Defending OVC Tournament champions dismissed by the uninformed

There are few things in life as useless as sports polls.

Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz, whose team is ranked 20th in this week’s poll, doesn’t have a clue as to whether Tulane should be ranked 23rd (which it is) or 18th or 15th or ranked at all.

Aside from the research to the nth detail of the teams on the 2023 Tigers schedule, Drinkwitz doesn’t give one second of thought to any other college football team in the country, that I can assure you.

The same can be said for the voters in the Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball preseason poll, which was released on Tuesday, and has the defending OVC Tournament champions, Southeast Missouri State, ranked fifth in the 11-team league, with nary a Redhawk player named among the top 12 players in the league.

“People are going to see a super athletic, fast, defensive-minded team,” Redhawk junior guard Aquan Smart said recently of his team.

What Smart has to say about the 2023-24 Redhawks is relevant. After all, he knows the SEMO program inside and out. However, what some young sportswriter, who knows next to nothing about the Redhawks, who have an entire roster of guys in new or much more significant roles this winter, has to say about fourth-year coach Brad Korn’s team isn’t very relevant at all.

Korn has adopted the “SEMO Way” when it comes to giving information to the media, which is being brutally honest and letting the chips fall where they may. He will be the first to tell anyone who asks where his team will finish in the league this winter that even HE has no clue.

“Everyone asks if we’re going to get back to the NCAA Tournament,” Korn said earlier in fall camp, “who knows?”

But what Korn and Smart will tell you is that the Redhawk fans will get effort – particularly at the defensive end of the court – from this group.

“We’re going to put a lot of points on the board,” Smart said. “But we’ll get stops. We’re going to rebound really well this year.

“We’re going to grow and play well together. I think we are going to be an all-around great team.”

Korn took fourth-year player Dylan Branson to the annual OVC Media Day festivities on Tuesday in Evansville. The junior guard has the most experience within the program, and according to Smart, no one could be a better representative of SEMO hoops than Branson.

“I love being a teammate with Dylan,” Smart said. “He brings everything to this team. He brings toughness and brings grit and grind. He brings everything that you need to be a great teammate and player.”

The Mehlville High School graduate is a two-year starter and averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season. He ranked fifth on the team with 26 three-pointers made in 2022-23.

“Dylan just plays hard,” Smart continued. “Every game we see him with some type of cut on his leg. He just plays hard regardless of anything.

“I feel like Dylan is going to take a big step this year in being a better playmaker, rebounding, and defensively.”

Branson was hindered from the start a year ago after being injured throughout the summer and fall. However, he has been healthy this year, which Smart feels will make a big difference in his play, especially early in the season.

“He didn’t have the summer that we wanted (last year),” Smart said, “because he was injured. This summer, he really stepped up and is going to be a big part of our team.”

SEMO will host NCAA Division II Henderson State on Monday at the Show Me Center at 6:30 p.m. in an exhibition game.

The Redhawks open their regular season on Nov. 6 at Grand Canyon at 9 p.m. (CT).

SEMO’s regular-season home opener will be on Nov. 15 against Evansville (6:30 p.m.) at the Show Me Center.