Ohio Valley Conference preview

A team-by-team glance at the Ohio Valley Conference heading into the 2009-10 season.

(In CBSSports.com predicted order of finish)

1. Morehead State

It might not take the Eagles 25 years to get back to another NCAA Tournament.

With four returning starters, including the projected Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, and most of the key reserves back, Morehead State figures to have a good shot at repeating as OVC champions.

Coach Donnie Tyndall assembled a tough, physical team which was able to overcome weaknesses in ball-handling and 3-point shooting with solid defense and a dominant inside presence.

That player, 6-foot-8 junior Kenneth Faried, has NBA prospect written all over him, and not because he's a pure shooter. Faried has Dennis Rodman's good qualities -- a quick, high leaper who pounds the boards relentlessly and never quits on a play.

Faried averaged 13.9 points and 13.0 rebounds past game, the latter figure good enough to finish second in Division I. He also rejected close to two shots per game and altered numerous other attempts, preventing opponents from attacking the lane.

Other returning starters are 6-4 F Maze Stallworth (87 3-pointers), 6-3 G Brandon Shingles (5 points per game, 4 assists) and 6-4 G Demonte Harper (10.6 points per game, 4.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists).

2. Eastern Illinois

This is the year that coach Mike Miller has built to since he took over the Panthers' program five years ago.

Eastern Illinois returns four starters, including one of the nation's best pure shooters, and some key reserves who know their roles within Miller's system. And while the Panthers didn't recruit a lot of players, they did appear to get quality as they landed one of the best players out of the Chicago area.

The key guy is 6-foot-3 senior Romain Martin, who doesn't need a clean look to make a shot. Martin became the team's go-to man last year, averaging 15.4 points per game and moving up to fifth on the school's all-time list in 3-pointers with 190.

Guard T.J. Marion added nine points per game and led the team in assists with 105, while PG Tyler Laser contributed 11.4 points per game and converted 45 straight free throws at one point -- just one shy of the all-time OVC record.

Up front, 6-8, 250-pound C Ousmane Cisse proved to be a good rebounder and accurate shooter from point-blank range. He'll get help this year from 6-8 Shaun Pratl, who one magazine has projected as the OVC's Freshman of the Year. Pratl averaged 20 points per game and 9.5 rebounds last year at Oak Lawn Richards High School and was named the Chicago Sun-Times Male Athlete of the Year.

If EIU plays up to its potential and gets a break or two along the way, it could put on dancing shoes in March.

3. Murray State

All five starters return to a program with a tradition of winning, yet there is a sense this current group of Racers has something to prove.

Picked to win the OVC last year, Murray State sputtered through most of the season, and then surged down the stretch before tripping up in the conference tournament semifinals against Austin Peay.

Now the Racers are again favorites in the eyes of some, largely because of their experience, talent and toughness on the defensive end.

The marquee returnee is G Danero Thomas, a senior who led the team in scoring last year at 12.6 points per game. Thomas is capable of going off for 30 when he gets in rhythm, but doesn't force a lot of shots.

PG Isacc Miles averaged 10.6 points per game and tied for the team lead in assists with 119 in his first season after transferring from Creighton. The frontcourt should be tough with Fs Jeffery McClain and Ivan Aska, as well as C Tony Easley.

If Murray State can get it going from the opening tip and not wait until February, it might be the OVC's best team this season.

4. Austin Peay

The Governors usually contend for the Ohio Valley title. If it happens this year, it will be one of the best coaching jobs of Dave Loos' long career.

Austin Peay's veteran coach had a roster of just 10 healthy players and one senior -- all-OVC pick Wes Channels -- on Halloween. The team's other senior, forward Ernest Fields, is out two months with a knee injury.

Whether it's because of Channels, who averaged 16.9 points and canned nearly 39 percent from the 3-point line, or Loos, the Govs are tabbed to threaten Murray State and Morehead State.

Channels is one of the top five players in the league but will need help. Last year's leading scorer, F Drake Reed, took his 21.9 points per game and 7.5 rebounds to a pro league in Germany. There's no one on the roster who can come close to equaling those numbers.

