Murders’ Row Monday Night

OVC Battling Elite Programs

(St. Louis, MO) – Ohio Valley Conference basketball teams are taking on a ‘murders’ row Monday night. No fewer than five ‘power five’ conference foes await league teams during the season’s opening day.

While three teams play sub-Division 1 teams, three others play challenging D1 opponents, but nothing like the murders’ row that five teams face.

Murders’ Row Monday Night

OVC teams face two Southeastern Conference teams and one each from the Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East.

Of the murders’ row only Southern Indiana’s game at DePaul (Big East) includes a team with a KenPom rating above 100. The Blue Demons are rebuilding under first year coach Chris Holtmann.

Defending OVC tournament champion Morehead State begins the head coaching career of first year coach Jonathan Mattox at the ACC’s Louisville. It will also be the first game for former Xavier head coach Pat Kelsey on the Cardinal bench. Louisville holds a 64 KenPom rating.

Oklahoma is a 28-point favorite in its home opener against Lindenwood. This is the Sooners’ first season in the SEC. This is the first of three ‘power conference’ games for the Kyle Gerdeman’s Lions. All three are SEC opponents, Missouri and Mississippi will follow.

Tennessee Tech travels to Athens, Georgia for a game with the Bulldogs. While Georgia is only picked eleventh in the SEC, Mike White’s team holds a 65 KenPom rating. Ironically, Oklahoma is picked fifteenth, but is 25 spots higher in Mr. Pomeroy’s rankings.

Highway 74 Challenges

Southeast Missouri, UT Martin and Eastern Illinois travel to the I-74 corridor in Illinois. The Redhawks are on the Northwest side of that stretch of highway playing Bradley and the Skyhawks are on the Southeast side facing Illinois State. Further down I-74, Eastern Illinois travels to Champaign, Illinois to take on 26^th ranked Illinois.

Marty Simmons’ team takes the 55-minute drive north to battle the Big Ten power. The Panthers are a 27-point underdog during their road opener.

Bradley is the Missouri Valley Conference favorite and are ranked fourth in CollegeInsider.com’s ‘Men’s Mid-Marjor Top-25’ poll. The Redbirds were picked sixth in the Valley preseason poll.

KenPom.com assumes every OVC team playing a Division 1 opponent on opening night will lose its game. Any victory Monday night will be helpful for a league trying to rise above its preseason KenPom ranking of 29.

The OVC finished last season at 28.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of Southeast Missouri’s Rob Martin, courtesy of semoredhawks.com. The writer will be at the Redhawks game with Bradley on Monday night.