2026 Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Basics
Format
Stepladder bracket—the top two seeds each only need to win a semifinal and final to qualify for the NCAAs.
Site
For the ninth consecutive year, the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., home of the Missouri Valley’s Evansville Purple Aces, will host the Ohio Valley’s postseason event.
Participants
Tennessee Tech (13-18, 8-12, 9th), Southern Indiana (7-23, 4-16, 10th), and Western Illinois (5-26, 1-19, 11th) did not qualify. The Golden Eagles missed their final OVC Men’s Tournament before departing for the Southern Conference
after this academic year. Little Rock, who did qualify, is also leaving, but for the new United Athletic Conference, which will be the rebranded WAC.
Schedule
Downloadable PDF Bracket
ESPN+ ($) will stream all games before the semifinals.
First Round (Wed. 3/4)
Gm. 1: (8) Eastern Illinois (12-19, 8-12) vs. (5) SIUE (19-12, 12-8), 7
Home split: Panthers 76-72 (OT) on 12/18 and Cougars 77-50 on 2/28.
Gm. 2: (7) Little Rock (12-19, 9-11) vs. (6) Lindenwood (17-14, 11-9), 9:30*
Road split: Trojans 82-74 on 1/10 and Lions 79-74 on 2/5.
Quarterfinals (Thurs. 3/5)
Gm. 3: Gm. 1 winner vs. (4) UT Martin (21-10, 13-7), 7
Gm. 4: Gm. 2 winner vs. (3) Southeast Missouri (19-12, 14-6), 9:30*
Semifinals (Fri. 3/6)
ESPNU will air both games.
Gm. 5: Gm. 3 winner vs. (1) Tennessee State (21-9, 15-5), 8
Gm. 6: Gm. 4 winner vs. (2) Morehead State (19-12, 15-5), 10:30*
Championship (Sat. 3/7)
Gm. 7: Semifinal winners, 9 (ESPN2)
Mayhem Potential
Data originally posted by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter in 2020 with my own additions for the seasons beyond.
The OVC implemented a stepladder format in 2011, but between 2014 and 2017, the advantage given the No. 1 or 2 seeds didn’t mean much, as they were shut out after the top two combined to win the first three titles. The top seeds got themselves right with Murray State’s victory in 2018, and top two teams alternated wins until 2023. Then, the conference’s relative evenness reasserted itself after the Racers’ and Belmont’s departures for the Missouri Valley. SIUE’s first-ever Division I NCAA appearance came as the 2 seed.
- 1 seed (5): 2012, 2013, 2018, 2020, 2022
- 2 seed (4): 2011, 2019, 2021, 2025
- 3 seed (3): 2014, 2015, 2024
- 4 seed (1): 2017
- 5 seed (1): 2023
- 8 seed (1): 2016
NCAA Seeding Record In The 68-Team Era
Years with an NCAA win are in bold.
- 6 seed (1): 2012
- 7 seed (1): 2022
- 11 seed (2): 2013, 2019 (at-large)
- 12 seed (2): 2018, 2019 (automatic)
- 13 seed (1); 2011
- 14 seed (1): 2021, 2024
- 15 seed (3): 2014, 2015, 2017
- 16 seed (3): 2016, 2023 (First Four), 2025
Murray State and Belmont, the teams responsible for all the bolded wins other than Morehead State’s 2011 13-over-4 upset of Louisville, are now in the Missouri Valley.
No OVC team ranks higher than Tennessee State in the NET. The 189th-ranked Tigers are joined by 197th-ranked UT Martin as the only two league members in the Top 200. It’s again likely that the OVC champ ends up on seed line 16, if not in Dayton.
Last NCAA Tournament Appearances
SIU Edwardsville: 2025 (16 seed, 1st Round)
Morehead State: 2024 (14 seed, 1st Round)
Southeast Missouri State: 2023 (16 seed, First Four)
Little Rock: 2016 (12 seed, 2nd Round)
Eastern Illinois (2001, 15 seed, 1st Round)
Tennessee State: 1994 (14 seed, 1st Round)
UT Martin has never qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Neither has Western Illinois (outside of College Hoops 2K8 anyway), and the 1984 Mid-Continent Tournament champions missed the OVC Tournament for the second season running. Lindenwood and Southern Indiana are both eligible for the first time this year, but the Screaming Eagles didn’t make the field of eight.
Tennessee Tech (1963, 1st Round) will depart for the SoCon still in search of its first modern-era NCAA bid.
To put into perspective how much realignment has the changed OVC, 2016 NCAA rep Austin Peay and 2014 OVC Tournament winner Eastern Kentucky are both in the ASUN now, and heading to the UAC for 2026-27. Then there’s 2017 qualifier Jacksonville State, which is now in FBS and CUSA. Both 2020 champ (and 2019 at-large) Belmont and 2018, 2019, and 2022 champ Murray State are still in the Missouri Valley, where the Bruins are favorites for Arch Madness
