Prospects for OVC win for the men look grim

Another prediction down the tubes.

In last week's column, I called for Southeast Missouri State's first Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball win of the season against visiting Jacksonville State on Thursday.

Instead the Redhawks were dealt a 78-68 defeat, and they suffered another home loss two nights later, 91-75 to Tennessee Tech.

That makes 12 consecutive setbacks for the 3-20 Redhawks, who fell to 0-12 in OVC play with their 19th straight conference loss dating back to last season.

And more and more it's looking like a strong possibility that Southeast will become only the seventh men's basketball team in the 61-year history of the OVC to go winless in conference play.

It has happened just once since 1978-79, but after falling to JSU -- ninth in the 10-team OVC -- the last-place Redhawks are fast running out of legitimate chances for a win.

Southeast has six conference games left, but only one is at home -- and that's against Murray State, which recently blasted the Redhawks by 25 points.

Hopefully I'll be wrong with my latest prediction, but I see an 0-18 OVC record in Southeast's future.

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The Southeast women's basketball team isn't likely to win another OVC regular-season title this year.

Not with the Redhawks trailing first-place Murray State by three games on the loss side more than halfway through the OVC schedule.

But the Redhawks did bounce back nicely from their recent loss at Murray State by sweeping two OVC home contests last week.

The victories over Jacksonville State and Tennessee Tech have positioned the Redhawks for a strong run at a top-four finish, which means a home game for the first round of the conference tournament.

Southeast, which began last week in sixth place, has moved up to fifth place with seven league games remaining. And it is only one game out of third place.

The Redhawks have won seven of their last nine games and are playing some of their best basketball of the season.

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I don't know how many people are interested, but Southeast's men are scheduled to learn their BracketBusters opponent today when the pairings for all 51 games in the annual event are released.

The Redhawks will host this year's BracketBusters contest Feb. 21.

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While Southeast isn't involved, there is an exciting OVC men's basketball race going on.

Morehead State's 81-63 rout of visiting Austin Peay on Saturday gave the Eagles a one-game lead over the two-time defending OVC regular-season champion Governors at the top of the conference standings.

The Eagles are 9-2 in the league, just ahead of the Govs' 8-3 mark.

And lurking just behind that duo is 7-3 Tennessee-Martin, which visits Austin Peay on Thursday night in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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The OVC women's basketball race is also tight, with Murray State (8-1) leading Eastern Illinois (9-2) by percentage points.

Surprising Austin Peay and Tennessee State -- both 8-3 -- are in contention, while Southeast and Morehead State -- each 7-4 -- are within striking distance.

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New Southeast athletic director John Shafer -- who was at the Show Me Center for Saturday's basketball doubleheader against Tennessee Tech -- officially begins his duties today.

That means the search for a men's basketball coach -- the hot topic among Southeast fans right now -- should begin heating up quickly.

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Southeast graduate Matt Chaney's recently published book "Spiral of Denial: Muscle Doping in American Football" is a fascinating read and one that I highly recommend.

Chaney was a walk-on football player at Southeast in 1982 before he suffered a serious knee injury. He later was a student assistant coach at Southeast in 1984. Part of the 480-page book chronicles Chaney's involvement with steroids both as a player and coach.

I got to know Chaney when I started working at the Missourian in 1984, and we became pretty good friends, although we hadn't kept in touch over the years. When I contacted him for the interview regarding his book, it marked the first time we had spoken in a long time.

Anybody interested in finding out how to purchase the book should visit the web site www.fourwallspublishing.com.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian