Just getting into OVC tourney gives Southeast a chance

Even if the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team doesn't win any of its final two regular-season games, the Redhawks will probably make the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Backing into the eight-team postseason event is not exactly what the Redhawks had in mind a few weeks ago when they were in the running for a top-four finish, which would have meant a home game for the first round.

But beggars can't be choosers.

And anyway, in this year's watered-down OVC -- where there doesn't appear to be all that much difference between any of the league's 11 squads -- just squeezing into the field gives you a legitimate chance to emerge as the league's automatic NCAA representative.

In defense of first-year coach Scott Edgar's Redhawks -- who at 8-10 in OVC play are in sixth place -- they seemed to be rolling along fairly well until junior center Mike Rembert suffered a knee injury on Feb. 8.

Since then, the Redhawks have suffered two straight OVC losses.

And it won't be easy to break that streak in the final week of the regular season, as the Redhawks embark on the long trip to Alabama to play Samford Thursday night and Jacksonville State Saturday night.

Hopefully, if you're a Southeast fan, the Redhawks will win either one or both of those games, which is certainly not out of the question.

But, like I said, even if they don't, they stand a good chance of getting an OVC tournament berth.

And if the Redhawks can make it that far, who knows what might happen.

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Another OVC win for Southeast clinches a spot in the conference tournament.

If the Redhawks do not beat either Samford or Jacksonville State, they can still qualify through several other avenues.

• Losses by Tennessee State in both of its final two games, at home against Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.
• Jacksonville State losing at home to Eastern Illinois (the Gamecocks' other game is against Southeast).
• A loss by Morehead State in either of its final two contests, at Tennessee State and at OVC regular-season champion Austin Peay.

That third scenario seems to be by far the most likely.

In fact, if Morehead -- which had lost nine straight games before upsetting Samford at home Thursday night -- can find a way to beat both Tennessee State and Austin Peay on the road, then the Eagles would certainly deserve a tournament berth, because that would be an amazing feat.

But anything less than the Eagles pulling off that sweep gets the Redhawks into the tournament, even if they lose their last two league games.

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Southeast at least received some good news recently in the form of Rembert's continued recovery.

Rembert's right knee, which suffered strained ligaments -- but no structural damage -- on Feb. 8 against Morehead State has been progressing well.

If Rembert's rehab keeps going smoothly, there appears to be a solid chance he will return to action for the final week of the regular season.

Rembert, the Redhawks' leading rebounder and No. 3 scorer, has been sorely missed on the court.

Having the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Rembert back for the OVC tournament would certainly give the Redhawks a much better chance of pulling off some upsets.

Without Rembert, Southeast would be a huge tournament longshot.

Even with Rembert, the Redhawks would be a longshot, just not quite as long.

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There is no telling how the OVC tournament will turn out.

But regardless of what happens, Austin Peay is by far the conference's story of the year.

The Governors were picked sixth in the league's preseason poll. They graduated their top two scorers and returned nobody who averaged more than nine points per game.

Despite all that -- and despite starting no seniors, along with no player taller than 6-5 -- Austin Peay rolled to the regular-season title in a parity-filled year when that seemed all but impossible.

Austin Peay still has three regular-season games remaining, but at 15-2, no other squad can catch the Govs.

You have to give major kudos to Dave Loos, who is by far the OVC's dean of coaches.

Loos, in his 17th year at Austin Peay, has now taken seven of his teams to OVC regular-season titles. In many of those years, the Govs were not favored.

Loos has already won four OVC coach of the year awards. No. 5 is a cinch -- and if he doesn't nab that honor, then the entire conference should be shut down for investigation.

All that being said, and despite Austin Peay winning the regular-season title comfortably, I wouldn't be surprised if just about any of the eight qualifying teams claims the tournament crown.

That means the postseason event should be totally wide open and unpredictable.

Which, for a lower-level conference like the OVC, is exactly the way it should be.

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While Austin Peay is by far the biggest surprise in OVC men's basketball, Tennessee State has to rank as by far the biggest disappointment.

The Tigers -- who probably have more raw talent than any team in the league except for maybe Tennessee Tech -- were picked to finish second.

Instead, Tennessee State is tied for seventh and struggling to make the tournament, although last week's win at Murray State has put the Tigers in a strong position to qualify.

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On the OVC women's side, Southeast and Murray State continue to wage quite a battle for the regular-season title as they are tied for first at 14-4 heading into the final week of play.

The Redhawks will be challenged by road games at preseason favorite Samford and Jacksonville State.

Southeast, which completed an undefeated conference home record by beating Tennessee-Martin Saturday, are just 4-4 in league road games.

But the Redhawks should be encouraged by their most recent road performance, Wednesday's 63-42 rout of Eastern Illinois.

Murray State also won't have things easy as the Racers host Tennessee Tech and visit Tennessee-Martin.

Regardless of what happens down the stretch, I'll repeat what I have already written in various forms several times this season.

Everybody associated with the Southeast women's program deserves all kinds of accolades, John Ishee should be named OVC coach of the year and Ishee should also be in line to take over as the Redhawks' permanent head coach.

In fact, for the kind of season the Redhawks have had after being picked to finish fifth and then having head coach B.J. Smith resign amid turmoil and controversy, I'll be very surprised if Ishee doesn't get the job.

And if he doesn't, I'd say Southeast administrators will have some serious explaining to do.

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The all-important time of the year for area high school basketball teams is just about here as postseason play begins this week.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.