First I want to explain where the OVC race stands. The OVC is divided into two divisions, East and West. The winners of each division get's a double bye into the semi-finals. Murray (11-2) is the West winner and Belmont (11-2) has a 1 game lead on Morehead (10-3) and also has an easy schedule the rest of the way and holds the tie breaker. Unless Belmont is really unlucky they will win the East. After that you throw both divisions togeather and the teams are seeded by the best record. The third and fourth seeds get a single bye. Right now unless the sky falls Morehead will get one of those spots. The other spot will up for grabs between EKU (8-5), Tenn. Tech (6-6), and SIU-E (7-6). The 5-8 spots will play on the first day and have to win 4 games in a row to win the tournament. The two losers of the battle for the 4th seed will get two of those spots. The last two spots will be between EIU (6-8), Austin Peay (5-8), SEMO (4-8), Jacksonville St. (4-9) and UT-Martin (3-9). Tenn. St. (2-11) is out of the tournament. All teams play 16 conference games. SEMO can knock Jacksonville St. out with a win tonight and Tenn. Tech. can knock UT-M out with a win. I don't know of any other conference that doesn't let all their teams play in the conference tournament. It's all about the money and the conference wants the top seeds to advance to the NCAA's. They don't want any upset's from the semi's on.
TENN. TECH. AT UT-MARTIN
I thought TTU was starting to put it togeather. They had beat Belmont and EKU at home and JSU on the road. Then Morehead came to town and thumped them 79-53. I was on Morehead in that game because they are a bad match up for Tech. UT-M isn't. UT-M is playing for their tournament lives but Tech has something to play for too. Tech has won 7 in a row in this series. I'm just going with the better team getting points.
2* #585 TENN. TECH +2 -120
SIU-E AT TENN. ST.
TSU is playing for pride while SIU-E is playing for seeding. I believe these two programs are going in opposite directions. Once again I'm going with better team getting points.
2* #591 SIU-E +2 -120
JACKSONVILLE ST. AT SEMO
Both teams have their backs to the wall now. SEMO can knock JSU out of the tournament with a win tonight. These are two completely opposite teams. JSU is a slow tempo team that want's to keep the game in the 60's. SEMO is a high scoring team (82.1ppg). They want a fast pace transition game. I'm not going to say any more about the game but I am making a average bet on SEMO. As a warning SEMO is 0-7 ATS at home this year so if you follow do so with caution.
2* #594 SEMO -5 -108