BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — After ending a long NCAA Tournament wait last spring, Tennessee State enters the 2026-27 season as the team to beat in the Ohio Valley Conference, according to the league’s preseason poll released Thursday.
Head coaches and communications directors around the league gave the Tigers 13 of the 18 first-place votes and 125 points. Southeast Missouri was the runner-up at 107 points with two first-place nods.
A second Tennessee program landed in the top half. UT Martin, Morehead State and SIUE all totaled 86 points to share third place, with Morehead collecting the remaining first-place votes. Lindenwood came in sixth with 61 points, ahead of Southern Indiana at 44, Eastern Illinois at 37 and Western Illinois at 17.
The expectations come from what Tennessee State did last season. Under first-year coach Nolan Smith, the Tigers went 23-9 and routed Morehead State 93-67 on March 7 to claim the OVC Tournament title, a win that sent the program to March Madness for the first time in 32 years. In the title game the Tigers controlled the glass 44-29 and had five players reach double figures, with Antoine Lorick III setting the pace at 18 points. Smith was named the league’s coach of the year, Aaron Nkrumah was voted OVC player of the year and Dante Harris was tournament MVP.
Nine teams will play a 16-game league schedule this winter. The conference tournament returns to the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, on March 3-6, 2027, the 10th year in a row it will be held there, and the league has kept the event at that arena through at least 2032.
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