2018-19 OVC Post-Mortem

In its long history, the Ohio Valley Conference has had some outstanding players and some excellent teams. Rarely has it had as many of both as it did in the 2018-19 season.

Long a part of the NCAA Division I landscape, rarely in the spotlight, the OVC took a rare step out of the shadows in 2018-19, and a deserved one it was. It was truly a memorable year for the conference, with postseason success it has rarely seen and a superb class of individual talent-including a bona fide, shake-the-sport’s-landscape superstar.

The OVC sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time ever and the first time since 1987. Not since then-member Middle Tennessee State nabbed one of the final at-larges in 1987-just the third year of the 64-team tournament-had the conference put two teams in the field, but Belmont was selected for a First Four game this year.

The OVC also provided one of the great upsets in tournament history in 1987 when 14 seed Austin Peay stunned Illinois-prompting ESPN’s Dick Vitale to memorably do a headstand on air-and this time around also brought NCAAs success. Belmont won its first game over Temple convincingly, and two days later 12th-seeded Murray State blew away Marquette, giving the conference two NCAA tourney wins in a season for the first time since the early 1970s.

Along with team success, the OVC featured some tremendous individual talent, led by Murray State’s Ja Morant. The sophomore exploded onto the national scene, ranking among the nation’s leading scorers and also leading Division I in assists by a mile-more than two assists per game better than his nearest competitor.

He wasn’t the only terrific talent, though. Belmont’s Dylan Windler also became an NBA prospect and was a double-double machine-18 of them total on the season, several of the monster variety. Eastern Kentucky senior Nick Mayo became just the second four-time first team all-OVC selection in the league’s long history. Austin Peay’s Terry Taylor again played beyond his years as a sophomore and beyond his size, too, as a 6-foot-5 low-post operator. Jacksonville State’s Jason Burnell also elbowed his way into discussions of the league’s top players with an outstanding senior year playing inside and outside.

Make no mistake, though, the headliner was Morant, a transcendent star in a league that has seen its share of distinguished players over the years. The sophomore blew away the conference’s season record with 331 assists-seventy-six more than the previous record of Duane Washington for Middle Tennessee State in 1986-87. A wondrous passer who still averaged over 24 points a game, he finished with 20 double-doubles-with 18 of the points/assists variety-and three triple-doubles. One of them came in the NCAA tourney rout of Marquette, where his 17 points, 11 rebounds and 16 assists introduced to the masses what college hoopheads saw all year.

Morant was the OVC’s third-ever consensus first team All-American, and first since 1971. Maybe his most astonishing feat was even making Murray State popular with ESPN. It takes a lot now for leagues like the OVC to get the attention of the network that once was one of their foremost champions. Grow a top-level NBA Draft talent, though, and the network with a massive NBA TV contract is all ears, and by the end of the season Murray’s games were being given the Ben Simmons/Trae Young/Zion Williamson treatment, almost two-hour infomercials for one player’s greatness. And yet, time and again, Morant delivered.

Collectively, there’s little denying that the top four carried the OVC this year. The top four teams all won at least 22 games and combined for 101 wins; the remaining eight teams all had losing records and won just 89 games total.

As a whole, the conference ranked just 24th of 32 in the NET (per WarrenNolan.com). It finished 20th in the old RPI conference rank, a drop of two spots from the year before though still its second-best mark over the past six years. In other words, there is still room for improvement for the OVC as a group, but for success at the top, this year was (and probably will in the future be) hard to beat.

Final Standings:

Conference Tournament
The 56th Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will go down as one of the event’s greatest. Moving the tourney from longtime home Nashville to Evansville, Ind., has worked out even better than those with the league ever could’ve hoped, and this year’s event set attendance records.

The OVC continued its stepladder bracket format, with eight teams invited to the tourney and a total of four rounds. The first two rounds saw competitive games but just one minor upset, as seventh-seeded UT Martin topped Eastern Illinois 78-71. Morehead State edged No. 8 Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 72-68 in the other first round game, but both the 5 seed Eagles and UT Martin were knocked out in the second round as No. 4 Austin Peay eliminated Morehead State 95-81 and third-seeded Jacksonville State rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the Skyhawks 88-81.

The semifinals brought the OVC’s clear top four teams together and in front of a crowd of 8,294, a new tourney record for a neutral site. Austin Peay threatened Belmont for more than a half, leading 43-40 at the break and hanging close deep into the second half, but the Bruins and in particular Dylan Windler were relentless. Windler finished with 32 points and 21 rebounds and hit eight three-pointers, and the top seed pulled away late for an 83-67 win. The second semi between Murray State and Jacksonville State included 15 lead changes, nine ties and plenty of momentum swings. The Racers built a 12-point lead just before halftime before the Gamecocks stormed back and led by six with seven minutes left. Murray State’s Shaq Buchanan hit two huge three-pointers late, and it went down to the final seconds, with the Racers trailing by one and the ball in Ja Morant’s hands. The All-American delivered, a three-point play with eight seconds left providing the winning points in a narrow 76-74 Racers victory.

The much-anticipated championship game between Belmont and Murray State set another attendance record: 10,525 were on hand, shattering the record set the night before. The tilt lived up to expectations, a one-possession game a majority of the way. It was still a three-point game when Racers freshman Tevin Brown hit a three-pointer with 56 seconds left, and Murray State finished the game on an 11-0 run for a 77-65 win. Morant dazzled with 36 points and the Racers won their second straight OVC title and their 17^th overall.

