Murray State secured the outright Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title on Thursday via a 76-43 victory over Belmont. Yes, the Racers beat the second-best team in the league by 33 points, this after smashing the Bruins by 22 points in January. So that’s two wins over Belmont by a combined 55 points.
Impressive stuff.
It’s not often that a team from a league like the OVC can go into its conference tournament under little pressure to win it and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but Murray State is basically there. Assuming the Racers close the regular season Saturday with a win over Southeast Missouri State, they’ll enter the MVC Tournament with a 28-2 record that would include an 18-0 league mark. That suggests that even if Murray State was to lose in the OVC Tournament, it would still be a lock for an at-large bid thanks to a gaudy record (featuring two Quadrant 1 wins) and strong computers.
CBS Sports Bracket Expert Jerry Palm projects the Racers as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament. As Matt Norlander and I discussed on Friday’s episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, the Racers could reasonably expect something as high as a No. 6 seed if they do not lose again between now and Selection Sunday.
Murray State is No. 23 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. For what it’s worth, the Racers are 22nd in the NET, 23rd in BPI, 24th at KenPom.com and 32nd at BartTorvik.com.
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