12 days away from the start of the tournament and I think have it all figured out. Games for the Men's OVC Basketball Championship kick off at the Municipal Auditorium on March 2. Wednesday and Thursday's games are on OVCSports.TV, then Friday's games gets picked up on ESPNU with our Final airing on ESPN2.
There is a little wiggle room for change to occur in the standings as we wrap up the season, so what do you think? Do I have the brackets right? Will Zac Swansey pull off another buzzer beater, will Kenneth Faried take over in the Final and win it for Morehead? Which lower seed has a chance to pull off an upset?
Give us some feedback and let us know what your bracket looks like.
There is much to catch up on this week in the OVC. Don't miss a thing in the latest edition below.
Austin Peay: Last week we commented on the Govs adding a few new members to their Hall of Fame. In addition the recruiting class for Football was summarized, but Big Dog's Blog offers some great insight into APSU's football program and how it will be impacted by the class. Also on Peaypride.com you can see the full reports on Paige Smith, Adrain Henning and Ryan Bennett who are the new inductees to the APSU Hall of Fame.
Eastern Illinois: In Illinois there is a family who's history runs deep in basketball. Dane Church spent much of his time growing up in the gym of EIU while his father Mike Church served as a coach for the Men's basketball program and one of his favorite things to do was to take video to coaches in the visiting locker room of Lantz Arena after they had just lost to EIU. Well, times have changed and Dane came to EIU Friday night to claim victory with SEMO serving as an assistant coach. Read more on the coming of age tell here. The best way to explain talent sometimes is to just show it off, so I won't mention that Zye Boey is blazing fast and just collected another honor for adidas OVC Track Athlete of the week. I'll just suggest you watch him below as he turns it on 12 seconds in.
Eastern Kentucky: At the MTSU Invitational EKU put up some great performances over the weekend. Lutisha Bowen, DanHeisha Harding and Jasmyn Norris ran the top three times in the OVC on Saturday in the 60m hurdles and overall four Colonels won events, you can get the recap of their success here. In Richmond there are a few other stories as well as the football program will host the second installment of EKU vs. Morehead State Battle of the Blood Drive on Thursday and the soccer program has announced six new signings.
Jacksonville State: Former JSU guard Walker Russell has been selected to play in the NBA's D-League All-Star game. This is his second time to make the game in the last three years. JSU junior Andrea Dardas grabbed the Smallbore Crown at the OVC Rifle Championships over the weekend as JSU had a great showing. JSU baseball has also made headlines as they were picked to win the OVC this year, but soccer is creating a buzz as well announcing their new signing class.
Morehead State: There will be more than just crazy pants at MSU on Thursday night, the Eagles are encouraging fans to come out in wacky attire, because there will also be a little bit of bling. Volleyball and soccer will recieve their championship rings at halftime of the Men's game versus EIU. More news around campus sees men's tennis defeat Chicago State recently and Ty Proffit named to Capital One Academic All-District 4 First Team.
Murray State: Awards are flying around Murray of late with football and rifle gaining the honors. Five members of the Racer Football team were recognized Friday and on their way to winning the OVC Rifle Championship Murray saw several athletes earn conference honors. Murray are now repeating champions in the event as they won it for the second year in a row.
Southeast Missouri: You can read about SEMO's soccer program receiving three national letters of intent, baseball being picked to finish second in the OVC this year and track and field gaining honors at Gosoutheast.com. There is also a bitter sweet story coming from the campus as the SEMO's long serving volleyball coach has resigned. Reneta Heard has been with the university for 10 years and has served as head coach for the last six. Her husband, Grant, recently got a job as an assistant football coach at Arkansas State University, so Heard and her family will relocate to Jonesboro, Ark. Read the rest of the story from semoball.com.
SIU Edwardsville: SIUE announced four athletes have signed with the soccer program, and some impressive signings as well. See TheTelegraph.com to read the full report on these players and get acquainted with their background in the game. Also, SIUE has released a new fight song. The Mighty Cougar Roar debuted over the weekend, and I say this is a good thing. Bring on the singing, the excitement and the atmosphere that goes along with a campus getting behind their teams.
Tennessee State: Richard Dent has become the first TSU player to be elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. Dent made his name in the NFL for the Bears and was named MVP of Super Bowl XX. Back when Dent played for the Bears, Ditka was just stepping into his legandary status. After this era of football that Dent contributed to, the city of Chicago would never be the same. Images of Saturday Night Live come to mind as Chris Farely and Dan Akroyd portray the influence the Bears had on fans, "Da' Bears", you might say to yourself. See the video below of Dent in his hayday.
Tennessee Tech: Former TTU standout Lee Henry, who is currently taking graduate classes at Tech, signed with the Amarillo Sox of the independent American Association. Read that story and his comments on the signing in theHerald Citizen. Tech Softball opens its season at the Georgia State tournament this weekend, and the athletic department is also running a Sweetheart Special for Monday night's game against TSU where you can get two tickets for the price of one. If you are in trouble with your significant other or still searching for the perfect gift and your loved one really likes basketball visit the Tech websiteto take advantage.
UT Martin: Head Rifle Coach Bob Beard was named OVC Coach of Year, his teams stats at the Rifle Championship this weekend and full story on the announcement are laid out in a nice article on the school's website. Martin's tennis program traveled to Nashville and Murfreseboro to take on some heavy hitting competition and split their matches over the weekend against Lipscomb and MTSU. Elsewhere on campus baseball saw some players nominated to the All-OVC Preason Squad and it was announced that Caroline Cramer will represent Martin at the Collegiate Equitation Challenge in Wellington, Fla on the 11th of this month. See UTMSports.com to see the full stories.
In our blog last week we talked about OVC connections and the Super Bowl, including two former OVC student-athletes who were on the Green Bay Packers roster.
Well unless you have been under a rock, you were probably one of the record number of peopleto watch the game on Sunday and see the Packers defeat the Pittsburg Steelers 31-25 for its 13th World Championship and 4th Super Bowl crown.
The photo at the right shows former Tennessee State player Anthony Levine touching the Lombardi Trophy as two-time Super Bowl MVP Roger Staubach takes it to the awards ceremony.
Levine was injured during the preseason and spent the season on IR but was on the sidelines for the game. He was one of two OVC connections on the team, as former Eastern Illinois offensive lineman Chris Campbell was a member of the Packers practice squad this season.
National signing day has come and gone for football. Buzz across the nation is still permitted after the big day for the sport so we will catch you up on every school's activity, but we also have basketball stars making national headlines and teams getting into the rankings. Furthermore, we have universities planning new facilities and former Super Bowl winners set to visit campus. There is much to catch up on, so let's go.
Austin Peay: Out in Clarksville the Govs are set to honor a new class of Hall of Famers. Adrian Henning was a two time All-OVC forward who helped guide APSU into the NCAA Tournament in 2003, Paige Smith also guided the Govs to a few NCAA tournament berths in her time there and also Ryan Bennett who is considered one of the best two-way catchers in APSU's history will all be honored at halftime of the Govs' home game against Murray State. APSU got into the act on signing day, addressing some needs at quarterback, skill positions and on their lines. There is a very good article that shows off the new recruits skills in some videos, click here to take a look.
Eastern Illinois: In the spirit of this week's Super Bowl we would like to make mention of the three-time Super Bowl winner Mike Shanahan teaming up with EIU Athletic Department on the 24th to conduct the Athletic Director's Gala. They should have plenty to talk about as EIU athletics has enjoyed recent success in many departments such as Track and Field moving up in national rankings and their men's side recent sweep of conference honors. EIU has a complete PDF file on there website where you can here all the players comment on their signing to the school, but I wanted to show a clip of one of their future stars I have heard some chatter about. Trey Pendergrass looks just as fast and elusive as everyone suspects here.
Eastern Kentucky: There is a good buzz coming from Richmond regarding baseball and perfect timing too as the OVC baseball season is fast approaching. EKU is in the planning stages to construct a new state-of-the-art baseball stadium that will serve as the cornerstone for the campus. The stadium will offer new amenities, more than we could list here, and for further reading check out the Colonel's article. EKU is also getting in on the ESPN BracketBuster series as they will take on Western Carolina on the 19th. EKU also announced their news of adding 23 signees to the football program, they have a full list here.
Jacksonville State: The men's and women's golf programs were picked to win the OVC this season on Wednesday. Elsewhere, the Gamecocks have signed 16 players on National Signing Day to the football program. Coach Jack Crowe had identified that JSU needed an influx of lineman, well, they got just that as they inked 3 offensive linemen and 3 defensive linemen. Coach Crowe stated about this recruiting class, "I think its the best we have ever signed." See Coach Crowe's interview below.