Postseason Awards
Player of the Year: Ja Morant, G, So., Murray State
Defensive Player of the Year: Shaq Buchanan, G, Sr., Murray State
Freshman of the Year: Nick Muszynski, C, Belmont
Coach of the Year: Rick Byrd, Belmont

All-Conference Team
Shaq Buchanan, G, Sr., Murray State
Jason Burnell, F, Sr., Jacksonville State
Nick Mayo, F, Sr., Eastern Kentucky
Kevin McClain, G, Sr., Belmont
Ja Morant, G, So., Murray State
Nick Muszynski, C, Fr., Belmont
Terry Taylor, F, So., Austin Peay
Jordan Walker, G, So., Morehead State
Josiah Wallace, G, So., Eastern Illinois
Dylan Windler, F, Sr., Belmont

Season Highlights

• The Ohio Valley put two teams in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1987. Both Belmont and Murray State also picked up wins in the NCAAs, giving the OVC multiple NCAA tourney wins for the first time since 1971, when Western Kentucky went to the Final Four.
• Murray State’s Ja Morant was a consensus first team All-American, just the third in OVC history. Only Western Kentucky greats Clem Haskins (1967) and Jim McDaniels (1971) had also won the award before.
• Eastern Kentucky senior Nick Mayo became the second four-time first team all-OVC selection in the league’s 71-year history. Ralph Crosthwaite of Western Kentucky also received the award in 1955 and 1957-59, with no team picked in 1956.
• Morant led NCAA Division I averaging 10.0 assists per game and obliterated the OVC single-season record for assists, finishing with 331, which was also the sixth-most in a season in Division I history. His three triple-doubles also led the nation.
• Meanwhile, Belmont led the country in a team assists per game (19.5) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.71:1). (Murray State was fifth in assists per game at 17.9). The Bruins also were second nationally in scoring (86.9 ppg) behind only Gonzaga.
• Eastern Kentucky was one of the most disruptive teams defensively in the nation. The Colonels’ 18.29 turnovers forced per game and 10.2 steals per game both ranked second nationally.
• Belmont’s Dylan Windler was a CoSIDA Academic All-American selection for the second straight year. It marked the Bruins’ sixth straight year with at least one member of the team, and is the school’s Division I-leading 17th since 2001.

What we expected, and it happened: Belmont was outstanding yet again. Ja Morant became a star. Austin Peay continued its rise. And we even pegged Morehead State for a move up after it finished in the basement the year before, and the Eagles jumped from 12th to fifth.

What we expected, and it didn’t happen: Not a lot, though we did say that Belmont’s Nick Hopkins was, quote, “poised to continue the line of excellent floor generals for Rick Byrd.” As it turned out, Hopkins was more of solid reserve and three-point shooter, but there was still another almost seamless transition at the point as Grayson Murphy was outstanding as a freshman.

What we didn’t expect, and it happened: Well, given that it had been 32 years since the last time the OVC put two teams in the NCAA Tournament, we’d be lying if we said we planned on it this year. Also, while those who had watched him as a freshman were quite sure Morant could be terrific, consensus first team All-America honors and the adulation of NBA-first ESPN were beyond almost anyone’s dreams.

Team on the rise: Austin Peay. The Governors will lose four starters, including quite a bit of their inside mean with Jabari McGhee and Chris Porter-Bunton finishing their eligibility, but still return Terry Taylor. With interior power and harassing defense, coach Matt Figger has quickly developed a distinct identity with this program. Even with some new faces, it will be little surprise if Peay is in contention again next year.

Team on the decline: Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles continued their trend of alternating winning and losing records over the last eight years. The most recent one was a way-down 8-23 mark, though, and it’ll be a new coach aiming for a winning mark next year after Steve Payne resigned and was replaced by former Kentucky player and South Alabama and Arkansas coach John Pelphrey.

2019-20 OVC Outlook
No question there will be some changes in the Ohio Valley Conference next year. Morant is off to the NBA after two years. Rick Byrd is off to retirement after a distinguished career at Belmont, and the Bruins lose their top two scorers. Jacksonville State loses six seniors, all of them key contributors and four of them starters. Austin Peay loses four starters, too.

Two NCAA bids may not become a regular occurrence for the OVC, but that doesn’t mean the top teams should regress significantly. Belmont made an outstanding hire bringing in former player and longtime Byrd assistant Casey Alexander from Lipscomb, and the Bruins should hardly miss a beat. Windler and fellow first team all-conference player Kevin McClain will be missed, but take-your-time, back-to-the-basket post Nick Muszynski and point guard Grayson Murphy are a fine place to start with plenty of others ready to step up too. Belmont will be the favorite again heading into the season.

Murray State has been a very good defensive team the last two years, which should keep the Racers in the hunt even without Morant and underrated teammate Shaq Buchanan. The Racers still have a good inside/outside tandem with double-digit scorers Tevin Brown and Darnell Cowart, though who will get them the ball will be the big question. Austin Peay still has Terry Taylor and will defend rabidly. Jacksonville State was so experienced last year that some quality talent didn’t get many chances to play, but reserves such as Jacara Cross, Derek St. Hilaire and De’Torrion Ware are capable of stepping right into important roles.

The product of all the changes to those teams though could mean the top four are closer bunched than last year. Eastern Illinois could contend; the Panthers have some scoring guards in Mack Smith and Josiah Wallace and were sitting pretty midway through the league schedule at 13-9 overall and 6-3 in the OVC before losing nine of their last 10 games. Eastern Kentucky loses Nick Mayo but should have plenty back from one of the disruptive defensive teams in the country. Seven of the Colonels’ OVC losses came by a total of 25 points, including two in overtime. Morehead State should stay competitive. Advancement will not be easy for the rest of the league which, whether due to coaching changes or significant roster upheaval, has considerable work to do.

Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam