Super Bowl and the OVC, more tied together than you think

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.

Two Former OVC Golfers on PGA Tour This Season

The PGA Tour back in full swing once again and this season there are two former Ohio Valley Conference golfers participating.

Josh Teater, who played at Morehead State (1997-01), played in 31 events on The Tour last year and is back again this season. The Danville, Ky. native turned pro in 2001 after graduation. In 2010 he won an impressive $1,005,323 in those 31 events.

Teater earned his PGA Tour card by finishing seventh on the Nationwide Tour in 2009. After earning his Tour card Teater told MSUEagles.com ... “[Earning my tour card] is something I’ve strived for since the end of high school when I decided to play golf in college, so I’m extremely pleased. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing with the world’s best."

Here is a video that Morehead State produced on Teater last year.

Scott Stallings, who played at Tennessee Tech (2003-07), is in his first year on The Tour. He qualified back in December after competing in the six-round PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament (Q School). He was the OVC Golfer of the Year in both 2006 and 2007.

Stallings told The Golf Channel in December ... "To have the opportunity to play on the PGA Tour is something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid. To have the opportunity to go out and play with best players in world is something I'm very excited about." TTUSports.com also had a feature on him recently.

Here are some highlights and an interview with him from Q School in December.




Both opened the 2011 PGA season at the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier in January (13-16). Neither golfer made the cut, but Stallings posted a two-round score of 142 (+2) while Teater was two strokes back at 144 (+4).

Who might be the next OVC star to make the Tour? You can find out for yourself on April 25-27 at the 2011 OVC Men's Golf Championship which will be held at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tenn.

Around the Ohio Valley- January 26

Around the Valley this week we spotlight some noble work by our conference's student-athletes, who not only perform on the field, or court, but also off it. Programs around the conference are achieving excellence in more places than just the win column and we have many athletes who have been recognized nationally. Let's get started.

Austin Peay: Director of Athletics Dave Loos proudly commented on the recent academic achievements made at the university, “The success of our student-athletes in the classroom is one of our top goals. To see them succeed at the level they have for the past few years is certainly encouraging.” Bravo to any athletic department such as APSU's that can see 155 student-athletes named to the Athletic Director's honor roll in one semester.

Eastern Illinois: EIU honored former US Olympian and Division All-American John Craft by retiring his jersey at the Mega Meet over the weekend and pledging to rename the event after him starting in 2012. Craft, who served as a long time coach at EIU until 2002, surely enjoyed watching current athlete Mick Viken grab adidas OVC Field Athlete of the Week honors with his performance at the event. Check out the Panthers’ website which is currently taking a poll of the greatest career of athletes to have their jersey retired at EIU, which includes the likes of Tony Romo and Sean Payton.

Eastern Kentucky: Former EKU All-American Christian Friedrich has been named one of Major League Baseball’s top 50 prospects according to MLB’s annual top 50 prospects list. Friedrich looks to be a very promising prospect, and being invited to Anaheim over the summer for All-Stars Futures game is an indication of that. In other campus news Aramark and Mountain Dew present EKU’s first ever White Out Thursday night as Men’s and Women’s Basketball play host to OVC leading Austin Peay. The atmosphere should be electric, and caffeine injected, as samples of Mountain Dew's new product and rally towels are going to handed out at the door.

Jacksonville State: The Jacksonville State athletics department put together its best overall GPA in a semester during the fall. The overall GPA was a high 2.984. “We are very proud of the work by our student-athletes…The fact that we had 12 teams with a 3.0 or higher GPA is a credit to the hard work in the classroom by our teams.” Chelsea Pelletier, senior in women’s soccer at the time, actually claimed the OVC’s 2009-2010 Scholar Athlete Award, which spotlights the a great job by the university's staff and student-athletes.

Morehead State: Senior goalkeeper for the Eagles, Lily Meisner, was named to the 2010 Jewish Sports Review All-American team. Meisner lead the team to a school record thirteen victories and finished the season undefeated in conference play. Morehead won the OVC Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.

