The Ohio Valley Conference women’s and men’s basketball tournaments started last night.

Alas, for the third time in the last four years, Eastern’s men’s team isn’t in it, and for the second time in the last three, the Panther women aren’t in it either.

Tennessee Tech head coach Mike Sutton (above) has said all season long the conference needs to have all 11 teams compete in the tournament.

We’re in agreement with Sutton’s opinion, and here’s three ideas on how to improve the tournament.

1. One location – Nashville, Tenn., hosts the semifinals and finals, but not first-round games. With the OVC as a low, mid-major, having it in one location is hard because of financial concerns. But how about awarding the league champion by having them host all tournament games? The OVC plays 20 conference games, making the regular season mean more. Hosting the tournament rewards the league’s winner.

2. Start it later – The championship is Saturday. The earliest the winner would play next is the first day of the NCAA Tournament (March 15). Move it back a weekend.

The excitement of a low-major team winning a tournament the day of, or right before, Selection Sunday is worth it.

3. Better teams, more interest – The conference isn’t getting quality non-conference wins it needs. Only one team, in men’s and women’s basketball, has more than 20 wins. Southeast Missouri women had 21 wins entering Tuesday night’s game against Austin Peay. The OVC ranked 24th out of 32 conferences in men’s basketball in the RPI ratings, and for women, the OVC ranked 19th out of 32 conferences.