Morehead State’s postseason run last year has Eagles hungry for more

Coming off his most successful season at Morehead State, Coach Sean Woods knows there’s still something missing from his tenure with the Eagles — an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament crown and a trip to the Big Dance.

“We’ve been beating down that door,” the fifth-year coach said Thursday at Morehead’s basketball media. “Sooner or later, it’s got to open for us, because I think we’ve been playing some pretty good basketball for the last two or three years going into it.”

The Eagles return a preseason All-OVC selection in senior guard Xavier Moon and major contributors in senior forward Dejuan “Rico” Marrero and junior guard Miguel Dicent. They were part of a group that finished second in the OVC East and won 11 of its last 14 games last season. That run included a trip to the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational finals, where the Eagles lost Game 3 in overtime to Nevada.

The CBI experience has been a huge lift for the program, Woods said. And it helped him earn a contract extension after the Eagles’ 23-14 season, the fourth-best mark in program history.

“I think everything happens for a reason,” he said. “If we did win the OVC Tournament last year, we’d have to play Kansas the first game (of the NCAA Tournament), and the chances of us beating Kansas at that time were very slim.

“I think we maximized the situation. I think we improved our brand from a national standpoint (by) playing in the month of March and going all the way to April 1. There were only four teams besides us and Nevada playing that late in the year. … You can’t pay for that type of advertisement and viewership.”

The extra postseason exposure has galvanized Woods’ returning players, who think they can step on the court and compete with anyone.

“I think our run opened a lot of eyes, not just in college basketball but in the state of Kentucky,” said Marrero, who averaged 8.2 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game last season. “Morehead State (was) still playing for a championship. … Moving forward, we’re just trying to build on that and capitalize on the run we made last year.”

Woods considers his guard play the best in the conference, but he worries about how this year’s team will rebound, especially on the offensive glass, where the Eagles ranked fourth in the nation last year with 14.62 offensive rebounds a game.

The loss of graduate transfer Corbin Collins to Alabama and four seniors off last year’s squad also leaves a leadership gap that Moon, Marrero and others must fill.

“I had to do some things to spark them and let them know that ‘hey, somebody’s got to step up.’” Woods said of his message to the team this fall. “And what happened was: Everybody stepped up.”

Moon, who averaged 10. 2 points and shot 41 percent from three-point range last year, accepted the challenge.

“I knew that my role was going to change drastically,” he said. “I’ve just been working as hard as I can on the court, doing what I’m supposed to do off the court and just losing myself in the game.”

Despite last season’s success and Woods’ track record, Morehead was picked to finish third in the East behind Belmont and Tennessee State. The doubts don’t bother the coach.

“I think the top five teams in our league, any five of them can be at the top. … I like where we are. There’s no pressure,” Woods said. “I like being something ahead of me, something to chase. That other way around, sometimes you can get complacent a bit. So I don’t mind it.”

Marrero seemed to see the preseason forecast as a bit of a slight.

“I believe we’re No. 1 in our conference, hands down,” he said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. … We know the type of guy Sean Woods is and the type of team he always has every year. So I think it’s no different this year that the whole team has a chip on its shoulder.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 11:49 AM with the headline "Morehead State’s postseason run last year has Eagles hungry for more."