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The field for the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship has been set after the final day of the regular season.
Belmont will be the No. 1 seed after winning its third OVC regular season championship in four years in the league. The Bruins finished the regular season 12-4 and are 6-1 all-time in the OVC Tournament. UT Martin finished in a tie with Murray State atop the West Division and after a tiebreaker earned the No. 2 overall seed for the first time since the league divided into divisions four years ago. Under the league's merit-based bracketing system both teams will receive double byes to Friday's semifinals.
The No. 3 seed is Morehead State who enters the postseason having won six-straight games. The No. 4 seed is Tennessee State who is back in the field after missing the event each of the past two years. Both of those teams receive a single bye to Thursday's quarterfinals.
The field is rounded out No. 5 seed Tennessee Tech, No. 6 seed Murray State, No. 7 seed Eastern Illinois and No. 8 seed Austin Peay (who is appearing in the event for the first time since 2012).
For the sixth year in a row all eight men's and eight women's team will play every game of the Championship at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The men's bracket is a merit-based system that gives the No. 1 and 2 seeds a double bye to the semifinals while the No. 3 and 4 seeds get a single bye to the quarterfinals. The first round will match up the No. 5/8 and No. 6/7 seeds.
This year marks the 22nd time in the past 23 years that the tournament has been held in Nashville.
This year is the 11th time the combined men's and women's championship has been held at Municipal Auditorium; the men also held tournaments at Municipal in 1967 and 1989.
This year marks the 53rd time the OVC Men's Basketball Championship has been held; the event is the fourth-oldest Division I basketball championship tournament.
This year's first round and quarterfinals can be seen for free exclusively on the OVC Digital Network (
http://www.OVCDigitalNetwork.com), the league's web streaming platform. The games are available on any computer, tablet or smart phone as well as the Roku streaming device.
The semifinals will air live on ESPNU while the championship game will air live on ESPN2 and on the Westwood One Radio Network.
2016 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship (Municipal Auditorium - Nashville, Tenn.)
First Round - Wednesday, March 2
Game 1 - #5 Tennessee Tech vs. #8 Austin Peay - 6:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Game 2 - #6 Murray State vs. #7 Eastern Illinois - 8:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Quarterfinals - Thursday, March 3
Game 3 - #4 Tennessee State vs. Game 1 Winner - 6:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Game 4 - #3 Morehead State vs. Game 2 Winner - 8:00 p.m. (OVC Digital Network)
Semifinals - Friday, March 4
Game 5 - #1 Belmont vs. Game 3 winner, 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 6 - #2 UT Martin vs. Game 4 winner, 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Championship - Saturday, March 5
Game 7 - Semifinal Winners - 5:00 p.m. (ESPN2)
All Times Central 