Tuesday night starts the first round of the OVC postseason tournament at the home courts of the top four finishers of the regular season.
EKU AT EIU -1
These two teams split their two regular season meetings with EKU winning at home 67-59 and EIU winning at home 77-54. There's only one stat that matters in this game and that's home court vs playing on the road. I've stated many times this year that EIU is a very good team at home going 8-1 with their only loss to league champion Murray St. Meanwhile EKU was only an average team on the road with a 4-5 away record. I think we're getting a great line in this one and that's why I'm making it my TOP PLAY of the first round. Regular season record 92-76 +40.06U.
5 #560 EIU -1 -110
TENN. ST. +20.5 AT MURRAY ST.
Make no mistake, Murray St. is easily the best team in this matchup and I look for them to come out very focused. I have been very impressed with Tenn. St. first year coach John Cooper. I believe he will have this program turned around in a very short time. One thing that you just can't ignore about this Tenn. St. team. Coach Cooper kicked four players of the team on Feb. 3. They included two of the teams top players. Before these players were kicked off the team Tenn. St. was 4-7 against the spread in conference games. After the players were kicked off the team went 6-0-1 against the spread in conference games. That push came in the first game without those four players at Murray St. They also won against the spread in their bracketbuster game at C. Michigan. I hate going against Murray but with this large of a line and as well as TSU has been covering against the spread I'm willing to back TSU in this spot.
3 #555 TENN ST +20.5 -110
JACKSONVILLE ST. AT MOREHEAD ST. -15
Morehead won both meetings this year winning 78-71 on the road and 94-75 at home. JSU's top scorer, Trenton Marshall was suspended for the rest of the season four games ago. In JSU's last three road games they lost at AP 83-63, lost at Tenn. St. 76-57, and lost at Tenn Tech 72-62. This is more of a gut feeling than anything else. I really think that Morehead is going to steamroll JSU in this one. There's a big mismatch in talent in this one and I think the home team wins by 20+.
3 #554 MOREHEAD ST. -15 -110
TENN TECH +9 AT AUSTIN PEAY
These two teams split in the regular season with AP winning 77-72 in overtime at home and TTU won at home 94-90. However in both games TTU won against the spread. I like AP to win the game outright but think this is just too many points to be giving. The only thing that gives me pause in this one is AP head coach Dave Loose gets all the calls from the refs, especially at home. Let's grab the points in what should be a fairly close game.
3 #557 TENN TECH +9 -110
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