Murray State: Leading up to the OVC’s conference Rifle Championship on February 5-6, Murray State claimed a note worthy victory this Sunday against Ole Miss in Oxford. State got by in a closely contested match and eked out the win by 10 points. Back on campus Saturday alumni and former players and coaches got together to be recognized at half time of the Racers’ game against Southeast Missouri and pregame activities included hearing from State’s Athletic Director about plans for the new practice facility, which is spurring excitement around the campus.

Southeast Missouri: SEMO tailback Henry Harris and center Sean Middleton recently earned more honors as they were named to the College Sporting News Sweet 63 Football Subdivision All-American team. Middleton was the Rimington Award winner for the FCS’s top center, part of an offensive line that led the nation in sacks allowed. Harris had a record breaking season with 1,735 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns, some of which is captured below.



Tennessee State: The University is gearing up for the TSU Invite at the Gentry Center this weekend. The Track and Field athletes at TSU are coming off some great performances recently and look to build upon their success in familiar surroundings.

Tennessee Tech: Basketball coaches from Tech Mike Sutton and Sytia Messer spoke to Cookeville area business leaders this past week. Also speaking at the Leslie Town Center were Tech President Bob Bell and Director of Athletics Mark Wilson. Representing Tech, the leaders spoke about academic results by student-athletes, importance of community support for the athletic program at Tech and more. The coaches have a lot to promote as Women's Basketball just got ranked 24th in the Mid-Major Poll.

UT Martin: Martin has added a 15th member to the 1,000 point club as Benzor Simmons went for a season best 26 points Monday night in Men’s Basketball. In the spirit of big news in the Equestrian world today, the famous Zenyatta announced to be bread by her owners, UT Martin looks to build on the excitement when they open up to No. 2 Auburn Friday at the Ned Wherter Agricultural Complex. The raw excitement of the sport is displayed here by the recent headline grabber, and I am sure there will be some similar interesting action on display Friday.

Top plays and tight standings

In women's basketball Tennessee Tech is sitting alone on top of the OVC standings, but a victory over Austin Peay last night was anything but comfortable. APSU had it to within a point in the last minute but couldn't find the go-ahead basket.

Elsewhere across the conference things were close between TSU and Jacksonville State, and Murray State delivered a blow to Eastern Illinois keeping the Panthers tied in conference play with APSU after a 7-point victory.

On the men's side, you might have caught Tennessee Tech's Zac Swansey deliver a game winning 3-pointer to defeat the first place Governors on Thursday nights edition of ESPN's Sportcenter Top Plays.



You should have also noticed Eastern Illinois' Jeremy Granger coolly dropping a floater in the paint with 3.2 seconds left to give the Panthers the win in Murray.

Competition last night in the OVC proved to be exciting, and not just for the games themselves but for the race to the title. Be on the lookout for games that could make or break someone's title hopes on the women's side like when Eastern Illinois vistits UT Martin for a battle between 3rd and 4th, and also a game down the line on February 5th when Tennessee Tech plays host to Morehead State.

For the men, Tennessee State vs. Morehead State is fast approaching on the 27th of this month and two days later MSU turns around to play the top place APSU Governors.

OVC basketball fans should be in for some more top plays, but are guaranteed a tight race to the finish.

Around the Ohio Valley: January 19th

2011 is starting out with a bang. Excitement is growing as the basketball seasons grow ever closer to the OVC Basketball Championship Music City Madness. Basketball isn't all that is stealing the headlines, as you can see by looking around the conference.


Austin Peay: It is "Coming Home Week" at Austin Peay where the Men's and Women's basketball programs will play host to Tennessee Tech on Thursday Night. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the "Hoops for Haiti" project APU has intiated, and the students of APU will be inacting a whiteout for the event.

Eastern Illinois: The Panthers have signed an additional two Junior College transfers. On the first day JUCO players could sign National Letters of Intent in mid December the Panthers signed three players. New additions Eric Varela and Clinton Simpkins will add to the offensive and defensive lines respectively and also add to the new faces around campus.

