I think CUSA is a step up but the OVC is a really competitive league, especially at the top. Belmont, Morehead, EKU would have all been tough outs in CUSA this year.
See Chuck Landon's current column on how CUSA basketball stacks up among other mid majors currently. Chuck then notes how the opposite is true in CUSA football.
Chuck notes that North Texas' first round win over Purdue means CUSA teams have won first round games in the tournament in 5 out of the last 6 seasons (no tourney in 2020)!! Landon further noted that "Since 1985, only two Group of Five conferences have winning records in the NCAA Tournament. The American Athletic Conference leads with an 11-8 record (.579), but Conference USA is next at 54-53 (.505). Meanwhile, the Mid-American Conference is 19-38 (.333), the Mountain West is 22-44 (.333) and the Sun Belt is 16-42 (.276). Of the 32 conferences in college basketball only eight have winning overall records and Conference USA is one of them."
Landon then goes on to note that in football all CUSA teams in bowl games were underdogs and that in bowl play they went 0-6! Zippo, Nil, Nada. Chuck, not surprisingly, concludes that "Obviously, men's basketball is Conference USA's marquee sport."