NEWSLETTER
Not the first to start, but (maybe more importantly), the first to finish. The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament simply goes to Evansville, plays as many games as they can as fast as they can, crowns a champ and goes back to work. Truly the Ron Swanson of tournaments, no nonsense.
When is the Ohio Valley Tournament?
March 1st through March 4th. Four days, four rounds, all gas no brakes.
Where is the Ohio Valley Tournament played?
The entire affair will take place at the Ford Center in Evansville, IN, home of the Purple Aces of the Missouri Valley Conference.
How to watch the Ohio Valley Tournament
The first two rounds can be streamed on ESPN+ with the semifinal on ESPNU. ESPN2 will broadcast the championship game Saturday night.
Who won the regular season title?
Morehead State secured the top seed and regular season OVC title with a 14-4 record.
Defending Champ
Murray State took an undefeated conference record to the postseason last year. They finished it off with a tournament win over Morehead State.
Who will participate
Just the top eight teams will play. The season is over for Little Rock and Eastern Illinois.
How Many teams will the Ohio Valley send to the tournament?
Whoever wins the tournament, and that’s it.
Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Bracket
Triple bye/ladder bracket in effect here and as a result, there is a nice stratification to the odds. Tough sledding for the low seeds and a nice break for Morehead and Tenny Tech.
Ohio Valley Tournament Odds
The teams that only have to play two games are obviously your favorites, followed by the teams with the single bye, follow by the poor squads forced to go through them all.
Ohio Valley Tournament Preview
The Double-Bye system is very polarizing to me. One one hand, I get it! You are a small conference that wants to maximize the chances of sending your best team to the Big Dance. You want the highest odds of seeing your conference talked about all day when they take down a three-seed and have your moment in the sun.
On the other hand, while tournament chaos is the end goal, it very much impedes any chaos in your own tournament and honestly makes it more boring to handicap. I think you know where I’m heading with this and before I get there, there is a small case to be made for Southern Indiana as a long shot maybe.
They have a very good offense (don’t ask about the defense), and have hung in there with most of the top teams. On top of that, while this isn’t their home arena, this is their town and they should be well represented by the fans who will be the only contingent that doesn’t have to travel. 13/1 may not be quite enough as I think a moneyline rollover almost certainly pays better over four games. The knock on going that route is that there may be other upsets which hurt the final payout but with this format, they will play at least one of the top two seeds no matter what. Just some food for though while I go eat chalk.
Ohio Valley Tournament Prediction
Morehead is the top seed for a reason. Very balance, good offense, great D. Strong inside presence with very good rebounding numbers on both ends of the court and they run a slower tempo that can help to keep variance at bay. Best price this morning on the Eagles is +140 at Draftkings.
My Bet: Morehead State +140
