Loos Named to Division I Men’s Basketball Issues Committee: Dave Loos, Austin Peay State University’s athletics director and head men’s basketball coach, has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee. Loos will fill the unexpired term of Delaware State’s Rick Costello. His appointment begins immediately and runs through Sept. 1, 2012. Loos currently is in his 19th season as Austin Peay head coach and is the only Division I basketball coach serving as the university’s athletics director?Loos is in his 12th as APSU’s athletics director. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Issues Committee is charged with oversight of all issues pertaining to NCAA Division I men's basketball. The committee works closely with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) on legislation and other issues, as well as the National Basketball Association and USA Basketball. The committee's primary duties are to ensure the appropriate oversight of the sport, with an emphasis on recruiting activities and to enhance the development and public perception of the sport. The committee also makes policy recommendations per topics unrelated to legislative and playing rules issues.
Hudson Named to Early Season Naismith Watch List: UT Martin senior guard Lester Hudson was one of 50 players on the Naismith Trophy Early Season Watch List as announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The watch list was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2008-09 college basketball season. The watch list does not include incoming freshmen, although those student-athletes will be considered in the first vote in February, 2009. The Naismith Trophy presented by AT&T will be awarded at the 2009 NCAA Men’s Final Four in Detroit, Mich. In February, the Naismith Trophy voting academy, comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country, will narrow its early season list to the Top 30 players in the nation. Those players, and others who distinguish themselves throughout the season, will be eligible for the final ballot in March.
Former TTU Point Guard Named Head Coach of NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers: Tony DiLeo, the starting point guard for the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles during two years in the mid 70s, has been named head coach of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. DiLeo played at Tech as a freshman in the 1973-74 season, and as a sophomore in 1974-75, both under head coach Connie Inman. He transferred to LaSalle in his hometown of Philadelphia for his final two seasons. Playing in 50 games for the Golden Eagles, DiLeo dished out 272 assists, which ranked as the second-most in school history, only eight behind Wayne Pack¹s school record. More than 30 years later, DiLeo’s total still ranks 14th in the career record book. DiLeo, currently the team’s Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager, will remain in the position through the end of the 2008-09 season. DiLeo is in his 19th season with the Sixers organization and his fifth as the team’s Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager.
Hudson Only Player to Score 20 or More Points in Every Game This Season: OVC Preseason Player of the Year Lester Hudson is the only player nationally to score 20 or more points in every game this season. Hudson has reached that plateau in all nine UTM games. His season high is 29 points against Elon and his season-low is 20 points against Tennessee and USC. Hudson enters this week ranked seventh nationally in scoring (23.8 points/game).
Morehead State’s Faried Has Top Single-Rebound Game of the Season Nationally: Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried grabbed a career-high 24 rebounds against Florida A&M on Nov. 23. So far this season that performance ranks as the most rebounds by one player in a game at the Division I level. The second most nationally is a 22-rebound performance by Arizona’s Jordan Hill. Faried is averaging 11.2 rebounds per game this season, which ranks ninth nationally.
Moving up the Coaching Victory Chart: Austin Peay head coach Dave Loos now has 300 career victories while in the OVC, a mark that ranks second in league history. He is just 19 wins shy of Cal Luther (319 wins at Murray State and UT Martin) for the all-time mark. He is by far the active leader in the category as well, as only two other current OVC coaches - UT Martin’s Bret Campbell and Tennessee Tech’s Mike Sutton have reached the 100-win plateau at their respective OVC schools.
Hudson Named to John R. Wooden Award Watch List: Lester Hudson, a senior guard at The University of Tennessee at Martin, is one of 50 preseason candidates for the 2008-09 John R. Wooden Award All-American Team and Player of the Year trophy. The list of candidates for the Wooden Award is composed of 50 student-athletes who, based on last year’s individual performance and team records, are the early frontrunners for college basketball’s most prestigious honor. Among the other candidates for the Wood Award are Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina, last year’s Wooden Award winner; Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody; and Davidson guard Stephen Curry. In all, 42 schools and 13 conferences are represented on the Wooden Award Pre-Season list. Leading the way is the Big East with 12 candidates. Hudson is the only candidate for the award from the Ohio Valley Conference. In mid-January, the Wooden Award Committee will release the Midseason Top 30 list, followed in March by the national ballot, consisting of approximately 20 top players who have proven to their universities that they are also making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. The Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced the week of the "Elite Eight" round during the NCAA Tournament. Created in 1976, the John R. Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation’s best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his university that he is making progress toward graduation and maintaining a cumulative 2.0 GPA. Previous winners include such notables as Larry Bird (1979), Michael Jordan (1984), Tim Duncan (1997) and 2007 recipient Kevin Durant of Texas.
