WESTERN KY (2/3/12) - If one of my fellow Racers told me that Murray State would be undefeated in February, I would’ve said, you’re lying.
 
The joke is on me. This season caught me by surprise. Murray State is 22-0 and the last undefeated college basketball team in Division I.
 
This wasn’t supposed to happen this year.
 
I knew we had Isaiah Canaan and Ivan Asfka coming back, but we lost a huge part of our team. It wasn’t just a few players; we lost head coach Billy Kennedy to Texas A&M.
 
Who were we going to hire?
 
Murray State goes and hires Steve Prohm who was a longtime assistant to Billy Kennedy. I hung my head, as Steve Prohm has never been a head coach before.
 
I wasn’t the only one. The media was skeptical too. Murray State was predicted to finish third in the OVC this year and only got three first place votes.
 
In November, I thought there was no way we’ll have a winning record going into OVC play. The Racers have to play in the Great Alaska Shootout, UAB, Dayton, WKU, and Memphis. These teams aren’t a Kentucky, Duke, or UNC, but they’ve all made noise in the past.

To make matters worse, Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech were picked to finish ahead of Murray. Murray was going to have to play both of them twice. This Racer was worried.
 
As a high maintenance fan, I wasn’t pleased early. The Racers barely beat a Division II opponent in Alaska and the San Francisco Dons gave Racer fans a heart attack as they took us to double overtime.
 
The following two games were against Western Kentucky and Dayton. The Racers won both games easily. I thought for sure we would lose to Memphis. Then we stunned Memphis at their place
 
I hopped on Coach Prohm’s train. The media hopped on his train too, as the Racers were now ranked. I started to see something special even though we were only nine games into the season
 
The wins started piling up. The Racers weren’t winning with ease. They ended 2011 with four straight double digit victories. Three of those were by more than 20 points. That’s when I thought this was a special team. They were now 13-0.
 
Then there was a mishap. Our star down low, Ivan Asfka breaks his hand. I was in disbelief. There goes our leading rebounder and our undefeated season. I was wrong. The dream continued and the Racers would win all six games without him.
 
By the time Asfka returned, the Racers were ranked in the top ten. It seemed too good to be true. That same night Syracuse went down and Murray State was the last unbeaten.
 
The Racers are getting nationally recognition. ESPN and CBS have been to town to film footage on campus. Matt Jones and Kentucky Sports Radio came to the Murray State SEMO game. Everybody knows who we are now.
 
It’s a big deal to be the last unbeaten team in Kentucky and you would think it would be UK or U of L. No, it’s that school near Paducah, Murray State.
 
The pressure is on now. The media is chasing us and the critics are talking.
 
Prohm and the Racers have another road block. On Monday, ESPN BracketBusters announced that 16th ranked St. Mary’s will be playing at Murray State on February 18th. This will be the biggest game that has even been played at the CFSB Center.
 
This town can’t wait. This can either prove the naysayers wrong or it could make them right. Just to be playing them is a dream. It could be one of the few times ever that a ranked team will be playing at Murray State.
 
But does the regular season really matter? The Racers made noise two years ago in the tournament.
 
In 2010 the Racers knocked off Vanderbilt in the first round. Butler knocked them out in the second round with a two point victory.
 
The real test will come in March. Can we make this the third straight year that a mid-major makes the Final Four? Is Isaiah Canaan the next Larry Bird? Is Steve Prohm the next Bill Hodges?
 
After all, Bird played for Bill Hodges, who won his first 33 games at Indiana State in the 1978-79 season. Their lone loss was too Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans in the NCAA Championship game.
 
33 years later the Racers are trying to live that same dream.
 
Conor Revell
SurfKY Sports
 
You can contact Conor Revell at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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