WOODY: UR, Morehead: Where players are developed and teams are built

When the young man finished speaking, it was a wonder his voice wasn't choked with emotion and members of the audience weren't fighting back tears.

"I'm very happy with my decision," he said. "I wouldn't have said that if I went to school where the guys weren't my type of guys. But fortunately for me, I've got players like the four you see here right now.

"They care about me. These guys are my brothers. I really enjoy playing with them. That's the basketball part. You don't see what goes on behind the scenes. These guys would do anything in the world for me, and I'd do anything in the world for them."

Any player on the University of Richmond basketball squad could have delivered that soliloquy.

Instead, the words came from Ty Proffitt, a junior guard for Morehead State University. And when Proffitt finished speaking, Kenneth Faried, the Eagles' 6-foot-8, 220-pound center, put his arm around Proffitt's shoulders.

Morehead State plays Richmond today in Denver in the third round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. That's a No. 13 (MSU) seed facing a No. 12 seed (UR).

The game will feature two programs where there is no such thing as a one-and-done player, no one who thinks he is doing everyone a favor by stopping in for a season on his way to the NBA.

Morehead's starting five includes two seniors and two juniors. Richmond starts four seniors.

"When guys are leaving high-major programs after one or two years, sometimes they never get to have a seasoned team," Morehead State coach Donnie Tyndall said.

Morehead recruited Faried, a senior who might be a first-round NBA draft choice, when he was 6-7, 182 and hardly on anyone's radar.

Richmond recruited Justin Harper, who might be a first-round NBA draft choice, out of Chesterfield County's Meadowbrook High School, when many other programs thought the slender teenager too soft for major college basketball.

The Spiders signed Kevin Anderson, their superb senior point guard, in the spring of Anderson's senior year in high school.

Players who sign in the spring usually are afterthoughts, given scholarships because a more sought-after recruit fell through. Anderson, who is just 6-feet tall, really wasn't even on anyone's backup list.

"I don't know if his size is what scared people away," said UR coach Chris Mooney. "I guess so. But his intelligence on the floor and ability to make shots is so incredibly impressive. We knew right away we had someone very special.

"It's very rare to get a 2,000-point scorer in the late signing period."

Richmond and Morehead State are here in the Southwest Region. And this site has second-round winners — Gonzaga University and Brigham Young University also play here tonight — who represent what college basketball should be.

All have players who stay in school four and sometimes five years. On the court, they identify and accept their roles, play for each other more than for themselves and grow as a team, teammates and friends.

They listen, which sometimes means endure, to constructive criticism from coaches that is not always gently delivered.

Sam Goodman, a senior guard who averages 27 minutes for Morehead State, described Tyndall as "hard-nosed."

That means if a player isn't doing what Tyndall wants or is playing below his ability, the coach will be on his back.

Harper said Mooney, "Has a plan in his head about how good a player can be. He's going to stop at nothing to make sure he gets you to work as hard as you can to reach the potential he sees in you."

Mooney and his staff have proved to be excellent at identifying promising prospects, then finding ways to motivate players to reach their full potential.

"We do probably have some guys who were somewhat underrecruited," Mooney said. "We don't worry about any lists or how anybody is ranking them or evaluating them.

"We just look for certain qualities we like, qualities we think could make them good college players."

The record indicates the Spiders, with a program where players are developed and teams are built, know what they are doing.

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