Hudson and Robinson Earn Preseason Recognition From CollegeInsider.com: UT Martin senior guard Lester Hudson and Tennessee State sophomore guard Gerald Robinson earned preseason All-American honors from CollegeInsider.com. Hudson was named to the 16-player All-American team while Robinson was one of 25 players named to the Mid-Major All-American squad. Both Division I coaches and NBA scouts were part of the selection process along with the CollegeInsider.com staff. Hudson was one of just 16 selections to the All-America team, which included the likes of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, Davidson’s Stephen Curry and Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson. Robinson was one of 25 selections to the Mid-Major All-American Team.
Hudson Named to CollegeHoops.net Preseason Mid-Major All-America Team: UT Martin senior guard Lester Hudson was named to CollegeHoops.net First-Team Mid-Major All-America squad. Hudson joins Davidson’s Stephen Curry; Saint Mary’s Patrick Mills; Butler’s Matt Howard and Saint Mary’s Diamon Simpson on the first-team.
The 2008-09 Season: The 2008-09 season marks the 61st of competition for the Ohio Valley Conference. Over the previous 60 years, 11 different teams have claimed an OVC regular season championship, including three different schools in the past four years.
Murray State Picked as Preseason Favorite: In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors, Murray State was picked as the 2008-09 preseason favorite in the 10-team league. The Racers, who received 11 of 20 first-place votes, finished second in the OVC last season (13-7) and return nine players and four starters from the team. It marks the 12th time in the last 20 years that Murray State has been picked the preseason favorite and the first time since the 2005-06 season. Murray State totaled 149 points and was closely followed by UT Martin who received six first-place votes (142 points). It marks the highest preseason ranking the Skyhawks have received since joining the OVC in 1992. Previously UTM had been picked no higher than sixth in the preseason predictions (four different times). Defending champion Austin Peay received two first-place votes and was tabbed third (129 points) while Morehead State received one first-place vote and was picked fourth (118), its highest preseason selection since 2003-04. Tennessee State was picked fifth (108), followed by Tennessee Tech (77), Eastern Kentucky (59), Southeast Missouri State (57), Eastern Illinois (35) and Jacksonville State (26).
UT Martin’s Hudson Tabbed as Preseason Player of the Year: The 2008-09 All-OVC Preseason Men’s Basketball team was headlined by UT Martin senior guard Lester Hudson, the 2007-08 OVC Player of the Year. Hudson was tabbed a nearly unanimous Preseason Player of the Year after earning the award at the end of last season. Overall seven different schools were represented on the team with Morehead State, Tennessee State and UT Martin each placing two individuals on the team. The team included six seniors, a junior and three sophomores while featuring three repeat selections from last year’s All-OVC squads. Hudson finished last year ranked in the Top 10 nationally in each points per game (25.7 - 4th), steals (2.8 - 4th) and 3-pointers made per game (3.8 - 10th). He also became the first Division I men’s basketball player to record a quadruple-double in a game. Hudson was joined by two other players who were selections on the 2007-08 All-OVC team - Austin Peay forward Drake Reed (the 2006-07 OVC Player of the Year and last year’s preseason Player of the Year) and Eastern Kentucky guard Mike Rose. Reed averaged 14.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season while leading APSU to the OVC regular season and tournament championships. Rose led EKU with 15.3 points per game while also adding 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. All five individuals who were named to the OVC All-Newcomer Team last season made this year’s preseason team. That includes Hudson, his UT Martin teammate Marquis Weddle (17.1 ppg, 99 made 3-pointers), Morehead State’s Leon Buchanan (13.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 53.5 FG%) and Kenneth Faried (10.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 51.6 FG%) and Tennessee State’s Gerald Robinson (15.2 ppg, 60 made 3-pointers). Rounding out the Preseason All-OVC team was Tennessee State’s Jerrell Houston (11.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Tennessee Tech’s Daniel Northern (12.8 ppg, OVC-best 9.3 rebounds per game and OVC-best 2.8 blocks per game) and Murray State’s Danero Thomas (12.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg).
