OVC preseason basketball poll held no surprises

There were no real surprises regarding the Ohio Valley Conference preseason basketball polls released last week, especially where Southeast Missouri State is concerned.

Southeast's men, as expected, were picked to finish second in the OVC West Division behind three-time defending OVC regular-season champion Murray State.

Southeast's women, also as expected, were picked to finish last in the West. That's usually the result when a team is in total rebuilding mode, as the Redhawks are under second-year coach Ty Margenthaler.

One interesting aspect of OVC basketball this season is that, on paper at least, the East Division looks stronger than the West on the men's side while it's the opposite for the women.

That's significant because teams play squads in their division twice while facing teams from the other division only once.

Murray State's men, coming off their history-making season, are currently top dog in the West and will be difficult to deal with twice.

But the rest of the West consists of squads that finished no better than sixth in what was an 11-team OVC last year: Austin Peay (tied for sixth), SIU Edwardsville (ninth), Eastern Illinois (10th) and Tennessee-Martin (11th).

The East has been bolstered by the addition of perennial NCAA tournament participant Belmont, the division's preseason favorite that gives the OVC 12 teams for the first time in league history.

Other East members are Tennessee State (second in the OVC last year), Morehead State (third), Tennessee Tech (tied for fourth, with Southeast) and Jacksonville State (tied for sixth).

Meanwhile, on the women's side, last year's top three teams and four of the top five reside in the West, which won't make things any easier on the Redhawks.

Defending OVC regular-season and tournament champion Tennessee-Martin is the West favorite. Also in that division are Eastern Illinois (second last year), SIU Edwardsville (third) and Murray State (fourth), along with Austin Peay (tied for eighth) and Southeast (10th).

The East consists of Tennessee Tech (fourth a year ago), Eastern Kentucky (tied for sixth), Morehead State (tied for sixth), Tennessee State (tied for eighth) Jacksonville State (11th) and newcomer Belmont.

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Both Southeast basketball teams play exhibition games this week.

The men host Ouachita Baptist -- Southeast coach Dickey Nutt's brother Dennis Nutt is the Tigers' second-year coach -- at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first of their two exhibition contests. They entertain Truman State on Nov. 5.

The women host Southern Indiana at 2 p.m. Sunday in their lone exhibition.

Margenthaler, for the second straight year, elected to play a closed scrimmage against another Division I program instead of a second exhibition against a non-Division I team. The Redhawks scrimmaged Evansville on Saturday.

Southeast's squads open the season Nov. 9, the men at seventh-ranked Kansas and the women at home against Wright State.

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Southeast's women received their third verbal commitment from a high school senior recently when Columbia (Mo.) Hickman guard Jade Holly said she would play for the Redhawks.

Holly joins Blue Valley (Kan.) forward Bailey Geiman and Highland (Mo.) point guard Ashton Luttrull for Southeast's recruiting class of 2013-14.

The NCAA's weeklong early signing period begins Nov. 14.

Southeast's men's team, as far as I know, have yet to secure any verbal commitments.

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Kudos to Cape Girardeau's C. Donald Harris for recently being named the state boys cross country official for 2012 by the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

Harris was born in Cape but moved around quite a bit due to his father's being in the military. He is a 1975 graduate of Auburn (Ill.) High School, near Springfield, Ill., and later was on the wrestling team at Southeast before graduating in 1980.

Harris started as a throws official at Southeast's annual outdoor track meet in 1987 and has worked OVC outdoor meets that Southeast has hosted.

That led to Harris becoming a track and cross country official with the MSHSAA in 2000. He has officiated several state track and cross country meets along with a host of collegiate track and cross country events, including Division I conference meets and lower-division national meets.

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Congratulations are also in order for Sikeston High School football coach Kent Gibbs, a Jackson native who was recently selected for induction into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

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And more kudos to the Perryville High School volleyball team for reaching the state's final four for the first time ever. What an accomplishment!

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A lot of people in the area probably already know this interesting tidbit:

Giants pitcher Barry Zito -- one of the keys to San Francisco beating the Cardinals in the NLCS who also won a game against the Tigers in the World Series -- is married to Oran native and former Miss Missouri Amber Seyer. They wed last December.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.