Finding Their Way

(St. Louis, MO) – Ohio Valley teams are plugging the leaks. After a season where OVC teams made some national news, the league struggled out of the gate, but has showed signs of life in recent weeks. Conference teams are only 29 and 53 against Division 1 teams, but there is improvement everywhere.

Belmont’s big win over North Carolina has catapulted the Bruins to a # 3 ranking in the CollegeInsider.com Mid Major Top 25. Pre-season East Division favorite Eastern Kentucky is ranked 22nd. Southern Illinois Edwardsville picked up its first win. Western Division favorite Southeast Missouri started slowly, but the Redhawks have won four straight games.

Losing two NBA players in a strong senior class has been tough to overcome, but there is talent in the OVC.

SEMO boasts of three-time ‘newcomer of the week’ Jarekious Bradley and two-time ‘freshman of the week’ Antonius Cleveland and pre-season ‘Player of the Year’ candidate Tyler Stone and the Redhawks just won the Cure UCD Classic in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico.

I saw Bradley play against Saint Louis U in the season opener and tweeted at the time “SLU is so much bigger w/ Johnson & Stone out there won’t be much competition, but Jarekious Bradley looks like a player #valleyhoopsinsider. The Junior from Memphis, Tennessee is averaging 18 points and seven rebounds per game and has become force in the Redhawk line-up. Head Coach Dicky Nutt has five players averaging double figures in scoring.

Belmont has re-loaded too. The Bruins added highly touted Freshman Evan Bradds and Samford transfer Drew Windler to Head Coach Rick Byrd’s line-up. Windler has been the only ‘newcomer of the week’ not named Jarekious Bradley and Bradds, the grandson of an NBA player is a two time winner of the ‘freshman of the week’ award. Bradds is making 70% of his field goal attempts and 86% of his free throws.

OVC teams have stout tests this week. Morehead State tangles with Wright State and Southern Miss, Murray State hosts Evansville, while Eastern Illinois hosts Indiana State, but the challenges of the week belong to Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State. The Colonels travel to national darling VCU, the Golden Eagles travel to Tennessee and the Gamecocks travel to Florida State.

Do Good