Spradlin Exclusive – Part Two

What Lies Ahead

(St. Louis, MO) – What lies ahead for Morehead State? Coach Preston Spradlin believes his team is just scratching the surface of their abilities. With solid returners and a large and talented incoming recruiting class, Spradlin sees an upward trajectory for his Eagles.

In Part One of this interview we discussed Spradlin’s career and value system. In Part Two we look that the roster make up and we take a peak at the changing Ohio Valley Conference. MSU lost their second and third leading scorers to graduation, but all league performer Jordan Walker returns.

Spradlin says Walker and fellow senior Djimon Henson will lead the way with helpful experience and significant abilities. Walker was the team’s leading scorer (15.8 ppg) while making over 39 percent of his three-point attempts. Henson played just 19 minutes per game but converted over 84 percent of his free throws.

 

 

Two juniors that logged heavy minutes last season will be counted on to contribute in big ways. De’Von Cooper started all 33 Morehead State games averaging 8.8 points per game and buried 36 % of his shots from deep, and was actually third on the team in minutes played.

James Baker (7.5 ppg) led the OVC in blocked shots and was a consistent deep threat making over 39 percent of his long distance attempts. Spradlin is expecting a lot out of transfer Justin Thomas. The former Northern Illinois guard was a two year starter in the Mid American Conference.

 

 

Incoming Recruits

What lies ahead will be largely impacted by this year’s recruiting class. At the time of this interview Spradlin could only discuss four players in this year’s class. The fourth year coach said his staff wanted to recruit more size, and they wanted to recruit winners.

Two of the incoming freshmen, Ta’Lon Cooper and Julius Dixon took their high school teams deep into their state playoffs. Cooper’s team was the state champs. Fellow freshman Tyzhaun Claude, Cooper and Dixon were Spradlin’s first choice to recruit at their respective positions.

L.J. Bryan is a sophomore transfer from State Fair Community College who brings good size (6’9 – 250 pounds) and experience.

Verbalcommits.com says the Eagles have also signed at least two other transfers. Jaden Stanley is a 6’6 small forward from Columbia State CC. Kevin Hunt is a 6’3 shooting guard from the College of Central Florida. We believe Hunt agreed to sign with the team during the time of this interview.

 

 

The Byrd-less OVC

It is impossible to know the impact of the retirement of Belmont University coach Rick Byrd. The legendary Bruin coach retired and Belmont handed the reigns of the program to Bruin alum and former Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander.

Spradlin says it was an honor to coach against Rick Byrd and that he deserves to be on the ‘Mount Rushmore’ of OVC history.

 

 

Spradlin is bullish on the Ohio Valley Conference. The Nashville-based league has been putting great emphasis on basketball and the buzz around Murray State’s Ja Morant and Belmont’s Dylan Windler in this week’s NBA draft adds to the OVC appeal.

Spradlin says the league is on the rise and each program has a responsibility in recruiting, scheduling and being competitive on the national level.

 

 

What Lies Ahead?

After a season where two OVC teams went to the NCAA Tournament and each won a March Madness contest, what lies ahead for teams like Morehead State? The league graduated Morant, Windler and Eastern Kentucky record-setting forward Nick Mayo, so what lies ahead?

Rick Byrd is gone while Murray State’s Matt McMahon stayed with the Racer program. He had been viewed as a candidate for the Cincinnati job.

For Spradlin and the Eagles, things seem to be moving in the right direction. While the Eagles won 12 games during this interim season, they won just eight the following campaign. Last year MSU finished 13-20 with eight of those victories coming in OVC play.

Spradlin signed the recruits he wanted and has solid returners. What lies ahead for Morehead State could be quite successful.

Do Good