Ohio Valley Discussion

[MissouriValleyUnite]

OVC guard receiving #1 Overall Pick flattery
https://www.nbadraft.net/why-murray-sta ... qEFlL6usm4

OHIO VALLEY = #1 VALLEY

[VUGrad1314]

No all that proves is that Ja Morant is the best player in either conference. By your logic, Michael Olowakandi Andrew Bogut Anthony Bennett Ben Simmons Markelle Fultz and DeAndre Ayton going first overall made their conferences the best but that simply isn't true.

[MissouriValleyUnite]

Jacksonville State wins by double digits at a nationally televised raucous Belmont.

[VUGrad1314]

Aren't they one of the standard bearers for the conference? That can't be good for the metrics. Still think
OVC > MVC?

[mvfcfan]

Aren't they one of the standard bearers for the conference? That can't be good for the metrics. Still think
OVC > MVC?

The top of the OVC is currently better than the top of the MVC. Belmont, Murray State, and Jacksonville State have been the best three teams in the OVC the past 3 years. As someone that pays about as close attention to the OVC as I do the MVC, this game was only a minor upset. JSU is a lot better than you think.

[Murraygrad05]

JSU can either look really good, or be just god awful. Yes they beat Belmont, but Belmont had a horrible shooting night. Then tonight they barely beat lowly Tennessee St. Granted, we barely beat an much improved but lowly EKU tonight. Just shows you in conference play you never know what might happen.

The top 4, Murray Belmont JSU and the Pee are all playing good ball right now and it will be a good race.

EKU with a new head coach will be much improved next year. They do lose 90% of their offense with Nick Mayo (who absolutely slaughtered us tonight) graduating but they will be much much better next year. The other 7 teams are dead in the water and have been for a while now.

I follow both MVC and OVC and really I think we are fairly even. But we still need out of this conference.

[ptownbraves]

OVC guard receiving #1 Overall Pick flattery
https://www.nbadraft.net/why-murray-sta ... qEFlL6usm4

OHIO VALLEY = #1 VALLEY

It's fun to imagine standings if this was one league. Going by KenPom, here's how things would shake out:

1) Murray St.
2) Loyola
3) Belmont
4) Jacksonville St
5) Southern Illinois
6) Austin Peay
7) Drake
8) Indiana State
9) Illinois State
10) Evansville
11) Valparaiso
12) Bradley
13) Northern Iowa
14) Missouri State
15) Eastern Kentucky
16) Morehead St.
17) Southeast Missouri St.
18) Eastern Illinois
19) Tenn St.
20) Tenn Martin
21) Southern Illinois Edwardsville
22) Tenn Tech

The OVC's top 3 would likely be top 5 in the MVC. However, the entirety of the MVC is better at basketball than 2/3rds of the OVC.

[Drakey]

Let's add those four and get to 14.

[mvfcfan]

In all honesty I don't understand why Murray State wants in the MVC so bad. It's added travel and there's no guarantee we will ever be a 2 bid league again. Besides that Murray State has home court advantage in Evansville and if they finish in the top 2, they only have to win 2 games to make the NCAA tournament. Then their football program would probably struggle in the MVFC. In all seriousness, if Murray St is smart they'll stay where they are at. I just feel like there are more disadvantages for them joining than advantages. Maybe someone can enlighten me a little more.

[IWokeUpLikeThis]

Tourney credits, tv exposure, peer universities, and better opportunities in March.

3 11-seeds have made the Final 4 in 12 years while no 12+ seed ever has. Murray specifically has had 2 runs halted early giving the national champion and national runnerup its closest game. Murray's in the S16/E8/Final 4 those two years if not handcuffed with 13/14 seeds. Those are viewed by missed opportunities by the school's power brokers.

Considering you need a minimum Sweet 16 run to feel tangible effects schoolwide (UMBC excepted), it's a no brainer for college administrators seeking to raise their school's profile. That's why you saw Murray's President campaigning so publicly on social media to join the MVC.

More important than hoops, Murray's President & BOR aren't sitting there saying "We want to be Tennessee-Martin". They're sitting there asking how they can be Illinois State or Missouri State. Those are the schools Murray aspires to be, much like Wichita aspires to be Houston or Cincinnati.