OVC Tournament: Doug’s Picks

The Ohio Valley Conference has been dominated by Murray St., which at one point had the longest winning streak in NCAA Division I at 17 games before a loss at Morehead St. on February 25th.

1st Round
#1 Murray St. over #8 Tennessee St. (Murray 84, Tenn. St. 51)
#4 Eastern Illinois over #5 Eastern Kentucky (EIU 68, EKU 61)
#3 Austin Peay over #6 Tennessee Tech (TTech 68, Peay 65)
#2 Morehead St. over #7 Jacksonville St. (Morehead 87, JSU 54)

Semifinals
Murray St. over Eastern Illinois (Murray St. 55, EIU 51)
Morehead St. over Austin Peay (Morehead St. 76, Tenn. Tech 47)

Final
Murray St. over Morehead St. (Murray St. 62, Morehead St. 51)

Three Tiers
The Ohio Valley is rarely a deep conference. This year Murray St. stands out far above the rest, while four teams sit in a 2nd tier behind them. Morehead St. and Eastern Illinois have put together impressive long win streaks in conference play. There is a huge drop in ability behind Austin Peay in the 5th spot.

Who’s Hot
Eastern Illinois is on a 7-game win streak, but five of those games have been at home and the away games at the bottom two teams in the conference. Morehead St. has won their last four conference games, with a BracketBuster loss at Illinois St. sandwiched in the middle. Murray St. has only lost one game since December.

Update, 3/6/2010: Murray St. predictably beat Morehead St. 62-51 in the final. They enter the tournament with a 30-4 record as the best representative the OVC has sent to the Big Dance in many years.

Grizzlies sign “Done Ruthless”

Inside Hoops reports,

The Memphis Grizzlies claimed Memphis native Lester Hudson off waivers, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced Friday (January 8). Hudson was available after being waived by the Boston Celtics on Jan. 6.

“We are excited to acquire Lester Hudson off waivers,” Wallace said. “Lester is a player we thought of highly in the pre-draft process. He earned favorable reviews for his performance during his brief time with the Celtics. He is an athletic, tough combo guard who was one of the most prolific scorers in college basketball over his two years at the University of Tennessee at Martin. It is a wonderful day for the Grizzlies to be able to bring this Memphian back home to continue his NBA career.”

The 6-3, 190-pound rookie guard averaged 1.4 points and 0.5 assists in 4.4 minutes in 16 appearances this season with the Celtics, who selected him in the second round (58th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft. Boston also assigned Hudson to two different stints with their NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, where the 25-year-old posted 14.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 28.0 minutes in five games.

One of the most explosive scorers in the NCAA in recent years, Hudson ranked second in the nation in scoring in 2008-09 behind current Golden State Warriors rookie Stephen Curry, averaging 27.5 points as well as 7.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.34 steals in his senior season with the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks. In his junior year, Hudson became the first men’s player in Division I history to record a quadruple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals on Nov. 13, 2007 vs. Central Baptist College.

The native Memphian transferred to UT-Martin after playing his first two seasons at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis.

The Grizzlies’ roster now stands at 14 players.

inDsports has been tracking the progress of Hudson’s progress in the NBA and D-League after his impressive college career at UT-Martin earned him the nickname “Done Ruthless.”

Celtics re-assign Lester Hudson to D-Leagueor

InsideHoops.com reports,

The Boston Celtics announced today that guard Lester Hudson has been reassigned to the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League. This is Hudson’s second assignment to the Red Claws this season.

Hudson, a 6’3” guard, appeared in three games for the Red Claws earlier in the season and averaged 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 34.0 minutes per game.

Lester Hudson, nicknamed “Done Ruthless” by fans at The Mid-Majority, is in his rookie year in the NBA. In his senior year at Tennessee-Martin, Hudson scored 27.5 PPG and led his team to a 22-10 record, including their first-ever OVC Championship and an appearance in the NIT Postseason Tournament.

Hudson was the 58th overall pick in the NBA draft. He played some impressive minutes early in the season, but has not been given playing time in recent games leading up to his move to D-league.

Hudson’s stats for the Celtics:

G: 14 Min: 3.8 PTS: 1.1 FG: 4-14, .286 3PT: 2-4, .500 FT: 5-6, .833

RB: 0.4 AST: 0.4 TO: 0.36 STL: 0.21 BLK: 0.14 PF: 0.43

No doubt, mid-major fans and those of us here at inDsports will be tracking his progress for the Red Claws and looking forward to his return to the NBA soon.

Update (12/28/09):

In his first game returning to the Red Claws, “Done Ruthless” played 24 minutes and shot 7-14 from the field, scoring 21 points. He added five rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

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