Important Opening Day!

MVC & OVC Teams Square Off .. and More

(St. Louis, MO) – Happy Holidays! It’s opening day for the college basketball season and Missouri Valley and Ohio Valley Conference are squaring off three times. There are other key games in store for this opening day.

The most anticipated of the three MVC/OVC encounters is set for Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Valley favorite Murray State faces the OVC’s top ranked team, Tennessee State. The two square off as part of the ‘Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon’.

After an 11:01 pm tip between High Point and Liberty, three more games ensue before the Racers and Tigers square off. Tennessee State is the OVC’s defending champion and NCAA Tournament participant. Their preseason kenpom ranking is 207. Murray State is the Valley’s only sub-100 kenpom-ranked team.

The two tip at 10:30 a.m.

Belmont faces Southern Indiana and Valparaiso hosts Western Illinois.

Facing National Powers

One of Illinois State’s greatest opportunities to make some national news happens on opening night. The Redbirds visit West Coast Conference power St. Mary’s. The Gaels are 77^th in the preseason KenPom rankings, won twenty-seven games last year and participated in the NCAA Tournament.

Eastern Illinois visits former MVC coach Darian DeVries and the Indiana Hoosiers and Lindenwood travels to TCU.

Later in the week, OVC teams EIU and Morehead State battle Power 5 teams. EIU heads to Iowa and Morehead State visits Louisville. The MVC’s Valparaiso travels to Purdue.

While not facing national powers, Indiana State’s game with Charlotte, UT Martin’s at Tulane, Southeast Missouri’s home game against Lipscomb and Morehead State’s contest at Western Kentucky are all significant Division 1 games.

Do Good