Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll fits Southeast men's basketball team for 2nd

Neither Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt nor women's basketball coach Ty Margenthaler were surprised with where their team's were picked in the Ohio Valley Conference's preseason poll, and neither puts much stock into the predicted order of finish.

Nutt's squad was picked to finish second in the OVC West Division while Margenthaler's team was picked to finish 10th out of 12 teams in the league's preseason poll, which was released Tuesday during OVC Media Day in Nashville, Tennessee.

The poll is voted on by the conference's coaches and sports information directors, and voters are not allowed to vote for their own team.

"I felt like last year the worst thing that happened to our team is that we were picked first, and I didn't think we were ready for that," Nutt said, referring to the Redhawks' being voted co-favorites to win the West with Murray State. "I didn't think our experience was good enough, I didn't think our depth was good enough, and needless to say we ended up second. This year is probably more in line with what we anticipated. ... And again, it doesn't matter. It's just a prelim, and hopefully we can pick up where we left off. We feel like we finished with some momentum last year, and I'm very hopeful."

The Redhawks finished 18-14 in Nutt's fifth season at the helm and were second in the West Division behind Murray State.

The Racers were selected to win the West Division as well as win the overall conference championship in the preseason poll.

Murray State (132 points) had 22 first-place votes in the West Division. Southeast picked up the remaining two votes and had 109 points. Murray State received 15 of 24 first-place votes for the overall OVC champion voting.

SIU Edwardsville (77) was picked third in the West Division, followed by Austin Peay (70), Eastern Illinois (64) and UT-Martin (40).

Defending regular-season champion Belmont was picked to win the East Division, receiving 16 first-place votes and 125 points. Morehead State (103) and defending OVC tournament champion Eastern Kentucky (102) were picked to finish second and third in the East, respectively, with both receiving four first-place votes.

Tennessee Tech (71), Jacksonville State (52) and Tennessee State (40) rounded out the poll.

Murray State sophomore guard Cameron Payne was named the preseason Player of the Year. He was first-team all-conference and the Freshman of the Year after averaging 16.8 points, 5.4 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals last season.

Southeast senior guard/forward Jarekious Bradley was voted to the preseason all-OVC team. Bradley averaged 19 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game as a junior and knocked down 75 3-pointers. He was a second-team all-conference and all-newcomer selection last year despite wrist and knee injuries that bothered him throughout the season. He had surgery after the season to repair his wrist.

"We felt like we didn't see a full, healthy Jarekious Bradley," Nutt said. "I think with surgery and extensive rehabilitation, he's bound to have a good year. We're pushing him harder than he's ever been pushed in his life. We're on him every day. We're holding him accountable for every possession. I felt like last year we all certainly had room to improve, but he in particular since he's going to be hounded night in and night out. I'm hoping, and I'm pretty confident, that he's going to have a supporting cast this year that's going to be as good, if not better, than last year."

The Redhawks women's team was picked 10th in the poll, receiving 73 points. The OVC women are no longer divided into divisions.

Margenthaler said he believes the preseason poll shows the level of respect from other coaches in the conference.

"We aren't getting that right now, which is fine," Margenthaler said. "We haven't earned that yet. We haven't done what we need to do. But I really mean this -- right now, at this point in the young season, I really like what our team's doing attitude-wise, work ethic-wise, and I really feel that we have a solid team."

Southeast finished 10-19 and 6-10 in the conference last season, failing to make the OVC tournament.

"Instead of making out goals for our basketball team I want to keep it really simple with this group," Margenthaler said. "We just talked about day-by-day, getting better every single day. If we get better every single day and we do the little things, then when the conference rolls around or the end of the conference season [we'll be where we want to be].

"Everyone knows in our locker room what we really want to do. We want to compete at a high level every single game, and of course, that Nashville trip is something we want to get to, but as a whole we just want to get better and better every day."

Belmont was picked as the favorite to win the conference, receiving 224 points and 14 first-place votes.

Four-time defending OVC tournament champion UT-Martin was picked second (203) and received three first-place votes. Jacksonville State (189) was third with two first-place votes.

Tennessee Tech (169) and SIUE (152) were picked to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. Tennessee State (144) received two first-place votes and was sixth, while Eastern Kentucky (138) received three first-place votes and was seventh in the poll. EKU was followed by Eastern Illinois (92), Murray State (83), Southeast, Austin Peay (71) and Morehead State (40).

Belmont's Jordyn Luffman was named the preseason Player of the Year.