Dick Vitale didn’t make any outlandish claims about Austin Peay this year.

The ESPN loudmouth proclaimed 21 years ago if the Governors defeated No. 3 seed Illinois in a 1987 NCAA Tournament first-round game, he would “stand on his head.”

Vitale did just that, traveling to Clarksville, Tenn., to perform the feat after the Governors beat Illinois 68-67.

But Austin Peay, the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament champion, faces an even more daunting task in this year’s NCAA Tournament when it plays No. 2 seed Texas at 2 p.m. on Friday.

When the Governors take the court at Alltell Arena in Little Rock, Ark., not many people outside of Clarksville, Tenn. have Peay penciled into a second-round game against either Miami (Fla.) or St. Mary’s.

In a poll on espn.com that had nearly 45,000 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, the Texas-Austin Peay game didn’t even register a full one percent as the best first-round game in the South region. It merely got 0.7 percent of the vote, slightly ahead of the first-round game between No. 1 Memphis and No. 16 Texas-Arlington that generated 0.4 percent of the vote.

Reason is, no one probably outside of Austin Peay’s coaching staff and its 13-man roster gives the Governors a chance at all. History isn’t on Peay’s side either. The OVC representative in the NCAA Tournament hasn’t won a first round game in the last 18 years, the longest such streak of any Division I conference.

The Longhorns boast not only a regular season title in one of the toughest conferences in the nation this year in the Big 12, but also the top guard duo in the country in sophomore D.J. Augustin and junior A.J. Abrams.

Texas also boasts a considerable advantage inside with sophomore Damion James (6 feet, 7 inches and 230 pounds) and junior Connor Atchley (6-10, 226). James averages 13.2 points and 10.5 rebounds, which is second in the Big 12. Atchley provides a dual threat. He averaged 9.4 points this season and made 38 3-pointers.

The Governors’ Drake Reed, the 2007 OVC Player of the Year as a sophomore, who followed that award this year with a team-high average of 14.6 points, and Fernandez Lockett, who averaged 10.9 points this season, are Peay’s starting post players and most adept offensive threats inside.

But the problem with those two, along with starting junior forward Kyle Duncan, is the lack of size compared to James and Atchley.

College basketball pundits would take one look at Peay’s trio of post players and label them instantly as “tweeners.” They don’t have the size to be a true post player, nor the outside shooting ability to be considered a guard.

Reed measures in at 6 feet, 5 inches and 236 pounds and scored all but 12 of his 483 points this year from inside the three-point line. Lockett (6-4, 210) only made three 3-pointers all year, while Duncan (6-5, 205) isn’t much of an offensive threat and only averages 6.9 points, but is an accurate outside shooter (he made 57 percent of his 72 3-point attempts this year, good for first in the OVC).

Lockett does pose incredible jumping ability, as evident by two dunks on offensive rebounds in Peay’s OVC Tournament Championship win against Tennessee State.

Peay’s point guard Derek Wright (11.6 ppg) is a worthy guard in the OVC, but will have to have the game of his life, both on the offensive and defensive end, to try and contain Augustin and Abrams.

Which brings us to Peay’s fifth starter, Todd Babington.

Ask Tennessee State head coach Cy Alexander, Eastern head coach Mike Miller and practically any coach the Governors have played this year, and the senior forward is the wild card that gives Peay the slightest hope on Friday.

The Crystal Lake native made 99 3-pointers on the year, and at 6-5 and 205 pounds, has the size to shoot over whichever Texas player defends him besides Atchley.

Babington is a streaky shooter, who Peay head coach Dave Loos said earlier this year he wants Babington to shoot as often as possible and he “can be a real weapon when he’s on.”

Which is what he’s done lately.

The Governors come into Friday’s game on a six-game winning streak, and Babington has made 22-of-49 3-pointers in that stretch, including a decisive 6-for-8 performance in the OVC title game. He finished with 24 points in that game en route to earning the tournament MVP.

If Babington can repeat his OVC title game performance on Friday, Vitale might scream at the top of his lungs again about the team with the infamous cheer ‘Let’s Go Peay!’ – only this time without standing on his head.

Matt Daniels can be reached at 581-7936 or at mwdaniels@eiu.edu.