Non-conference OVC Awards

(St. Louis, MO) – As the Ohio Valley Conference lifts the curtain on their conference season, it is time to announce the Valley Hoops Insider ‘Nonconference OVC Awards’!

Preseason and post season the league will do official announcements with trophies and ceremonies, but here in mid season we make our choices.

Player of the Non-conference

There are multiple candidates for this award. Austin Peay’s Josh Robinson leads the league in scoring with a 21.2 average, he’s eighth in assists (3.9), seventh in free-throw percentage and logs more minutes (36.9 per game) than any OVC player.

Newcomer Jonathan Stark has electrified Murray State fans with his 20.6 points per game average, while handing out 5.6 assists each game and making over three long distance shots each time out.

But our selection is the big guy at Belmont. Boring, I know. He was the league’s preseason POY and now he’s our ‘Player of the Nonconference’, Evan Bradds. The senior forward is second in the league’s scoring race at 20.7 and third in rebounding with just under 10 per game. While he’s not leading the nation in field goal percentage again this season, he is third in the OVC at .616. Bradds is even handing out three assists per game from his power forward position.

Newcomer of the Non-conference

This choice is easy. It is Murray State’s Stark. Muusa Dama of Eastern Illinois has played well and is coming on strong, but there is just no comparing Stark with any other newcomer in the OVC. His numbers are listed above.

Freshman of the Non-conference

This one is tighter than the Newcomer award, but not as tight as the Player award. Before the season began, Eastern Kentucky head coach Dan McHale told me Asante Gist would be a star this year and for a while in the OVC, and he wasn’t lying.

The New Jersey native has been spectacular!

His 14.5 points per game average is good for twelfth. He runs the Colonels’ show with 3.9 assists per game, while nailing over two, three-pointers per night, all while playing over 30 minutes per game.

Coach of the Non-conference

This came down to the West Division. Tennessee State has been very good, but we expected them to be very good. Jay Spoonhour’s Eastern Illinois Panthers have been better than expected at 8-5 and UT Martin’s 10 wins in 14 nonconference games has been impressive.

Losing to Jacksonville State Thursday night to open OVC play didn’t figure into this decision, but Ray Harper has to be considered for the revival he is bringing about with the Gamecocks.

Our ‘Coach of the Nonconference’ is Anthony Stewart at UT Martin. The first year coach has cobbled together a lineup that has played .500 ball on the road and they were 6-1 at home before Thursday’s OVC opener. Nothing about the Skyhawks stands out. They just win. When you look at their team statistics, you think they are a mediocre team, and you look at the final score and find out they just figure out a way to win.

The conference season begins big time on New Year’s Eve, and that’s when the REAL season begins for these teams. It will be fun to watch.

Do Good