Morehead State: Frankly it is just hard not to write about the guy. He dunks on anything that moves, continuously gets recognized nationally and he can flat out play. We are talking about Kenneth Faried if you didn't know, and now we must report the latest in his ongoing season of publicity. Dime Magazine has recently released an article in which it dubs Faried the "next Dennis Rodman." Faried seems to carry himself quite well as he did when asked if he would rather win the OVC title of be a first round pick in the NBA. He responded, "Would I get drafted first if I won the title?" Pretty smart Faried. Check out the rest of that article here. Not to be left out on the football extravaganza, Morehead is making headlines with multiple players receiving honors which they highlight on their website.
Murray State: The Racers honored over 100 student-athletes for their academic achievements at halftime of a home game over the weekend, truly a great moment for the campus. Last night in men's basketball Murray State got past TSU in Nashville and moved into second place in the OVC. The Racers also have announced their 2011 football recruiting class, and you can read more about the victory in Nashville and the football headlines in Murray Ledger & Times article here.
Southeast Missouri: Men's Basketball will host Sacramento State on February 19th as part of ESPNU's Bracketbusters. For the Redhawks, recent headlines have been about football with the restructuring of the coaching staff and renewing of contracts. This week the Redhawks announced the Brian Mohnsen has been hired as defensive coordinator while Tim McGuire moves to offensive coordinator and assistant coach. Head coach Tony Samuel has had his contract renewed as well. Semoball.com has all the news for the campus covered.
Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville: SIUE is eligible to compete in conference play for the first time since joining the league in 2008 in softball and they have been picked to finish fourth in the OVC. SIUE's start of a new era with the OVC provides excitement for all involved. Check out the university's website which goes into depth on the upcoming season, and be sure to pay attention to video that pops up, it is an interesting look at how exactly a cougar roars on the campus of SIUE.
Tennessee State: It sure was a tough loss at home in Nashville for the Tigers as Murray State edged them out in men's basketball, but their women's team snapped a losing skid in a victory over the Racers. Football Coach Rod Reed hosted a "Meet and Greet" for the 22 players TSU inked on Signing Day. Catch the full report of the signings here.
Tennessee Tech: Basketball programs at Tech have lots to celebrate with their coaches and players making some history, including junior Tacarra Hayes moving past 1,000 points in her career this week and head men's basketball coach Mike Sutton recorded his 141st victory moving into the 10th spot all time in the OVC. Meanwhile, versatility was the key in recruiting for Tech's football program and you can catch Head Coach Watson Brown's comments on it below.
UT Martin: The men's basketball tean fell short at Austin Peay this week while the women's team lost in a close one to the Lady Govs. UT Martin's tennis program saw two players make the preseason All-OVC top 10 list. Head football coach Jason Simpson has announced his 23 player signing class for the University as well. Catch up on all UT Martin's latest here.
As we approach the big day, many of us our dreading the fact that we might soon be expanding our waist lines while consuming our favorite Super Bowl Sunday munchies. Here at the OVC we would like to provide a health conscious expansion by broadening your knowledge of the OVC's ties to the Super Bowl.
The conference and its universities have many links to the big game. Most notably would be Phil Simms, the MVP of Super Bowl XXI in which he strung together 10 consecutive completions in the second half ... tied for second in Super Bowl history all time by the way. Eastern Illinois has a big claim to fame with Sean Payton' s incredible run to the Super Bowl last year when he led the New Orleans Saints to victory with some entertaining play calling.
Recent years has also seen our fair share of former conference players involved in the Febuary showdown. After being drafted in the first round the former Tennessee State standout Dominique Rogers-Cromartie made a name for himself in the '09 playoffs with 3 interceptions on the way to the Cardinals Super Bowl run that year. This year Tennessee Tech graduate Frank Omiyale almost made it but him, Cutler and the Bears fell one game short.
We should point out some former OVC standouts that are playing a role in the Super Bowl this year. The Packers look mighty tough to beat heading into the game and OL Chris Campbell and Saftey Anthony Levine have helped the team get there.
Campbell, also known as Big Baby, perfected his trade at Eastern Illinois. Campbell is quite the story as he came to EIU as a walk-on and finished as a starter, earning second-team All-OVC that season. Campbell is currently a part of the practice squad. Levine is currently on IR for the Packers after being signed as a non-drafted free agent in May 2010. Levine impressed at the rookie oreintation camp warranting his signing, worthy enough to mention that Levine shared the defensive backfield with Rogers-Cromartie in his time at TSU.
The OVC has more connections to the Super Bowl than one might think and it is only growing over recent years. Let's hope that this game proves to be a good one, and the conference's former players and coaches continue to get into the mix.
