Belmont is the Only Obstacle Between Ja Morant and the Big Dance

[caption id="attachment_254151" align="aligncenter" width="929"] Kevin C. Cox/Getting Images[/caption] If you, like most, don't religiously follow OVC basketball, you would probably assume that the Ja Morant-lead Murray State Racers are clearly in the conference driver's seat. You wouldn't be entirely wrong. The Racers did take down Austin Peay last night to clinch a share of the regular season conference title on the back of a 27 point, 13 assist performance by Morant, including a disrespectful block: https://twitter.com/Ballislife/status/1102217377612206085 But yes, they only share the conference title. Belmont has the same record as Murray, and the Bruins actually beat the Racers 79-66 in January. So at this point, it's actually a bit of an uphill battle for Murray to get into the NCAA Tournament. The OVC Tournament kicks off in 3 days, and both Murray and Belmont have double byes, meaning both teams are just 2 wins away from an automatic NCAA tourney bid. Given the selection committee's bias toward power conference teams, it's unlikely that whoever comes in 2nd place in the OVC will end up a bid stealer, so the championship game this Saturday could be a winner-take-all situation. Which is unfortunate: both of these teams only have 4 losses and are arguably more deserving of a shot in the Big Dance than a middling major conference team. Maybe the committee will be enamored enough with Ja Morant's play so far this season and give the Racers a chance even if they fall in the OVC Tournament. But it's more likely that revenge against Belmont will be the only way we'll see the likely no. 2 overall pick in this year's draft get to play on the biggest stage. @JayWinkKSR