Lots of work left to do on 2023-24 schedule
MBB: The Racers only have two confirmed opponents for next year
It’s important to remember it’s May 1st, and we’re still six months away from Murray State’s men rolling out the ball to start the 2023-24 season. Schedule news at this time of the year is usually pretty sparse, and from that standpoint the Racers are right on track.
Last season, Murray State wrapped up their non-conference home-and-home contracts with Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga, and Bellarmine. At this moment, the Racers have two games on the books for this upcoming season. They’ll return the game to Austin Peay in Clarksville, and then host Western Kentucky as the two old rivals renew their series which has been dormant since 2014. Specific dates for those two games have not been decided.
“We’re looking for games, if anybody wants to play,” Murray State Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Prohm said. “Outside of that, we’ve got nothing.”
The non-conference schedule for a mid-major program is always a complicated puzzle. With the Missouri Valley Conference needing to add conference games into December, that makes the process even more challenging, as schools need to know where those early Valley games will be placed so they can schedule around them. Last year, Murray State didn’t release their completed non-conference schedule until September 9th. Get comfortable — this will take a while.
One part of the Racers’ schedule that is often one of the most fun for fans is the annual Multi-Team Event, or MTE. Last year, Murray State went to the Myrtle Beach Invitational and was able to beat both Texas A&M and Tulsa. These events are also important for the program, since it’s oftentimes the only opportunity they get to face higher-level opponents on a neutral floor. Prohm is hopeful they can get into another good MTE this year.
“I wish we could consistently get into the ESPN tournaments,” Prohm said. “We’ve got a great fan base that travels. We traveled well to Myrtle Beach. The frustrating thing with that is we’ve only gotten into it in the years after we’ve won 31 games. We went to Anaheim (in 2010) when I was an assistant and we beat Stanford. We won 31 games, we went to Charleston (in 2012) and we beat Auburn and St. John’s. Matt did a phenomenal job, they win 31 games, and I get a call, ‘Hey, would you want to come to Myrtle Beach?’ We go there and we beat Texas A&M. We’ve done our job in those tournaments when we’ve been in there. It is frustrating that we’ve only been invited after those seasons. This program deserves to be in those tournaments consistently. Our fan base travels. But we do need help, you know what I mean, whether that’s from administration (or the) league to be able to get us in there more often. We’d love to be in those. They are hard to get into. I mean I call ESPN, I’m probably a nuisance, but I know it’s good for our program, and I know it’s good for these players. I know our fans enjoy it. I’ll say this: We’ll try to get into the best MTE that we’re able to.”
Every four years, college basketball programs have the opportunity to take an international trip. Along with visiting another country, it also gives the teams a chance to play some games and get extra summer practices. After going to the Bahamas in August of 2019, Murray State is eligible to go somewhere this summer, but Prohm says they’ll delay the trip to 2024.
“It’s a short summer,” Prohm said. “We’ll do a retreat in June as a team and get away for a couple days. There’s a short window when school ends to where I want the guys to get home. We’ll move that (international trip) to next year. I think it just fits everybody’s needs in a lot of ways just for us to go next year.”