OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE Austin Peay Picked as Favorites in 2011-12 OVC Men’s Basketball Race; TTU’s Murphy Named Preseason Player of the Year October 25, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Kyle Schwartz BRENTWOOD, Tenn. - In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors Austin Peay received 10 first-place votes and was picked as the favorite for the 2011-12 season. Last season Austin Peay won 20 games, advanced to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament and played in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). It marks the first time since the 2007-08 season that the Governors have been picked as the preseason favorite (the team went on to win the OVC Championship that year). Austin Peay received 185 total points, which was four points ahead of Tennessee Tech, who received eight total first-place votes and were picked second. Defending regular season champion Murray State picked up three first-place votes and was picked third (169), Tennessee State was picked fourth (145), defending tournament champion Morehead State received the other first-place vote and was tabbed fifth (128) and was followed by Southeast Missouri (106), Eastern Kentucky (90), UT Martin (73), Eastern Illinois (67), Jacksonville State (40) and SIUE (27). Austin Peay returns nine players and four starters from last year’s team that tied for second in the league. Head coach Dave Loos, the winningest coach in OVC history and a five-time OVC Coach of the Year, is back for his 22nd season in Clarksville. Loos is one of just 11 current Division I coaches to be at the same school for 20 or more years. If APSU is to prove the preseason rankings correct and win a ninth OVC Championship they will do it with a veteran lineup that includes seniors TyShwan Edmondson, John Fraley and Josh Terry and sophomore Will Triggs as returning starters. In his first year with the team a season ago, Edmondson ranked second in the OVC in scoring (17.1 points/game) and fourth in steals (1.8/game). The team also returns redshirt junior Anthony Campbell; Campbell was a second-team All-OVC selection in 2009-10 (15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds/game) but suffered an injury just 10 games into last season and received a medical redshirt. Tennessee Tech has a new head coach this season although he is not new to the program. Steve Payne served as an assistant coach under Mike Sutton for the past nine years and following Sutton’s retirement last year, Payne is now ready to take over the reins of the program which he helped Sutton build. Last year the Golden Eagles were picked sixth in the preseason but finished fourth overall (just two games out of first place) and advanced to the Championship Game of the OVC Tournament. Despite coming up short against Morehead State, the Golden Eagles did finish the year with 20 victories for the first time since 2002 and made an appearance in the postseason (CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament) for the first time since 2001. TTU returns 11 players and four starters from that team including OVC Preseason Player of the Year Kevin Murphy and clutch shooter Zac Swansey. Murphy averaged 17.0 points/ game last season in the high-octane offense that led the OVC in scoring. Murphy also averaged 4.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steals/game while hitting 47.8 percent from the field in 33 total contests. In his first year after transferring from the University of Georgia, Swansey led the OVC and ranked seventh nationally in assists (6.4/game) while hitting big shot after big shot. Four times during the year Swansey hit a shot on TTU’s final possession to give his team a victory. Also back is junior Jud Dillard, who averaged 11.0 points and 5.8 rebounds/game last year and was on the OVC All-Tournament team last season along with Murphy and Swansey. Like Tennessee Tech, Murray State is under the direction of a first-year head coach who was elevated from assistant coach. After five years under Billy Kennedy, Steve Prohm is now the head coach of the Racers, who won its 22nd OVC Regular Season Championship a year ago. MSU lost a pair of All-OVC guards in B.J. Jenkins and Isacc Miles but return first-team All-OVC pick Isaiah Canaan who led the Racers balanced attack with 11.7 points/game a year ago; that balanced offense saw eight players average between 11.7 and 4.8 points/game. Although Murray State lost in the semifinals of the OVC Tournament, the team finished the season with 23 victories and made an appearance in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Also returning for the Racers are a trio of seniors - Ivan Aska (7.6 points, 5.2 rebounds/game), Jewuan Long (5.4 points, 2.5 rebounds/game) and Donte Poole (4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds/game) who have been a part of 73 victories in their tenure with the team. Since taking over the Tennessee State program prior to the 2009-10 season, John Cooper has made a complete overhaul to his roster, starting from scratch to rebuild for a program that has not had an overall winning season since 1995-96. Cooper nearly got TSU there a year ago, finishing 14-16 overall but going 10-8 in OVC play, the first time the team had been above .500 in Conference action since 2005-06. Last season the Tigers had two players named to the All-OVC second team in Kenny Moore (14.5 points, 6.9 rebounds/game) and Robert Covington (13.4 points, 7.5 rebounds/game and an OVC-best 46.0 3-point percentage) who will return to anchor the team this season. Also back is guard Patrick Miller who averaged 11.4 points and 3.0 assists/game on his way to being named OVC Freshman of the Year. Another strength of the team will be the three Division I transfers who sat out last season but were able to practice with the Tigers in anticipation of playing this year. That trio includes 6’11 center Muniru Bawa (Indiana), guard Jordan Cyphers (Utah) and forward Kellen Thornton (Illinois State). In has been decades since an OVC team has had as much NCAA Tournament success in as short of a time period as Morehead State has in the last three years, as the Eagles won the Opening Round game in 2009 (snapping a 20-year losing streak in the NCAA Tournament for OVC games) and took it one step further last year when they knocked off No. 4 seed Louisville in the second round following a dramatic 3-pointer from senior Demonte Harper. Harper and two-time OVC Player of the Year Kenneth Faried, the NCAA’s Modern Era rebounding leader (1,673) and now a member of the Denver Nuggets, are now gone along with Sam Goodman (who made several key 3-pointers in the win over Louisville). Given those departures the roster has a nearly new look as nine newcomers make their way to campus this season to play alongside senior guards Ty Proffitt (7.9 points, 51 made 3-pointers) and Terrance Hill (10.7 points/game, 64 made 3-pointers, 49 steals). This season marks the sixth for Donnie Tyndall coaching at his alma mater. Now entering his third season at Southeast Missouri, Dickey Nutt is helping rebuild a Redhawks program that was winless (0-18) in OVC play in 2008-09. Nutt led the team to three OVC wins in his first season and doubled that a year ago, as the team finished seventh overall and qualified for the OVC Tournament for the first time since 2006-07. The team not only appeared in the tournament, but won its first round game (its first win in the event since 2005), knocking off Eastern Kentucky 65-49 before falling to Austin Peay in the quarterfinals. A lot of the team’s success can be attributed to now senior Leon Powell who made his Redhawk debut after sitting out the previous season with a knee injury. Powell showed no side effects of that injury in averaging 14.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks/ game while leading all NCAA Division I players in field goal percentage (63.0%). Powell is one of three returning starters for Southeast, as Marland Smith (12.0 points/game, 62 made 3-pointers) and Lucas Nutt (10.0 points, 3.5 assists/game) are also back. The team also has two transfers - Michael Porter (Missouri State) and Tyler Stone (Missouri) - eligible and ready to make an impact after sitting out last season. Last season Eastern Kentucky finished 9-9 in Conference play and earned the No. 6 seed in the OVC Tournament, marking the eighth consecutive season the team has been .500 or better in league play. This season seventh year head coach Jeff Neubauer returns nine letterwinners and two starters from a team that led the OVC in 3-point shooting (the second-straight year the squad has led the Conference in that category). Among the returning starters is senior guard Joshua Jones who averaged 10.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists/game in 30 contests a season ago. Also returning is sophomore forward Jeff Johnson who started 24 of EKU’s 30 games a year ago and averaged 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds/game. Last year UT Martin tripled its win output, going from four wins in 2009-10 to 12 with a very young roster.