BRENTWOOD, Tenn.the Ohio Valley Conference announced that Austin Peay State University is the recipient of the 2007-08 Team Sportsmanship Award for men's basketball. 

Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans. 

“The OVC places high value on sportsmanship and ethical conduct,” said Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher, OVC Commissioner. “Our awards acknowledge excellence and are special because it is recognition that comes from one's peers.”

The 2007-08 school year marks the third year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. Samford won the inaugural award and Eastern Kentucky was the recipient last season.

“This award is reflective of the make up of this team and its character,” said Austin Peay head basketball coach and Director of Athletic Dave Loss. “But at the same time I think this award easily could have to any team in the league because of the type individuals we have in the OVC. We, as a league, compete very hard against other, but at the same time keep those values that brought us to this great game in the first place.”

The Governors finished the Conference season with a 16-4 record and OVC Championship for the second year in a row. Austin Peay would go on to win the OVC Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in school history.

Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.

In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind “Sportsmanship Statement,” a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.

-AP-