The hope has to be that the likes of Anthony Campbell (7.8 points per game, 37.6 3-pointers), Caleb Brown (5.1 points per game), Tyrone Caldwell (4.0 points per game, 40.6 3-pointers) and Marcel Williams (3.3 points per game, 29 blocked shots) can step up to fulfill larger roles.

If not, Austin Peay's offense might mimic a late-night TV watcher -- lots of Channels-surfing but not much else happening.

5. Jacksonville State

Jacksonville State coach James Green has set himself up with quite the expectations this year. In his previous stops, Green's second season has been the time for marked improvement: from 12-15 to 22-11 at Southern Miss, and from 9-19 to 18-16 at Mississippi Valley State.

Now the Gamecocks need to find the right chemistry as they head into Green's second season at the helm of the JSU program, hoping to repeat such improvements.

With just two starters back -- 6-foot-2 guard Jeremy Bynum and 6-9 forward Amadou Mbodji -- Green will need to use the preseason and early part of the schedule to work on his rotation, figuring out who needs to be on the floor at the beginning of the game and who's better coming off the pine.

Bynum, a sophomore, will have a little pressure on him to become the leader of the team from his guard position. As a freshman, Bynum averaged 12.9 points, and he could stand to up that production a little more.

Also being looked upon for more production will be swingman Nick Murphy, who started 10 games a year ago, averaging 10.0 points and 5.3 rebounds.

John Barnes, a 5-10 sophomore, will battle for time at the point guard slot against Jay-R Strowbridge, a transfer from Nebraska. The 5-foot-11 junior started 19 games as a freshman for the Cornhuskers, hitting 46 percent from 3-point range, then averaged 4.8 points per game as a top bench player as a sophomore.

Trenton Marshall will join the JSU backcourt with plenty of accolades after transferring from Jones (Miss.) Community College, where he was second nationally in scoring a year ago (23.9 points per game).

With so many new roles to be filled, there's nothing certain at Jacksonville State, which is why Green needs to try a number of different combinations in the early going so he can find the right chemistry for a major improvement.

6. Tennessee-Martin

The defending league champs had quite the tumultuous offseason, with head coach Bret Campbell resigning after an internal audit found he committed some improprieties with summer camp checks.

Enter former assistant Jason James, who takes his first head coaching job as the second-youngest NCAA Division I head coach at the age of 31.

"I woke up ready to go," James said. "This has always been my goal, ever since I was 10. My dad introduced me to basketball and he always coached me and my brothers. He had such a joy in coaching that he made me want to coach and influence young men just like he did."

First on James' list of to-do items is figuring out how to replace two-time OVC MVP Lester Hudson, who was second in the nation in scoring a year ago.

Only two starters are back from last year's championship team in the backcourt of senior Delrico Lane (5.1 points per game, 4.6 rpg, 5.0 apg) and junior Marquis Weddle (13.9 ppg). Those two will be leaned on for leadership and production.

Fortunately for James, the three starters that departed were the only seniors on the squad, so there is a lot of experience to plug into the empty spots in the starting lineup.

James is hopeful that his experience with the team and the experience of the returning players can keep the Skyhawks near the top of the league standings, where anything can happen.

7. Eastern Kentucky

Most of the Colonels' starters are back, but one who isn't is the reason they aren't garnering much respect around the OVC this preseason.

Eastern Kentucky has to replace G Mike Rose, a first team All-OVC pick last year after pumping in 20 points per game. While the Colonels return almost everyone else, they need to identify a go-to player.

The candidates appear to be forwards Josh Taylor and Justin Stommes, the top returning scorers from last year. Taylor averaged 10.9 points and hit 40 percent from the 3-point line, while Stommes used a late-season surge to finish at 10.1.

For Taylor to be a No. 1 option, he has to do a better job staying out of foul trouble. He was disqualified from five games last year and a team can't have its top scorer sitting out the late stages of games due to fouls.

Another possibility is guard Papa Oppong (9.2 points per game, 5.3 rebounds), who was the team's second-best player early in the season before a shoulder injury hampered him.

