The most critical stretch of the season begins as we go to Murray and TSU, PLUS the Bracketbuster game. Those are all tough. Don't forget that TSU gets Covington back, who is a real beast. Frankly, if we get throught hat undefeated, I have a hard time seeing us not win out completely.

The key is to keep Jenkins and Noack healthy and out of foul trouble.

Noack is going to go off on TSU. He had a horrible shooting night tonight against Tennessee Tech, yet still managed to get a team-high 19. I don't believe that I have seen him miss that many close shots and that many free throws ever, let alone his way-short open 3 from the top of the key. He made up for it with the 2 in a row late in the game! My gut tells me that he knows he should have had well over 30 tonight. He will want to make up for it against Murray.

Jenkins is in bad shape right now. He has an extremely painful wrist injury and a hip/lower back injury. They were wise to keep him in street clothes tonight, giving him about a week of recovery time before the Murray State game. However, I thought they played him WAY too much against Morehead State the other night. The game was under control, he was injured, and he was repeatedly put back in the game. Unless they cut the lead to 4, I would have kept Blake on the bench, or even sent him to the training room to soak in a whirlpool for the evening.

Covington had a good night the other night against Tennessee Tech. But, as we saw tonight, TTU can't play the inside without needlessly racking-up a whole bunch of fouls. I did not see anything about him in particular on this evening's news. Trever and Brandon will take care of business in the paint. Covington will not see double-digit scoring or rebounding against Belmont.

What about our women tonight? From where I sit, I heard Coach Ezell yelling at them to "wake up." That seemed to work for a while. I thought, overall, they played lazy (compared to how they usually play). We'll see them ratchet-up their efforts against Morehead this Monday night!

How about that new OVC volleyball banner? They deserve it. I follow the team for all home and a few away matches every season. Coach Webb really does a fantastic job with them. My avatar is a picture of our team right after the conference championship win back in the late fall, though it's probably too small to tell!

Thursday is the game of the year for you guys. The new kids on the block take on last year's champs. Win this game and make a statement.

I just looked at the tournament bracket structure for the 1st time and the 1 and 2 seeds only need to win 2 games while the 3/4 seeds need to win 3 games and the 5-8 seeds need to win 4 games. Huge to get a top 2 seed which you would all but lock up with a win at Murray State.

It be nice if this league was like the Horizon where the team who is the #1 seed gets to host the tournament for as long as they are in it. This would be huge for the semi-finals and finals being on the home court a well deserved prize for being #1 in the regular season. Nothing is worse than being #1 in regular season then losing because your on the road or in a neutral site.

I am not familar with the Nashville Municipal Auditorium where the tourney is being held. Is this a neutral site for everyone ? How close is Belmont to this will your fans fill it up to make it like a home game ?

Muni Aud is an old 10,000 seat round arena in downtown Nashville (4-5 miles from Belmont). We will certainly have a decent crowd there for us but since we don't really come too close to selling out our 5,000 seat home arena, I'm sure it won't quite be like a home game. TSU would likely bring a good crowd as well. I would expect most of the competitive teams to bring a decent crowd since they are all a pretty easy drive to Nashville. Since this is my first year attending the OVC tourny, the mileage may vary.

The OVC has had the tourny at Bridgestone before, but I suspect that is expensive and it has become a popular location for the womens SEC tourny the same weekend.

(02-03-2013 01:27 PM)HenryMuto Wrote:  I am not familar with the Nashville Municipal Auditorium where the tourney is being held. Is this a neutral site for everyone ? How close is Belmont to this will your fans fill it up to make it like a home game ?

(02-03-2013 08:39 PM)BluBare Wrote:  Muni Aud is an old 10,000 seat round arena in downtown Nashville (4-5 miles from Belmont). We will certainly have a decent crowd there for us but since we don't really come too close to selling out our 5,000 seat home arena, I'm sure it won't quite be like a home game. TSU would likely bring a good crowd as well. I would expect most of the competitive teams to bring a decent crowd since they are all a pretty easy drive to Nashville. Since this is my first year attending the OVC tourny, the mileage may vary.

The OVC has had the tourny at Bridgestone before, but I suspect that is expensive and it has become a popular location for the womens SEC tourny the same weekend.

(02-03-2013 01:27 PM)HenryMuto Wrote:  I am not familar with the Nashville Municipal Auditorium where the tourney is being held. Is this a neutral site for everyone ? How close is Belmont to this will your fans fill it up to make it like a home game ?

Thanks!