Ohio Valley
If you like bad offense, the Ohio Valley Conference is for you. Six of the 11 teams in his conference ranked in the 300s in Effective Field Goal Percentage offense last season. As a result, you did have some decent defensive metrics in the league, as teams simply didn’t make enough shots. Morehead State was the best team on both ends of the floor and held up in the conference tournament to get the automatic bid.
The Eagles hung around as long as they could with Illinois, which was about 25 minutes, but eventually lost by 16. Running it back may be tough, as Morehead State bid adieu to head coach Preston Spradlin, as he leveled up to James Madison. Four starters are gone and new head coach Jonathan Mattox’s top returning scorer had 4.6 points per game. The 35-year-old Mattox was on the Morehead State staff from 2013-22 before joining Murray State as an assistant under Steve Prohm.
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With that in mind, the OVC is wide open for this season. Little Rock will be led by super senior KK Robinson, but most of last year’s supporting cast is gone. UT Martin rose up and had a big season last year, but head coach Ryan Ridder is now at Mercer. Top players Jacob Crews and Jordan Sears both transferred to SEC programs and seniors Issa Muhammad and KK Curry are also gone.
Western Illinois was second to Morehead State in adjusted defensive efficiency and a top-20 team in eFG% defense, so maybe the Leathernecks are the team to watch. They had major scoring issues last year, but some exciting transfers have come in and this is a team with great length, as seven players are listed at 6-foot-6 or taller.
Tennessee State strikes me as a dark horse, as they played good defense last season and brought in some more efficient scorers via the portal. Brian Collins has had back-to-back 18-win seasons with 10-8 marks in league play. With no Morehead State this season, improving that by a couple games might be enough.
