Racer Men Picked 3rd In OVC Preseason Poll

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The Murray State men's basketball team was picked third in Ohio Valley Conference preseason voting by the league's head coaches and sports information directors and seniors Terrell Miller, Jr., and Jonathan Stark were named to the All-OVC Preseason Team. Additionally, Stark became the 10^th Racer in the last 24 seasons to be named OVC Preseason Player of the Year.

The preseason voting was revealed at the DoubleTree Hotel in Evansville, Indiana, where the OVC Tournament will be played in March.

Miller and Stark lead the Racers into Coach Matt McMahon's third season as the Racers received three of the possible 24 first place votes in the poll and was one point behind second place Jacksonville State who also had three first place votes. Defending OVC champion Belmont was the top pick in the poll with 18 first place votes. Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Illinois, Tennessee State and UT Martin made up the rest of the top eight, while Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay and SIUE were the bottom three teams in the poll.

OVC Media Day Notes
This year's activities grew from one day to two as staff and coaches from all OVC member institutions gathered Monday evening for a tour of the Ford Center and a social hour at the DoubleTree Hotel, which will serve as league headquarters when the OVC Tournament moves to the Ford Center for the first time. There was also a basketball clinic where area schoolchildren got tips on the game from some OVC coaches.

Murray State Athletics broke new ground at media with a multi-camera Facebook Live broadcast that totalled more than 40 minutes. Both MSU coaches, Rechelle Turner and Matt McMahon, and athletics director Allen Ward participated as did radio broadcasters Neal Bradley and Jeremy Rose. Sports information Director Dave Winder was the host.

Belmont has been the OVC preseason favorite in three straight seasons and will be trying to win the regular season for a third-straight time in 2017-18. The last time MSU was the favorite was before the 2014-15 season. MSU ran the table in the OVC regular season in going 16-0 and they set the OVC record with a 25-game win streak.

The preseason honor for MSU's Jonathan Stark makes him the Racers' 10^th OVC Preseason Player of the Year since 1994. He's the first since Cameron Payne was selected prior to the 2014-15 season. Racer fans are rooting for Stark to follow it up and become the OVC Player of the Year at the end of the season. Marcus Brown did this in 1995 and 1996, as did DT Mayes in 1998. Isaiah Canaan also did it in 2012, although he shared the award with Belmont's Ian Clark. MSU has two OVC Player of the Year winners that weren't the preseason pick, Aubrey Reese in 2000, who beat out teammate Isaac Spencer and Cuthbert Victor, who beat out preseason pick Ricky Minard of Morehead State in 2004.

Jonathan Stark and teammate Terrell Miller give the Racers one of the best one-two punches in all of NCAA D-I. Firstly, they're the second-leading returning duo in the nation in combined scoring. They combined for 37.9 points per game as juniors in 2016-17. When it comes to shooting the 3-pointer, they're one of the top returning pairs after making a combined 175 last season. Stark set a Murray State single-season record with 108 threes and even though Miller was one of the best big men in the game, he made 67 of his own.

The 2017-18 season is the 93^rd in Murray State history and the 70^th in the OVC. Murray State has an all-time record of 1,585-884 (.641) overall and 656-335 (.661) in OVC games.

Next up for the Racers is an exhibition game at the CFSB Center (Nov. 2) against McKendree at 7 p.m. The day is a doubleheader after the MSU women's team takes on Georgetown (KY) at 5 p.m. Both games will be carried live in free online streaming video on OVCDigitalNetwork.com. Online streaming audio is provided by Froggy103.com and GoRacers.com. Over the air radio originates from the home of Racer Basketball Froggy 103.7 FM.

2017-18 OVC Men's Basketball Predicted Order of Finish
(Selected by OVC Head Basketball Coaches and Sports Information Directors)

1.	Belmont (18 first place votes)	235 points
2.	Jacksonville State (3)	213
3.	Murray State (3)	212
4.	Eastern Kentucky	139
5.	Tennessee Tech	137
6.	Eastern Illinois	135
7.	Tennessee State	125
8.	UT Martin	114
9.	Morehead State	89
10.	Southeast Missouri	82
11.	Austin Peay	63
12.	SIUE	40

2017-18 Preseason All-Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Team
(Selected by OVC Head Basketball Coaches and Sports Information Directors)
Preseason OVC Player of the Year: Jonathan Stark, Murray State

Player	Team	P	H	C	Hometown
Matthew Butler	UTM	G	6-2	Sr.	Memphis, Tenn.
Malcolm Drumwright	JSU	G	6-2	Sr.	Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Amanze Egekeze	BEL	F	6-8	Sr.	Lake in the Hills, Ill.
Norbertas Giga	JSU	C	7-0	Sr.	Kaunas, Lithuania
Asante Gist	EKU	G	5-11	So.	East Orange, N.J.
Aleksa Jugovic	TTU	G	6-3	Sr.	Leskovac, Serbia
Austin Luke	BEL	G	6-3	Sr.	Rowlett, Texas
Denzel Mahoney	SEMO	F	6-4	So.	Oviedo, Fla.
Nick Mayo	EKU	F	6-8	Jr.	Oakland, Maine
Terrell Miller, Jr.	MUR	F	6-8	Sr.	Jacksonville, Fla.
Jonathan Stark	MUR	G	6-0	Sr.	Munford, Tenn.

Murray State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Terrell Miller, Jr.

Jonathan Stark

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