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Starting next season, Ohio Valley Conference basketball, for both men’s and women’s teams, will be split into an East Division and a West Division.

Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Morehead State, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and the newly-added Belmont will make up the East Division. Eastern, Austin Peay, Murray State, Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Tennessee-Martin will make up the West Division.

Kyle Schwartz, the assistant commissioner for media relations for the OVC, said in an e-mail that divisions seemed like a logical decision, with the OVC now having 12 teams.

“The addition of Belmont gives us 12 teams, the most the OVC has ever had,” he said. “This season (with 11 teams) it was decided a 16-game schedule would be better than playing a round robin schedule of 20 games. A 16-game schedule gives teams more flexibility with their non-conference scheduling and as a whole gives the OVC a better chance to improve its RPI through non-conference victories.”

Schwartz also said decision was also made on the basis of geography, to create better travel for teams and an overall better student-athlete experience.

Belmont, the 12th team to join the OVC, was added this past July. The Bruins currently compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference for men’s and women’s basketball. The men’s team currently has a record of 20-7, riding a 7 game winning streak. The women’s team has lost its last two games, holding an overall record of 9-16.

Unlike Southern Illinois-Edwardsville this season, Belmont will be eligible for the post-season tournament, as it was already a Division-I school, unlike Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, who reclassified from Division-II to Division-I.

He said the OVC took travel distance into big consideration when drawing up the divisions.

“The AD’s studied what splits could be made with divisions (East/West, North/South). The ultimate decision for all teams was geography and travel distance,” he said, in an e-mail. “So it wasn’t ‘Where should Team A or Team B be’ it was more based on geography as a whole.”

Schwartz said the schedule should be finalized with two to three weeks. The schedule will be 16 games, with two home and two away games against each team in the division, along with one game against each team in the opposing division. In regards to how bracketing and seeding will play out, Schwartz said it could come as soon as March from the OVC Athletic Directors, but possibly April or May.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.