DENVER — Morehead State guard Demonte Harper said he lost count of how many times he saw a replay of his dramatic game-winning three-pointer against Louisville. Coach Donnie Tyndall has been bombarded with media requests in the game's aftermath. The players' cell phones and Facebook pages have been blowing up with congratulatory messages and texts.
"The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind," Tyndall said. "But it's a great problem to have at this time of year. It's been fun. I'm one of those guys, I tell my players and staff to embrace the moment and enjoy yourself."
The love has not only been coming from Morehead backers but University of Kentucky fans as well.
"Where I come from in southeastern Kentucky, everybody hates Louisville," said junior guard Ty Proffitt, who played at South Laurel. "So everyone has been calling, thanking me, Facebooking me, texting me because they're just so happy that we beat Louisville."
Morehead's 62-61 win over Louisville not only turned the Eagles into the darlings of the eastern part of the state, but it made them perhaps the story of the tournament thus far.
That has been extra sweet for a program that perennially plays second fiddle to UK and U of L when it comes to media attention.
"Wins like this are a great boost to our school and to our community," Proffitt said. "It really helps us out with fan support and kind of puts us on the map."
It didn't take long for the off-court ramifications to sink in, either. Tyndall said an administrator told him that applications for admission increased from about 200 the day before the U of L game to 3,000 the day after.
"I think that speaks for itself in regard to the publicity and notoriety, not just our basketball program has received, but obviously our university has received," Tyndall said.
But now the Eagles must get their head out of the clouds following the biggest win in school history and get ready for Richmond, a mid-major program that already has several big NCAA Tournament wins under its belt.
The Spiders, who knocked off fifth-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday, are the only team in NCAA Tournament history to win as a No. 12, 13, 14 and 15 seed.
Tyndall and the Morehead players said they're not overly concerned with coming back down to earth and being ready for Richmond.
"I don't think there will be any sense of complacency because we talked to our team this summer about reaching our goals," Tyndall said. "One of our goals was to get to the Sweet 16. We know we have a great opponent in Richmond. Our team will be prepared. We certainly don't predict we're going to win the game. But our team will play like we expect to win the game, I can assure you that."
"I feel like this game is a lot bigger than the Louisville game," senior guard Sam Goodman said. "We've been talking about making it to the Sweet 16 since August."
Richmond has a pair of first-team All-Atlantic 10 selections in point guard Kevin Anderson and forward Justin Harper.
The 6-foot-10 Harper has been projected as a possible late first-round NBA Draft pick, and Tyndall compares the 6-foot Anderson to Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelson.
"He's got the compact, strong body. He can shoot it, hit floaters, hit runners," Tyndall said. "He can get in the paint and make his teammates better and obviously has the green light to create at any time. When guards are playing with that confidence and that freedom and their talent is as high as his is, they're going to do a lot of good things."
The Richmond players said they watched Morehead win the OVC Tournament on ESPN, and Coach Chris Mooney said he never had it penciled in that his team would be playing Louisville if they were able to get by Vandy.
"In Faried, they have an NBA lottery pick, a longtime NBA player on their team," Mooney said. "I think the stronger and faster team appeared to be Morehead State. As good as Louisville is, I think from a physical standpoint, Morehead State was equally or more impressive. We know how good Morehead is, so I think we'll be a pretty focused group."
