Never in his wildest dreams did Steve Prohm expect to be in his current situation.

The first-year head coach at Murray State has led the Racers to a 21-0 mark and the title of the only remaining undefeated team in NCAA Division-I basketball this season.

‘You never dream about being undefeated, or being 21-0, or heading into February and you haven’t lost a game,’ Prohm said Tuesday on the Ohio Valley Conference coaches’ teleconference. ‘But I thought — with five returning players off back-to-back championship teams and guys who have played in postseason games, who have played in the NCAA Tournament — that if guys can accept roles and buy into playing together, then we can be pretty good.

‘And how good? You never know. But we’ve been very blessed and very fortunate to be able to continue to do this.’

With contributors at every position, Prohm has a variety of scoring options on his Murray State roster. Starting backcourt mates Isaiah Canaan and Donte Poole pace the team with a combined 33.4 points per game. Forward Ivan Aska, who recently returned from a broken right hand, is third on the team in scoring with 12.3 points per game. That balanced scoring has helped the No. 10 Racers win their first 21 games of the year — including signature wins against then-No. 21 Memphis and 19-3 Missouri State, which received five votes in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

With eight games left in the regular season and the conference tournament to play, Murray State is looking to become the first team to enter the NCAA Tournament with a perfect record since Nevada-Las Vegas accomplished the feat 21 years ago.

But the Racers aren’t talking about that, Prohm said. They’re neither looking ahead at future opponents nor behind at the 21 wins they reeled off to open the season.

The Racers are taking the season one game at a time.

Murray State faces arguably its most formidable foe on its remaining schedule in Southeast Missouri (12-9, 7-2 OVC) on Thursday.

‘Our guys’ focus is solely on SEMO right now,’ Prohm said. ‘They’re a very good basketball team. We’re 21-0, but we’re just 9-0 in the league, and they’re right there at 7-2. So our guys understand that. We’ve got a lot of respect for SEMO.’

The Redhawks boast what Prohm called ‘the elite frontcourt’ of the OVC in forwards Leon Powell and Tyler Stone. Paired with two poised guards in junior Marland Smith and senior Marcus Brister, SEMO has the mid-major star power to knock off the Racers.

Redhawks head coach Dickey Nutt believes his team is capable of beating the Racers on Thursday, especially after gaining confidence with back-to-back conference victories and four wins in their last five games.

And if they don’t, they’ll have another chance two weeks down the road.

Nutt recognizes how steep a challenge MSU presents. The Racers have three talented and well-rounded players in Canaan, Poole and Aska, but Nutt said their frontcourt is more potent offensively than most assume.

‘I think they’re very, very good on the front line, and so they’re a very, very balanced team in the way they play,’ Nutt said. ‘… I think the single most important thing we have to do is not try to get into a run-and-gun game with them. I think you’re asking for it, you’re in big trouble, if you take quick shots.’

After the SEMO game Thursday, Murray State closes out its season with seven more conference matchups, including another battle with the Redhawks, and the OVC tournament. If the Racers do enter postseason play unscathed, they’ll earn the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament and join elite company in college basketball history.

The last team to enter its respective conference tournament undefeated — the 2003-04 St. Joseph’s team — had current pros Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, and they lost in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic-10 tournament. Jerry Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels team over two decades ago had Larry Johnson, the No. 1 selection in the 1991 NBA Draft, as well as four other future NBA players, and eventually fell to Duke in the Final Four.

Whether Murray State can shock the world by winning out in the NCAA Tournament remains to be seen. It’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since Bob Knight’s Indiana squad went 36-0 in 1976.

But Lennox Forrester is not willing to rule out the possibility of a perfect season for the Racers just yet.

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville head coach has seen what the Racers are capable of firsthand. Forrester watched his team suffer an 82-65 defeat at the hands of Murray State on Jan. 21.

‘Well, I mean, until someone beats them, how can you take that away from them?’ Forrester said. ‘… I mean, I can see them doing really, really well in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously, a lot of it has to do with matchups and things like that, but I can tell you this: They’re a good team that can do some damage in the tournament.’

sebail01@syr.edu

Published on February 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Stephen: sebail01@syr.edu | @Stephen_Bailey1