The Panther men’s basketball team has absolutely no hope of winning the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title.

That has been obvious for some time now. And even after disposing of Morehead State Thursday night, Eastern has just one game remaining, but still has three teams to pass for the conference crown.

But none of that matters.

Of course the goal every season is to win the conference, and I’m sure the Panthers are disappointed that they didn’t. But the way the conference season has gone so far, the main perk of being OVC regular season champion is nothing more than a fancy title before your team name.

The parity in the league this year is like nothing I have seen in my four years here. You often hear people say that any team can beat any team on any given night. Most times it is coaches uttering those words, attempting to pump their players up for a game they are not supposed to win.

But in this case it is true. Any team in the OVC can beat any other team. This season has proven that time and time again. The Panthers have a winning record against only three teams in the conference – Morehead State, Tennessee State and Eastern Kentucky.

This season, Eastern has gone 1-1 against Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, Murray State, Southeast Missouri State and Tennessee-Martin.

And all of those games that Eastern has won have one thing in common – they have all come at the “Panther Palace.”

Yes, it would be nice for Eastern to brag that it is OVC regular season champions, but it really means nothing in the long run.

The ultimate goal is to qualify for the NCAA tournament. And the only way for an OVC team to do that is to be tournament champions. History has shown the selection committee has not given the OVC much respect, so the only way to get in is to secure the automatic bid that comes along with being tourney champions.

With only one game to go before the tournament starts, Tech would have the top seed and would get the right to play eighth-seeded Martin.

The Panthers split with Skyhawks this season, but Eastern’s loss at Martin was by 14, making Murray State the only team to beat Eastern by more in the last two months. That is one team the Panthers would definitely not like to play in the opening round.

The top five teams in the league have all done a great job all year at defending their home court. And Eastern has been right in the middle, keeping a home win streak that dates back to last season.

While it would be nice to enter the tournament as the top seed, it is equally as important to just be hosting a first round game.

In this case, the Panther’s reward for being the top seed would have been to play a team that beat them by 14 the last time they played. The Panthers deserve more than that.

Not getting the top seed in the conference tournament is nothing to worry about. The Panthers got what they needed – the chance to host a first round game.

Now all Eastern has to do is keep its home win streak in tact and then go on to Nashville, where records don’t matter and anything can happen.

There will be no OVC regular season championship for Eastern this season. But that doesn’t really matter.

The Panthers can still realize their ultimate goal whether they are regular season champs or not.

And that’s what does matter.