A middle-of-the-pack pick in the OVC, EKU has the material to make that inaccurate. But it must find a way to make up for the loss of Rose's prodigious production.

8. Tennessee Tech

The 2008-09 season wasn't typical for coach Mike Sutton and his Golden Eagles.

Sutton never had a steady lineup and struggled to find the right chemistry as Tennessee Tech struggled to a 12-18 overall record and just six wins in OVC play.

But Sutton is hoping to change that result with a much more experienced squad this time around, including three of the team's top four scorers from a year ago.

Seniors Frank Davis (10 points per game) and Will Barnes (9.8 points per game) give Sutton a very experienced backcourt, while sophomore Kevin Murphy (9.6 points per game) gives some scoring punch at the forward spot.

The biggest question entering the season is how the Golden Eagles replace the inside presence of Daniel Northern, who averaged 8.8 rebounds and nearly three blocks per game.

There isn't a lot of height on the roster, and Tech ranked ninth in the OVC in rebounds allowed even with Northern, so that's an area that must be addressed.

The turnaround isn't going to be easy, with Sutton and his staff needing to put in work to meld in the new players with the holdovers, but more than likely, at the end of the year, Sutton's squad will be right there.

9. Tennessee State

John Cooper has paid his dues. He has been an assistant coach for 15 years, with jobs at Auburn, Oregon, South Carolina and Fayetteville State.

But for his first year as head coach at Tennessee State, he has his work cut out for him. The Tigers finished 12-18 a year ago and coach Cy Alexander was let go during the season. Interim coach Mark Pittman coaxed a 6-2 finish out of the Tigers, but that team has been fleeced, with only four players returning.

Junior forward Darius Cox and senior guard Jeremiah Crutcher are the only starters returning, but it helps to have Crutcher back at the point where he averaged four assists per game. Cooper will need to rely on him for leadership on and off the floor.

Crutcher and Lonnie Funderburke are the only seniors on the roster, which features five freshmen and four juco transfers, giving Cooper a lot of options on lineups in the early going.

There are a number of newcomers that Cooper will try to incorporate into the rotation, including 6-8, 235-pound Marcus Cowan. The freshman is the closest thing to a space-eater TSU has, and Tigers coaches would love to see Cowan become a force down low.

Juco transfers Josh Sain and Hamilton Nash are also expected to provide some depth on the front line. In the backcourt, Greg Holley and Erick Peguero are juco transfers that could make the guard rotation.

Cooper certainly wants to get the Tigers competitive as soon as possible, but he's going to need to do some experimenting in the early going, trying to find the right combination to make TSU as good as it can be.

10. Southeast Missouri State

There's a whole lot of work to be done for Dickey Nutt in his first season at Southeast Missouri State. The Redhawks enter 2009-10 with the nation's longest losing streak at 19 games

Nutt takes over after interim coach Zac Roman coached the team in 2008-09 after Scott Edgar was forced out following NCAA violations. Roman coached the squad to a 3-27 record, which included an 0-18 mark in OVC play.

Now Nutt has just four players back from that team and 11 newcomers to put into the mix. Needless to say, this will be a building season.

But there is some talent, so if Nutt can get the team to get a little chemistry, the three-win mark could easily be passed.

Three of the four returnees were starters last year, including 6-foot-6 junior Jajuan Maxwell (7.2 points, six rebounds per game), the team's leading returning scorer.

LaMont Russell returns to the fold as the Redhawks' leading returning rebounder (6.1 rpg) and top field-goal shooter (61.1 percent) from last year. The hope is that the 6-6 senior forward has bulked up a bit to be an even bigger force on the interior.

Only four of the newcomers are true freshmen, with the other seven players coming from junior college. Lucas Nutt should certainly be one of the more relied-upon newcomers, considering he's the coach's son. Nutt, who averaged 17.7 points per game as a senior at Jonesboro (Ark.) High School, will certainly be a coach on the floor whenever he gets some playing time.

It will take a lot of teaching to get the Redhawks to a competitive level in the OVC, but Nutt is ready and the players are ready to prove that anything is possible.