Murray State University Athletics
MSU's Spoon Preseason Pick-Racers tabbed Fourth
10/11/2006 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The race for the Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball championship appears to be wide open with the release of the preseason poll conducted by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
MSU's Shawn Witherspoon was selected as the OVC's Preseason Player of the Year and to the league's Preseason First Team.
Head Coach Billy Kennedy is about to begin his first season with the Racers.
“It's exciting for me to be in an environment that loves basketball and has a passion for the game and know how to do things the right way,” Kennedy said. “I'm thankful for the opportunity.”
Witherspoon is the fifth Racer to be named OVC Player of the Year since 1995.
“Shawn is in his fifth year and his third head coach. He's won championships and has toughness and character, to have him lead us has been a great blessing,” Kennedy said. “We're going to lean on him more than he's ever been leaned on in the past.
The Racers will begin practices Saturday and then look forward to Nov. 4 when they host
The Racers will open the regular season away from home for the first time since 1997 Nov. 10th when they participate in the Shamrock Invitational hosted by St. Mary's of California. The event will be played in
Between now and the exhibition game, the Racers have much work to do and Kennedy has questions that must be answered.
“We have 10 new guys and we're building a team,” Kennedy said. “Having Shawn Witherspoon and Tyler Holloway, that's two players who have experienced championship basketball, those are the guys we'll build around, those guys expect to win, so now the challenge is to convince the other guys to think like that.”
Kennedy keeps going back to the young men that are in the program and how much they mean to the way the 2006-07 season will be remembered.
“This game for me has always been about players,” Kennedy said. “We have to continue to get great players and teach them to play defense.”
The league's voters are split on who they believe will eventually win the OVC title. Samford was picked first with nine first place votes,
Media Day Notes:
Shawn Witherspoon is the Racers fifth preseason MVP since 1994 following two-time selections Marcus Brown, Isaac Spencer and one-time selections DT Mayes and Trey Pearson.Witherspoon was an OVC First Team selection as a junior.
OVC Pre-season players of the year and regular season MVP
Year Player School Regular MVP
94-95 Marcus Brown MSU Marcus Brown MSU
95-96 Marcus Brown MSU Marcus Brown MSU
96-97 Bubba Wells APSU Bubba Wells APSU
97-98 DT Mayes MSU DT Mayes MSU
98-99 Bud Ely SEMO Bud Eley SEMO
99-00 Isaac Spencer MSU Aubrey Reese MSU
00-01 Isaac Spencer MSU
01-02 Henry Domercant EIU Henry Domercant EIU
02-03 Henry Domercant EIU Ricky
03-04 Ricky Minard MO Cuthbert Victor MSU
04-05 Willie Jenkins TTU Willie Jenkins TTU
05-06 Trey Pearson MSU J. Robert Merritt SAM
06-07 Shawn Witherspoon MSU
The OVC will again decide its champion with a double round-robin format with each team playing a home and home series. The Racers won its 20th OVC regular season title last season with a record of 17-3.
With its 20th regular season league title last March, the Racers joined select company. Out of 334 NCAA Division-I teams, the Racers are part of only 21 who have won 20 or more conference championships.
The OVC welcomes three new head coaches this season with Billy Kennedy at Murray State, Scott Edgar at Southeast Missouri State and Donnie Tyndall at Morehead State. Edgar is familiar with MSU fans after he was a two-time OVC Coach of the Year with the Racers from 1991-95.
The O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Tournament returns to
2006-07 Preseason All-OVC First Team
Shawn Witherspoon F Sr.
Clarence Matthews F Sr.
Courtney Bradley F Sr.
Randall Gulina G Sr. Samford
Anthony Fisher G Jr.
2006-07 Preseason All-OVC Second Team
Belton Rivers G Sr.
Shaun Williams F Sr.
Travis Peterson C Jr. Samford
Mike Robinson G So.
Dorien Brown F Jr.
2006-07 OVC Men's Preseason Poll
1. Samford (9) 177
2.
3.
4.
5. Southeast
6.
7.
8. Eastern
9. Eastern
10. UT-Martin 53
11.