Eastern Kentucky: EKU baseball has announced that it will kick off their season with the 11th annual Daimond Legacy Dinner on Saturday, Febuary 5th at 6pm in the Keen Ballroom. Key note speaker for the dinner will be Josh Anderson. Anderson was drafted by the Houston Astros and is a former player and hall of famer of EKU's program.

Jacksonville State: JSU's Laveeta Oliver set a new JSU indoor track and field record with a time of 7.56 in the 60 meter dash. Also, former JSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux signed a future/reserve contract with the New York Giants.

Morehead State: Last week standout Kenneth Faried was named to the Wooden Award Midseason watch list, one of the most prestigous awards for college basketball. His coach Donnie Tyndall has stated, "there's no question he (Faried) is one of the top 20 players in college basketball and he deserves to be on the list." Faried is definitely making some noise around the nation, and why not when you can fly like this.



Murray State: Planning is under way for a new basketball specific practice facility at Murray State. The new facility could be completed and ready for start of the fall 2012. The new facility would legitimize MSU as a top program, according to the Head Men's Coach Billy Kennedy. Other planning like adding luxury boxes to the CFSB Center and moving the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame there is under way as well. Read more in the article outlining the new plans.

Southeast Missouri State: State has announced the "Show Me Sellout- Part II". The event will take place as the Redhawks host Tennessee Tech in a double header January 29th. Students are orgainizing a blackout and the University is offering ways to help disadvantaged youth get out to see the game on their website.


Southern Illinois University Edwardsville: SIUE has just announced that for the fall semester of 2010 the University's student athletes posted the highest cummalitive GPA in the last decade, 3.172. "Timely graduation continues to be a top priority for our student athletes and Intercollegiate Athletics. The support and stucture that is in place helps our student athletes excel in the classroom," said Director of Athletics Dr. Brad Hewitt.

Tennessee State: TSU Men's Basketball currently sits third in the OVC after handing Austin Peay their first conference loss of the season in OT. Wil Peters was awarded Adidas Athlete of the Week after scoring seven of TSU's eleven overtime points, while Kenny Moore was named Adidas OVC Co-Newcomer of the Week after scoring a game high 20 points and securing his fourth double-double of the season.

Tennessee Tech: Kevin Murphy has become the 32nd Golden Eagle to joing the 1,000 point club while dropping 31 points against Murray State on Saturday night. On the women's side Tacarra Hayes is edging ever closer to achieving the same feat, needing just 81 more points to reach the mark.

UT Martin: Adidas OVC Freshman of the Week Jasmine Newsome and the UT Martin Skyhawks will put their 10 game home winning streak on the line tonight as they face Southeast Missouri tonight. Get live stats here.

A Look Ahead to the 2011 OVC Basketball Tournament

I know we have been really bad about updating the blog. That is about to change as our new intern starts officially next week. We'll have news, links and stories coming more regularly and hopefully the return of the OVC Insider weekly webisode.

In the meantime, we'll hold you over with a preview of our new spot for the 2011 OVC Basketball Tournament. The event is March 2-5 at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville. For all your information on the event, please check out the Championship Page at OVCSports.com

Time For Basketball Teams to Open Practice

As basketball teams around the country get ready to kickoff practice for the 2010-11 season on Oct. 15, here are two stories (a men's and a women's) from the NCAA staff about the seasons getting ready to begin.

Midnight Madness Takes the Court this Weekend Nationwide; Regular Season Set to Begin November 12

David Worlock, Associate Director of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship

INDIANAPOLIS - Some 345 NCAA® Division I men’s basketball teams begin their journey on the road they hope will culminate at the Final Four®, as official practices will be conducted across the country this weekend. Many teams and their fans will gather across the country in arenas late Friday night to celebrate Midnight Madness, the annual celebration that marks the start to the season. Practices are permitted to begin after 5 p.m. Friday.

ESPNU will televise its Midnight Madness special featuring extensive whip-around coverage from top college basketball programs around the nation Friday at 9 p.m. ET. Coverage will focus on several men’s programs including defending national champion Duke, as well as Kentucky, Memphis, Gonzaga, Kansas State and St. John’s. The University of Connecticut women’s program – the two-time defending national champion, which is riding a 78-game winning streak (10 short of the UCLA men's record for consecutive victories in NCAA Division I basketball) – will also be featured.

