and juniors Craig DeWitt, Dennis Mumford and Derrick Scott lead the returning upperclassmen but none of these guys are assured starting jobs any long as Coach Rick Samuels tries to get some D-1 level players on campus. Samuels is really going young and has recruited some offensive players who can flat score but that will not mean wins in this conference.  It would be a successful season in Charleston if the Panthers stay out of the cellar as Samuels looks to develop this young roster down the road into something special.  Two players got off to solid starts in their first year for the Panthers last year as sophomores Jay Taylor and Kevin Duckworth broke into the lineup.  Taylor is a terrific wing but Duckworth is the key.  This kid goes 7’0 275 and has shown a nice touch in limited minutes last year and if he keeps developing as he did in his first year the sky is the limit for this monster of a man.

 The OVC is a historic conference that was dominated by two teams but have not had much success in the national tourneys.  With powerhouse Western Kentucky gone to the Sun Belt, it is up to Murray State to carry the OVC banner and the Racers do have enough in the tank to surprise somebody if they do get in.  The biggest surprise would be if they didn’t but then again this league is deeper than you think and it only takes one bad game in these one program bid conference tourneys to ruin a terrific season.