Leading the way for the Eagles is a veteran front line.  Senior Steve Hamilton will continue to take time away from his budding pitching career to lead the team up front.  A great rebounder who can also score inside, Hamilton used smarts over size to establish his presence in the low post.  A legend from up the road in even tinier Columbia Kentucky, Hamilton decided to come to Morehead because he could play both sports so there was no way Laughlin was going to renege on his promise to his main man.  This six foot six lefty was at one point going into last year a potential All-American but he lost minutes to some of the up and coming players who are a bit more physical. He missed too some games when he was on the diamond. This south paw has a great curve ball and does not mind coming out of the bullpen.  Hamilton led the team in every way he could until he had to go follow his dream. He may have been one of the most underrated players in the country.  Hamilton will be playing at the next level soon enough and many believe his choice will be baseball over basketball.  Hamilton still dreams of playing both sports at the next level and to be honest he could if he wanted to.    

 Hamilton’s sidekick in crime (and we are not talking about Aaron Burr) fellow Senior Dan Swartz has been an offensive juggernaut for the last two years in Morehouse.  After all Swartz did enroll for a season with the mighty Wildcats of Kentucky after Adolph Rupp recruited him from tiny Owingsville after a terrific prep career.  Swartz did not like not being ‘the man’ and transferred after his freshman year to the Eagles.  He quickly became a starter next to Hamilton up front.  At six four he was a small power forward but he teamed with Hamilton to lead Morehead into the national tournament in his first year and they soon became the big studs on campus.  Swartz is a true scoring machine who does it inside and out with a good mid-range game and always keeps coming.  He is best using a variety of solid low post moves and his strength to get easy baskets in the paint and against most teams his height has not been a hindrance.  At least until this year. Laughlin is pushing the agenda that he is moving Swartz to the three as he wants some of his bigger stud manning the post positions and he has a couple of studs that are much bigger ready to go in the bullpen.  He could score but has had to change his game to more of an all-around game and he was pushed by some up and comers for minutes.  No matter what position he plays we are sure ‘the Schwartz’ will be with him! 

 Junior Leonard Coulter brought another solid option in the front court.  Coulter can play on the block or from the wing and can really score when he is on.  He has accepted his role as a superb sub but wants to play more often.  And he needs to.  Coulter was third on the team in scoring last year but if he wants more minutes will have to get better on defense on the wing.  He is not big at only six five ala Swartz so the three is better suited for him but like Swartz his game is better suited for the four. This logjam of talent on the post has caused some issues with minutes.   Senior Lamar Green is another solid sub up front who has languished on the bench for three years behind Hamilton and Swartz.  Green is not an offensive juggernaut (he never averaged more points than rebounds in those years) but he improved every year in Morehouse.  Coming from Birmingham, Green was part of a group of players Laughlin recruited to play for the Eagles from Bama.  The Birmingham 4 as they have been dubbed are a quartet of seniors who were the first to play for this program from outside the Morehouse radius. He and his friends were also the first black athletes to play at Morehouse.  Green is a workmanlike low post defender and board guy who is solid and consistent but needs more time.  His buddy who came with him, Willie ‘Hobo’ Jackson, is a 6’7 225 stud who should play more.  This tough kid can score and board should actually win a starting role but Laughlin needs more height up front and he is not benching Hamilton or Swartz.  Another senior, Hank Akin, has the size and a surprisingly diverse game.  Akin from Michigan came down and had some big moments but in the off season hurt his knee in a pickup game back home and was not the same this year.  At six ten with a nice mid-range jump shot Akin, had become a fan favorite but barely played last year and left the team midway through to go help his new wife as they were having a baby and he needed a job.  He got one in Seattle at Boeing but there are rumors the Knicks are going to try him out as they love his game and his ‘spirit.’ Laughlin has supposedly flown to Seattle in the offseason to try and get his kid back to Kentucky but that is a fluid situation.  Laughlin has plenty of big bodies in Morehead to fill the void but none of them are as big AND talented as Akin.  Seniors Ed Noe and Norm Pokley are both tall but way too skinny to hang in the modern OVC.  Juniors Jim Day and Ted Hundley will play though after dominating JV the last two years.  All four of these guys are 6’8 or above but none of them are near the kind of talent Hamilton or Swartz are.  Speaking of fading out, senior studs Earl Duncan and Warren Cooper were once the stars in Morehead.  They actually combined for almost 40 points a game one year but then got drafted.  When they got back to Kentucky from saving the world, the game had got bigger, faster and tougher.  Don’t count them out though as these two can play and though last year was a disaster, they obviously have the sticktuitness to bounce back. 

The Eagles have more of a rotation in the backcourt.  Seniors Harold Sergent, Sonny Allen, Granny Williams and junior Herbie Stamper took turns in Laughlin’s rotation.  Sergent and Allen, like their friend Hamilton, may be a little too interested in switching over to baseball season especially once February hits.  Allen was a star for this team on the basketball court but his love is baseball and he left the team midway through the year when it became obvious he was not going to be playing as much with Minard around and because they offered him the head coaching job!  No Really!  Maybe that is why there was such a back and forth relationship between the two teams.  Sergent on the other hand made it through the entire season rotating between the two teams.  A solid offensive player who can score and pass, Sergent is even a better pitcher as he led the baseball team with ten wins.  Sergent took a role off the bench and like his compadres missed too many games while moonlighting.  Still, the Sarge had a great career in Morehouse and will be not be forgotten.  Williams was a similar player but barely played after Minard took over.  Stamper was also a terrific offensive player who was the best long-range shooter on the team.  He could also handle the ball and when Minard took over the starting role was switched to the ipso facto point guard but though he can pass this kid would much rather hoist it from the rafters.  Still, he scored enough and kept his name in the starting lineup for all 30 games as he was the only Eagle to play in every game.  He is a gamer. All of these guys could score but none was the kind of consistent weapon the team needed as a go to guy. And they seriously needed a point guard. 

The best option at point guard is Junior Howard Wallen.  He came on like gangbusters when he first enrolled here after an All-American prep career but has slowly regressed especially defensively.  He was still playing midway through the year when he went down with an injury and when he came back was pushed to the end of the bench.  Still, he is by far the best passer on the team and the Eagles were better when he was on the court.  Another junior, Eugene Lyons, is a true wing that like Jackson should be playing.  He is athletic enough to guard those high flying threes that can run but Laughlin is not benching his two seniors.  And as short as Swartz and Hamilton were on the post last year this team still finished 6th in the country in rebounding.  That is how good of an instructor Laughlin is and how tough these cats are in Morehead. 

The Morehead State Eagles were not the best team in the State of Kentucky. At least on the basketball court!  They did have the best starting five in the OVC, too bad it was a pitching staff.  But in small town Kentucky to get good athletes sometimes you have to promise them the moon. They are not a big time program and basically broke even in the Mid-Major conference of the Ohio Valley.  They did, however, show that they are able to bring in some talent from out of state.  The Eagles are an old school team in a tough as nails league that showed they can compete and may be on the verge of really mixing up the pot.  But somewhere, somehow the Eagles have got to find a point guard.