Preseason Predictions: Is being picked the preseason favorite, always a good thing? Over the past 29 years of preseason polls that were available, the league’s head coaches and sports information directors correctly pick the eventual OVC regular season champion 62 percent of the time, picking the correct winner 18 times over the last 29 years. Over the past nine years, the preseason poll has correctly picked the winner every other year. Last season the poll correctly picked Austin Peay to claim the championship.
A New Face: Jacksonville State’s James Green is the lone new coach in the OVC last year, as he takes over the Gamecock program after previously coaching at Mississippi Valley State.
SIU Edwardsville Joins the OVC: On July 1 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville became the 11th member of the Ohio Valley Conference. SIU Edwardsville, who is in the reclassification process to Division I, will begin regular season competition in the OVC during the 2011-12 academic year and will be eligible for postseason competition in 2012-13. The exception is the SIUE softball program, which will be eligible for both regular season and tournament competition in 2010-11; the softball program was the department’s women’s sport designee to be fast-tracked to Division I, making it eligible to compete at Division I prior to other SIUE sports. SIUE is located in Edwardsville, Ill., which is just northeast of St. Louis (the 18th largest media market in the United States.
Replay Systems for OVC Basketball Venues Enter Year Two: On Dec. 21, 2007, the Ohio Valley Conference mandated the use of courtside replay systems at all OVC basketball venues. The systems were put into place in January and used through the remainder of the 2007-08 season. They are in effect once again in 2008-09. The systems are used in situations that are outlined by NCAA rules.
OVC Players in the Pros: As of September 2008, there was one former Ohio Valley Conference player on an NBA roster - Austin Peay’s Trenton Hassell. Hassell will enter his eighth season in the NBA and second with the New Jersey Nets. He also played with the Chicago Bulls (who drafted him 30th overall in the 2001 Draft and where he played two seasons), Minnesota Timberwolves (four seasons) and Dallas Mavericks (37 games in 2007-08). During his 539-game career he has averaged 6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game while hitting 44.7 percent of his field goal attempts.
A Look Back to 2007-08: For the second consecutive year the Austin Peay Governors claimed the OVC Regular Season Championship but this time around the team completed the sweep and also claimed the tournament crown. After losing in the Tournament Championship Game on a last-second shot in 2007, Austin Peay finished the job and topped Tennessee State 74-54 to claim their fifth OVC Tournament Championship. APSU would go on to play No. 2 seed Texas in the NCAA Tournament, falling to the Longhorns in the game played in Little Rock, Ark. Over the past two seasons the Govs have compiled a 32-8 OVC record. UT Martin guard Lester Hudson was named an All-American by several outlets after having an outstanding year. Hudson became the first Division I men’s player to record a quadruple-double in a game when he had 25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals in a win over Central Baptist College. He also broke the OVC single-season record for 3-pointers made (124) in a season and finished in the Top 100 nationally in each points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3-pointers made/game - the only Division I player to accomplish that feat. He declared for the NBA Draft but decided to return to school following pre-draft workouts. Hudson’s teammate Marquis Weddle was named to OVC Freshman of the Year while Morehead State’s Donnie Tyndall took home Coach of the Year honors.
OVCSports.TV: For the third consecutive year, fans can watch nearly ever Conference matchup and all non-conference home contests this season at OVCSports.TV. The venture with JumpTV Sports allows fans to access live and on-demand streaming video and audio of conference matchups (excluding only national television games which are not available) on their home computer. The premium Web site was launched in July 2006 and has streamed nearly 1,000 events in its first two years, including all Conference matchups in football and men’s and women’s basketball as well as select baseball, soccer, softball and volleyball games and OVC Championship events. Packages are available on a yearly, seasonal, monthly or per-event basis.
ESPNU BracketBusters: In its seventh year, ESPNU BracketBusters is an ESPN television property that was tremendously successful with its first six events in February of 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The event has allowed Division I conferences to participate in a cutting-edge format that involves "wild card" pairings from the pool of participating teams, with half of the ESPNU BracketBusters teams pre-designated as "home" and the remaining half as "road" teams. For the fourth straight year, all 10 Ohio Valley Conference schools will participate in the ESPNU BracketBusters series. Five schools will host games this season while the other five will go on the road. Austin Peay has competed in the most BracketBusters games (5) while UT Martin is the only team with a perfect record in the event (3-0).