Murray State ranks among elite
MURRAY, Ky. – Murray State is running with the likes of Kentucky, Louisville and the rest of college basketball’s elite.
The 15th-ranked Racers (16-0) are currently just one of three undefeated men’s Division I squads along with top-ranked Syracuse (17-0) and No. 4 Baylor (16-0).
“We’re mentioned in the same breath as Louisville and Kentucky, but really, what I want to hear even more is the Butlers and the VCUs and people like that,” athletics director Allen Ward said. “I think that’s as important to me because to be seen in that light is something that we want to try to capture and build off of.”
This season’s best mid-major team plays in the Ohio Valley Conference and is from a city whose population (14,950) is smaller than the fans Murray State can fit in its football stadium (16,800). That hasn’t stopped Ward and coach Steve Prohm from thinking bigger.
Murray State has enjoyed 25 straight winning seasons and as result of that success a new practice facility is on the way to go along with its modern, multipurpose arena seating 8,600.
Prohm is also quick to mention Butler’s path of promoting from within, recruiting specific to a style of play and having a strong sense of the program’s place.
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, you play in the OVC,”’ Prohm said. “But those high level teams, while we’re playing half home and half road, they’re playing two-thirds of their games at home. They’re buying games, seven of their 10 games nonconference. We’re playing in some buy games.
“We’re going to Memphis, we’re playing Dayton, we’re playing Southern Miss — very good programs. I think it’s two-fold. To have 25 consecutive winning seasons is remarkable.”
The Racers broke into the poll for the first time in 14 years after their win over Memphis last month, and they just keep climbing to put the Bluegrass State and the rest of the country on notice that there’s a third team to watch from the Commonwealth.
“We all feel like we deserve it, and we’re just going to keep trying to do the things that got us here and keep opening people’s eyes,” said Racers guard Isaiah Canaan, who scored 27 points in the first half of a recent win over Austin Peay. “Murray State isn’t no pushover school. We can compete with the best of them.”
Maybe even Kentucky and Louisville.
“If we’re getting mentioned when Kentucky and Louisville are getting mentioned, then we’re doing good things and I’ll take that all the time — even if we’re number three,” Prohm said.
The Racers knocked out Vanderbilt in the 2010 NCAA tournament and won the OVC regular season title last season before losing in the conference tournament’s semifinals to end up in the NIT. Billy Kennedy left for Texas A&M, paving the way for Prohm’s promotion.
Now that he’s at the top, Prom finds himself fretting the smallest details, including just how to get recruits to Murray, Ky.
“If you take a triangle Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis, we’re right there in the middle of it,” Prohm said. “If you can get kids on this campus, especially with their parents here, you’ve got a really good chance to get them.”