Morehead St. looks intent on challenging for crown

Most people who follow Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball figure that either Murray State or Tennessee Tech will win regular-season championship.

Morehead State, however, is apparently intent on upsetting those plans. The Eagles, picked to finish third in the OVC preseason poll, certainly made a major statement Saturday.

The Eagles went into the Eblen Center in Cookeville, Tenn., and defeated Tennessee Tech 72-70 to end the nation's second-longest home-court winning streak. Tech had won its previous 33 home games.

Morehead State, which destroyed struggling Tennessee State 93-42 last Thursday to open conference play, is all alone at the top of the OVC standings.

But coach Kyle Macy, while expressing satisfaction with the Eagles' start, said this is not the time for his team to get full of itself.

"To go into Tech and snap the second-longest home winning streak in the country, yeah, it's got to make our guys feel good," Macy said during Tuesday's OVC teleconference. "But we still have a lot of work to do. It's still early. Whenever you can go out and get a sweep on the road, it's a plus, but this conference is so competitive this year, I don't know how much it really means."

Still, other OVC coaches were impressed with what Morehead State did Saturday -- not that it was a total surprise.

The Eagles finished a solid second in the OVC last year behind two-time regular-season champion Tennessee Tech and returned two of the league's premier players in swingman Ricky Minard and point guard Marquis Sykes.

Minard, the nation's 10th-leading scorer last year, is second in the OVC this season with 21.5 points per game. Sykes leads the conference in assists.

"I think Morehead has been really building for several years now," Eastern Illinois coach Rick Samuels said. "They have an outstanding team."

Said Murray State coach Tevester Anderson, "From day one I thought Morehead State was one of the elite teams in our conference. Kyle Macy has done a great job putting together a talented team."

Tennessee Tech and Murray State both received eight first-place votes in the OVC preseason poll. Morehead State got the other two first-place nods, then there was a major gap between the next six teams in the league.

While the coaches believe the conference is fairly balanced this year, most of them still think those top three teams deserve their preseason billing.

"One of those three has got to be the favorite," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "But I think there is a lot of parity in this league. I think there are going to be a lot of upsets, if you can call them upsets."

Added Eastern Kentucky coach Travis Ford, in his third season with the Colonels, "You still have to keep with the top three, but don't mark out some of the other teams. This is by far the toughest the OVC has been since I've been here, without a doubt."

Troubles at TSU

The ongoing soap opera at Tennessee State got even juicier Tuesday when the Nashville Tennessean reported that a Christmas night post-practice altercation between coach Nolan Richardson III and assistant Hosea Lewis involved Richardson bringing a gun on school property.

The incident resulted in Richardson's suspension the following day by Tennessee State athletic director Teresa Phillips, pending termination proceedings. Richardson is not allowed on the campus and he is not allowed to have any contact with athletics personnel.

Richardson and his staff remain the focus of an NCAA investigation for a variety of rules infractions.

Said Lewis, who is serving as the Tigers' acting coach, "It's an unfortunate situation that has happened, but we're just going to try and stay positive and move forward."

Noteworthy

The road team has won all four conference games played so far. In addition to Morehead State's two wins, Eastern Kentucky routed Tennessee State 109-83 and Eastern Illinois defeated Southeast Missouri 85-75.

Tennessee Tech visits Murray State Thursday in a rematch of last year's OVC Tournament championship game that was won by the Racers.

Eastern Illinois visits Morehead State Thursday in a game featuring the OVC's top two scorers. Eastern Illinois senior guard Henry Domercant leads the nation with 27.2 points per game. Minard averages 21.5.

Saturday's Austin Peay at Murray State game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Tennessee Tech's women, who averaged less than three conference losses in winning or sharing the last five OVC regular-season titles, is off to an 0-2 league start. The Eaglettes are in a rebuilding mode after graduating all five starters from last year.

Marty Mishow covers Southeast Missouri State University and the OVC for the Southeast Missourian