#255 R.P.I. Morehead State @ #158 R.P.I. Virginia Tech:

Virginia Tech men’s basketball returns to the court this Saturday at 1pm on ACCExtra vs. little ole Morehead State of Ohio Valley Conference fame.

The Hokies really should win here -prolly win going away- and yes this just in… rain is still rumored to be… wet. Still yet, I’m not against giving coach Buzz Williams another glorified scrimmage to work on his rotations and to work his substitution patterns out. As this flock or gaggle of Eagles wings’ looks pretty dang clipped to me. Or to put it another way, I’d prolly favor The Citadel, Detroit Mercy and Houston Baptist to all win here. So yah;, I go ‘head and say it: “I gar-ron-damn-tee” VicTory here or I bourbonstreet will print out and eat these very words. And yes… I like my crow rare, yet warm…

Morehead State Head Coach: Preston Spradlin: age=3o, 13-13 overall and at M.S.U.. Has a rep’ for: basketball operations, camping, recruiting hosting and a lotta the clerical flying a roundball desk type stuff. He almost has the look and feel of a coach who is gonna wind up as someone’s pretty well-learnt A.D., (at some point).
$137,000.oo to $150,000.oo (with incentives).

Spradlin the kid is a native of Pikeville, Ky. Spradlin the student-athlete earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Alice Lloyd (Ky.) in 2oo9 and master’s degree in kinesiology and health promotion, with a sports leadership emphasis, from Kentucky in 2o11. The baller Spradlin was a four-year men’s basketball letterwinner for the N.A.I.A. Eagles from 2oo5-o9. After a playing career at N.A.I.A. Alice Lloyd College, Spradlin joined John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky as a graduate assistant from 2oo9 to 2o11, and assistant director of basketball operations from 2o11 to 2o14. He also aided Calipari with the Dominican Republic national basketball team in 2o11 and 2o12.

Spradlin joined Sean Woods’ staff at Morehead State in 2o14 as an assistant coach, and was elevated to interim head coach when Woods resigned amid player allegations that he had assaulted them (he of the full head-to-toe checkerboard suit wearing no G.Q. I.Q. imagery to boot). After going 12-9 in the interim role, and guiding the Eagles to a 1o-6 conference record in Ohio Valley Conference play in the East Division, Spradlin was given the job on a permanent basis. And oh yes, coach Spradlin is the youngest men’s D-1 hoops coach in all the land!

Daddy Spradlin is married to the former Misty Tackett.  The couple has one son, Bentley, and one daughter, Aubrey.

Morehead State at a glance:

• 3o5th in scoring O (67 ppg)!
• and 3o5th in scoring D 82 ppg allowed!
• accordingly, 336th in apg (9.6 dimes dropped).
• 324th in FG shooting (38.4%).
• 323rd in FG percentage allowed (49.8%).
• 319th on the defensive glass.
• 350th (i.e. penultimate last) in personal fouls whistled against!
• 13 different categories ranked 300th or worse outta the 32 team categories.
• (wow & God Bless)!

Eagle Returning Starters=zero!

Morehead State Strengths:

• One #2, Jordan Walker is by far and away the alpha-Eagle here. As the 6′, 18o lb. Pt.G. is the best baller the Eagles court and he’s not a whole helluva a lot beyond a D-1 C+++. Jordan leads MSU at 13.3 ppg, albeit on 34% from the floor and 33% from long-distance and suddenly you see what I mean. 84% FT-shooting is something; though still yet, Walker was first-best in 3-point shooting for the Ohio Valley Conference last year at 49.3%. So clearly he can -and he prolly will- shoot better from the outside. He does not have a senior year of high school ball listed anywhere; with no injury(s) listed either; go fig’ on that? As he does have some lift and some dunk to his game at times.
• Lamontray Harris, who in addition to having one of the more interesting first-names I’ve ever seen… unless Grady or Bubba were doin’ work… is the only other Eagle even listed as a possible post-season honoree. And he’s only listed in one preview as such if that tells you anything. Though he is the Eagles second leading scorer at 9.8 ppg; and second in board-work at 6.5 rpg. He is however 15% from deep and 37% overall as a 6′7″, now 222 lb. pseudo enforcer at the Four in his third year.

  

• Columbia State transfer Adrian Hicks is 6′, 185 lb. Jr. year lead-G trapped in a Pt.G’s body. Adrian -who is so new he does not have a bio’ page- Adrian is third in scoring at 9.5 ppg and is 37% from the floor and 3o% from beyond the arc. He has found 2o lbs. of right mass since getting to campus at a buck-sixty-five (165 lbs.) and he is leading the Eagles with 1.o spg.
• 6′5″, 215 lb. Malek Green is a sturdy looking S/F who is a S/G anywhere else. Except for one thing… he’s the only Eagle (right now at least) that can actually… shoot! 6o% overall and 5o% from range is just cause for: “Malek, Malek, Malke is on FIRE!” As this kinda output from a team that can not make a “2” with a pencil is praiseworthy indeed. And his 5 rebounds per game ain’t hurting 1 ι (iota symbol); either.

Morehead State Weaknesses:

• The Eagles roster has zero seniors, six freshman and three JuCo transfers. You do the (in)experience, maths.
• 52 ppg and 25 rpg worth of five senior starting Eagles all just flew the March 2o17, coop.
• Whenever 80% of your starters shoot 37% or less? That’s no bueno.
• Ditto courting no one taller than 6′7″ and no one north of 23o lbs. when trying to match-up with a legitimate post-season bound Power Conference team.

Eagles Bench: (depth=4 to 5)

Gulf Coast State transfer, Londell King leads the Eagles in rebounding off the bench at 7.5 rpg. He is a 6′7″, 187 lbs. in his nugget or rookie rather springy looking year. Though he’s already missed two games with some sorta leg injury and he and his 6.7 ppg and team leading 1.5 swats would be sorely -bad pun insert (______) here, check- they would be sorely missed on a team with limited options everywhere you look.

Illation, conclusion (s) and OPT digits:

Number of Eagles who could start @Tech=zip, zero, nil, none.

the takeaway:
The takeaway here is… there just isn’t a lot to -credibly- say here in conclusion as there is just not a lot to this Eagles team.

They (the Eagles) are facing the #2 scoring team in America right now (at 1o3.2 ppg) in the Virginia Tech Hokies. They are also facing the 4th best assisting team in the land (22.6 dimes/game) and the second best shooting team in D-1 (58.4%) overall and the second best 3-point shooting team in all of collegiate uppercase full NC2A hoops (50.9%)!

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And “yes” mea culpa, ^that^ was me who just went digging for something good to say and I had to go digging on us as Morehead State is that dang placer deposited or that dang thin.

the skinny…

As their one alluvial baller (Jordan Walker), may or may not have the goods to even crack Buzz’s rotation; never mind Buzz’s starting line-up.

the call…

So with everyone most likely rather turkey leg, dinner-plate,  wishbone; and uva/VT football game Commonwealth Cup hungover… I’ll be brief…

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…as best I can tell it looks to me like our back-ups could ground these Morehead State Eagle’s. Never mind what our starters will very likely do to them, presuming we just remember when this game tips-off.

Because if you needed a blow-out burnt Orange and Chicago Maroon pick-me-up you’ve come to the right place.

If Morehead State cracks 70 they should consider it a moral victory —as they are out-manned and they are out-gunned; Gatling style here.

Virginia Tech and coach Buzz, huge!

(98% confidence interval)
Virginia Tech=1o1, Morehead State=69

“LETS GO!”

“Hokies!”

 bourbonstreet**