Coming off a thrilling conclusion to the 2009-10 season that saw the Blue Devils win the men’s title after Butler’s half-court shot caromed off the rim, the upcoming season promises to give college basketball fans around the world more excitement.

However, the Madness is not limited to March.

Non-conference games in November feature contests such as Ohio State-Florida, Texas-Illinois, Kansas State-Gonzaga, Kansas-Arizona, Missouri-Georgetown and Tennessee-Pittsburgh. Blockbuster tilts continue in December with matchups such as Duke-Butler, Syracuse-Michigan State, Kentucky-North Carolina, Washington-Texas A&M and Temple-Villanova. And that’s just a small sampling.

In addition to the dozens of individual non-conference games, there will be several multi-team events that promise to feature matchups between the nation’s top programs. The NCAA has historically identified these events as ideal opportunities to use experimental rules, and this year is no exception. In May, the Men’s Basketball Rules Committee approved the experimental use of an expanded arc at two feet from the center of the basket. This identifies an area on the floor where a secondary defender is not able to establish legal guarding position. The committee felt the rule change made last year reduced the number of collisions at the goal; this year’s experimental rule calls for the area to be slightly expanded.

The men’s championship also enters a new era, with the announcement earlier this year that the tournament field will expand to 68 teams beginning with the 2011 championship. Under the new format, there will be four first-round games, to be played in Dayton March 15 and 16 and known as the First Four®. It will feature two games involving teams playing for the right to advance as No. 16 seeds that will play top-seeded teams in the second round, and two other games featuring the final four at-large teams selected to the field. Second- and third-round games will be played March 17-20. Host cities are Denver, Colorado; Tampa, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; Washington D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Regional sites will conduct games March 24-27 and include Anaheim, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Newark, New Jersey; and San Antonio, Texas. The 2011 Men’s Final Four will be held April 2 and 4 at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Tournament tickets can be purchased by visiting www.ncaa.com/mbbtickets.

The NCAA reached a deal in April with Turner Sports and CBS worth $10.8 billion over 14 years for the television, Internet and wireless rights to the tournament. As part of the agreement, all 67 games of the championship will be shown live across four national networks—CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. Previously, fewer than 10 tournament games were guaranteed to have a full national audience.

The bracket, which will be revealed Sunday, March 13 on CBS, is constructed by using the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee’s principles and procedures, which can be located at www.ncaa.com/media. This year’s committee is chaired by Gene Smith of Ohio State. He is joined on the committee by Stan Morrison of University of California, Riverside; Jeff Hathaway of Connecticut, Lynn Hickey of University of Texas at San Antonio, Mike Bobinski of Xavier University, Doug Fullerton of the Big Sky Conference, Dan Beebe of the Big 12 Conference, Ron Wellman of Wake Forest University, Scott Barnes of Utah State, and Steve Orsini of Southern Methodist University.

But before teams start dancing their way through NCAA March Madness®, they will have a little fun with Midnight Madness and the practices this week. The journey on the Road to the Final Four® actually begins in October with this tradition that started nearly 40 years ago when Lefty Driesell had his University of Maryland team go for a run on the campus’ track minutes after midnight on the first day of allowable practices. Approximately 3,000 fans attended the event and it became a tradition that spread across the country and now features a variety of activities to entertain thousands of fans. Many of the practices are televised live locally and carried live via video streaming across the Internet.



Start of Practice and Midnight Madness Celebrations Signal Beginning of 2010-11 Women's College Basketball Season; Regular Season to Begin November 12

Rick Nixon, Associate Director of the Division I Women's Basketball Championship

INDIANAPOLIS - The journey down a road that hundreds of women’s basketball teams hope will culminate with a trip to the Women’s Final Four® has begun, as official practices are being conducted across the country this week. Many women’s programs have started their preparations thanks to a new NCAA rule this year that permits women’s teams to begin practicing 40 days before their first game. Several other teams will gather in arenas late Friday night to celebrate Midnight Madness, the annual celebration that marks the unofficial start to the season.

