College basketball preview: Sizing up things in the Ohio Valley Conference

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- The crispness of the fall air, the orange hues that overtake the treetops, and the squeak of basketball sneakers in gymnasiums across the country. These are just some of the telltale signs that basketball is back. More importantly, the annual countdown to March Madness can begin anew.

As much fun as Midnight Madness can be, the culmination of a long offseason is the tipoff of a team's first game.

With the start of the 2016-17 season quickly approaching, NCAA.com is cracking the books and breaking things down in each of college basketball's 32 conferences.

Here's a look at the Ohio Valley Conference.

Recap:

The race in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) a year ago saw six of the eight teams enter the conference tournament with at least 10 wins in conference.

In other words, parity was on full display in the OVC.

In years past Belmont and Murray State have been the pacesetters in their respective divisions, finishing in the top spot in three of the last four seasons. But UT-Martin had something to say about that trend last year, edging out the Racers of Murray State for the regular season crown in the OVC's West Division.

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