Morehead State Basketball: 2023-24 season preview and outlook for the Eagles

2023-24 Morehead State season outlook

Even without Freeman the Eagles will contend for the Ohio Valley Conference title. While blending so many newcomers and playing such demanding non-conference schedule, their overall record might not turn too many heads.

They have the talent, size and experience to compete with their OVC rivals, but it won’t be easy. The Eagles won last year’s title by a wide margin and it likely won’t be as easy as last year.

Southern Illinois Edwardsville returns four starters from a 19-win team. If Ray’Sean Taylor is healthy, the Cougars could be very dangerous.

Tennessee State has two preseason all OVC players in Marcus Fitzgerald and transfer Kinyon Hodges and a double digit scorer in Christian Brown. Two Belmont transfers join the Tigers to continue to build a winning culture in Nashville.

A deep and talented UT Martin could be the surprise team of the OVC. Guard Jordan Sears may be the best player in the league and there is plenty of talent around the all-conference guard. K.K. Curry was named to the preseason all-league team Kenny White returns to the league after a season at Murray State. Look out for New Mexico State transfer Issa Muhammad. He may be a breakout player for the Skyhawks.

There are numerous unknowns surrounding the league’s other teams. Every team has looked to get bigger and more physical. This will still be a ‘guard-driven’ league, but a balance toward the OVC frontcourts is happening.

Thelwell, Thomas and Lathon will be productive players and will help break in the rest of Spradlin’s talented players. If Minix, Marshall and Ricks are as good as advertised and the transfer ‘bigs’ can be productive, this team will be extremely difficult to beat.

After several turbulent seasons, the OVC has settled in and this will be a very competitive group of teams and should produce an interesting conference race, with Morehead coming out on top.