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LOCATION: Morehead, KY
CONFERENCE: Ohio Valley (OVC)
LAST SEASON: 13-15 (.464)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 9-9 (t-3rd)
STARTERS LOST/RETURNING: 3/2
NICKNAME: Eagles
COLORS: Blue & Gold
HOMECOURT: Johnson Arena (6,500)
COACH: Kyle Macy (Kentucky '80)
record at school 16-38 (2 years)
career record 16-38 (2 years)
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ASSISTANTS: Wayne Breeden (Kentucky '83)
Brian Lane (Transylvania '90)
Diego McCoy (Lincoln Memorial '95)
TEAM WINS: (last 5 years) 15-7-8-3-13
RPI (last 5 years) 179-285-288-296-226
1998-99 FINISH: Lost in conference semifinal.
ESPN.com Clubhouse
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Life goes on at Morehead State without Erik Brown. The Eagles' hot-shooting, hard-driving small forward left coach Kyle Macy in the lurch with his decision to transfer to Louisville last spring. Things got downright ugly. Macy at first denied Brown's release from Morehead. Brown appealed the decision and was again denied. After hiring a lawyer from Lexington, Ky., Brown was granted the release when Morehead State President Dr. Ronald Eaglin overruled Macy's decision. There were rumors of tampering by individuals outside of institutional control in the Brown case, but no solid proof. Macy just wants to move on. "We really aren't concerned with last year," Macy said. "We won't compare this year's team with last year's team. It won't do any good. Obviously Erik was a good player, but we've always said we don't want players who don't want to be here anyway." As a 6-3 freshman last year, Brown led the league in scoring (19.3 ppg) and was 12th in rebounding (5.4). He was chosen as the OVC's freshman of the year and earned first-team All-OVC honors. Macy does have one regret about Brown's departure.
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Blue Ribbon Analysis |
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BACKCOURT C BENCH/DEPTH C+
FRONTCOURT C- INTANGIBLES B+
In two years at Morehead State, Kyle Macy seems to have revived the program. His first team went 3-23 and finished 10th in the OVC with a 2-16 record. Last season, the Eagles posted 10 more victories than the previous year, going 13-15, and finished in a four-way tie for third place in the league at 9-9. Macy doesn't want to stop there. "We're headed in the right direction," Macy said. "We made a 10-game improvement in the win column. We're not satisfied by any means. We want to continue in that direction. We knew when we took the job here it would take a while to improve a program that was really at rock bottom." Despite the loss of Brown, the team's marquee player last year, Macy is optimistic about the season. He didn't expect success overnight, but he does expect success. Macy, a two-time All-American guard at Kentucky, knows what winning is all about. "This year we have all but one player that we recruited," Macy said. "We're getting our own players in the system. We're encouraged by the steps we took between the first and second seasons, but by no means are we satisfied. We want to keep getting better." In the balanced OVC, improving on last season won't be easy for Morehead. But don't count the Eagles out of another upper-level finish. |
"The only bad thing is if the kid doesn't have his degree or isn't a draft pick, (his leaving Morehead) will be a mistake," Macy said. "I think if he had stayed here, he would have had both. He would have had his degree and he definitely would have gotten a strong look from the pros." Without Brown, Morehead goes from the star system where Brown was the show to a team system where any combination of players can win games. Jeremy Webb, a 6-6 senior, is one of the players with the task of taking over for Brown at small forward. Last season, Webb (6.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) played some small forward and started 11 games. With Brown leaving so late, Macy wasn't able to recruit a player to fill his spot. Quentin Smith, a 6-5 junior forward, was recruited as more of a power forward after averaging 17.4 points and 8.0 rebounds at Cincinnati State Junior College. Smith is an athletic player who plays with great intensity. "We feel he has the ability to step out and play (small forward) even though we recruited him as a face-up forward," Macy said. Brett Bohanan, a 6-4 senior guard, could also play small forward. Bohanan (11.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg) started eight games last season. He led the team in three-point shooting (73 of 164, .445) and shot .475 percent on all shots as one of the OVC's best non-starters. "We feel he has good enough size and he's an excellent shooter to play the two or three," Macy said. The point guard job will be taken by a newcomer, either 6-2 junior Greg Hendricks or 5-11 freshman Marquis Sykes. Hendricks averaged 19.5 points and 4.5 assists last season at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif. Sykes averaged 18.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 3.4 steals as a senior at Mansfield (Ohio) High School. They will vye for the job left by Ted Docks (2.9 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 96 assists), a senior last year. Sykes and Hendricks are both more of a scoring threat than Docks. "(Hendricks') ability to see the floor, as well as score, solidifies our point-guard position. . . . He not only brings maturity, but more importantly for our team, the knowledge of what it takes to win," Macy said. "We believe Marquis is going to be a solid player in our league. He is an athletic player who has shown that he knows what it takes to win." Brad Cleaver, a 6-3 senior guard, can play point guard or shooting guard. Cleaver (15.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg) was the team's second-leading scorer last season. He started 20 games, but missed eight games because of eligibility problems. He is an excellent outside shooter, making 54 of 130 (.415) from three-point range last season. Scott Charity and Kyle Umberger give the Eagles two experienced players in the post and can alternate between power forward and center. Charity (9.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg), a 6-7 senior forward, started 25 games last season. Umberger (9.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg) is a 6-7 sophomore who was the team's second-leading rebounder as a freshman. "They're not the tallest players for the center spot, but they complement each other," Macy said. "With Billy Howell coming in, we have added size and bulk, but being a freshman, it will take him time to adjust." Howell, a 6-10, 230-pound freshman center, averaged 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks last season at Lewis County (Ky.) High School. Morehead also could get a frontcourt boost from 6-10, 210-pound center Mouhamadou Wilane of Senegal. Wilane played ball at a technical school in Senegal before landing at Morehead, and is expected to only have one year of eligibility. His skills may need some refining. "He's probably your typical foreign player," Macy said. "He does have good size. At 6-10, he likes to step outside. Every time I see him in the gym, he's shooting three-pointers." Other newcomers are 6-5 junior forward Bernard Evans, 6-5 freshman guard Justin Cornell and 6-4 freshman guard Travis Williams. Cornell averaged 21.5 points and 6.5 rebounds last season at Louisville (Ky.) Fern Creek High School. He scored 39 points in a game against state champion Scott County. Evans is a walk-on who joined the Eagles last year but didn't play. He averaged 9.8 points and 7.0 rebounds two years ago at St. Petersburg (Fla.) Community College. Williams is a walk-on who played at Logan County High School in Auburn, Ky.
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