Jacksonville State’s bench will have two empty seats. JSU head coach Mike LaPlante confirmed the indefinite suspensions of starting junior forward Dorien Brown and freshman Reggie Shellwood.

“It’s a privilege, not a right, to be a part of any program,” LaPlante said. “We have standards here.”

Brown was the second-leading scorer and averaged 12.8 points per game.

The 6-foot-7 junior from Lynn, Mass., played in every game last season.

Shellwood, a 6-foot-2 guard from Bay Springs, Miss., is averaging just five minutes per game in a reserve role.

LaPlante would not comment at this time regarding the reasons behind the two players suspensions.

“I’ll make appropriate comments when we figure out what to do with them,” he said.

League parity or ineptitude?

The most common idea among Ohio Valley Conference head coaches is how dangerous all the teams in the league seem to be. Morehead State head coach Donnie Tyndall said the league is young, not down.

“I agree whole-heartedly – I don’t think the league is down,” Tyndall said. “If your team is not razor sharp and ready to play, you’ll get beat.”

Scott Edgar in his first season as Southeast Missouri’s head coach, after a season as an assistant coach at Tennessee, thinks the tempo in the Ohio Valley Conference is impressive.

He said that, while the players might be shorter then in bigger leagues, the hustle and aggressiveness make the OVC a fun league to watch.

“There’s no reason to stay home and watch a game on TV when you can watch an OVC game live,” Edgar said. “Kids are laying it all on the line.”

But Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette, whose team currently sits in second place in the OVC, thinks the conference is down and points to non-conference games as proof.

“If you look at games outside the conference, the quality wins are not there,” Tillette said. “The league does not have that many impact players. But that’s the way it is; conferences go in cycles.”

Only five of the 11 teams have winning records.

Governors in first place with eight-game winning streak

Austin Peay head coach Dave Loos is hardly complacent. Not even with an eight-game winning streak, first place in the OVC and the league’s fewest losses.

“I’m not at all comfortable,” Loos said. “If you’re in a comfort zone, you’re not looking at it the right way.”

The Governors (11-6, 8-1 OVC) have won seven straight OVC contests including their overtime victory against Eastern in Charleston on Jan. 6.

“We have some really tough road games left,” Loos said.

Thursday, the Governors host second-place Samford, their first match-up this season.

Austin Peay’s only conference loss came on Dec. 7 at Morehead State. The Panthers will travel to Clarksville, Tenn., on Feb. 8 to try and prevent the season sweep.

For OVC men’s basketball standings click here