ESPNU will televise a four-hour ESPNU Midnight Madness special featuring extensive whip-around coverage from top college basketball programs around the nation on October 15 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU HD. The University of Connecticut women’s program – the two-time defending national champion, which is riding a 78-game winning streak (10 short of the UCLA men's record for consecutive victories in NCAA Division I basketball) – will be featured along with several men’s programs including defending national champion Duke University as well as Kentucky, Memphis, Gonzaga and Kansas State. The Huskies will be the first women’s team to be showcased during Midnight Madness programming since the show debuted on ESPN platforms in 1993.

The question entering the 2010-11 women’s season centers on Connecticut’s winning streak and which teams will stand between the Huskies and a run at a third straight national championship. Non-conference play will provide an early indication as Connecticut faces Baylor on Nov. 16 in the State Farm Tip-Off Classic in a rematch of a 2010 national semifinal contest. A rematch of the 2010 national championship game will occur when Connecticut plays Stanford on Dec. 30.

Additional non-conference women’s matchups will take place across the country in November and December with key and important games featuring Rutgers-Stanford (Nov. 14), Texas-Stanford (Nov. 28), Oklahoma-Duke (Dec. 5), Tennessee-Baylor (Dec. 14), Stanford-Tennessee (Dec. 19), Xavier-Duke (Dec. 21), Xavier-Stanford (Dec. 28) and Rutgers-Tennessee (Dec. 30) to name just a few.

An experimental rule to be applied during exhibition play will involve the continued effort to examine the distance of the three-point line. The Women’s Basketball Rules Committee has requested institutions to record shooting percentages from both the men’s and women’s lines from one home exhibition game. This information will provide the committee with significant data on how many three-pointers are actually being taken from behind both the men’s and women’s line.

Conference play will feature key matchups as teams vie to win a conference championship and continue to build a resume worthy of earning their way into the championship field. The 64-team women’s tournament field will be announced Monday, March 14 on ESPN. First- and second-round sites include Albuquerque, New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Durham, North Carolina; Knoxville, Tennessee; Salt Lake City, Utah; Spokane, Washington; Stanford, California; University Park, Pennsylvania; Auburn, Alabama; Charlottesville, Virginia; Cincinnati, Ohio; College Park, Maryland; Shreveport, Louisiana; Storrs, Connecticut; Waco, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas, with games set for March 19-22. The four regional sites will be Dayton, Ohio; Spokane, Washington; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Dallas, Texas on March 26-29. The Women’s Final Four will be April 3 and 5, 2011 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tickets for all sites can be purchased by going to www.ncaa.com/tickets.

The women’s bracket is constructed by using the committee’s principles and procedures, which are located at www.ncaa.com/finalfour. Members of the 2010-11 Division I Women’s Basketball Committee include chair Marilyn McNeil of Monmouth University. She is joined on the committee by Sybil Blalock of Mercer University, Greg Christopher of Bowling Green State University, Leslie Claybrook of Rice University, Rich Ensor of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Heather Gores of Gonzaga University, Dru Hancock of the Big 12 Conference, Carolayne Henry of the Mountain West Conference, Chris Massaro of Middle Tennessee State and Kathy Meehan of St. John’s University (New York).

For the ninth consecutive year, ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast all 63 games of the 2011 Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The network will offer whip-around-style coverage in high definition. This marks the 16th straight year (since 1996) that ESPN will serve as the championship’s exclusive television home.

Before teams start dancing their way through NCAA March Madness®, they will have a little fun with Midnight Madness and the practices this week. The journey down the Road to the Women’s Final Four® begins in October with this tradition that started nearly 40 years ago when Lefty Driesell had his University of Maryland men’s team go for a run on the campus’ track minutes after midnight on the first day of allowable practices. Approximately 3,000 fans attended the event and it became a tradition that spread across the country and now features a variety of activities to entertain thousands of men’s and women’s basketball fans. In addition to ESPNU coverage, many of the practices are televised live locally and carried live via video streaming across the Internet.