The Morehead State Eagles returned home Sunday to a crowd cheering on the Ohio Valley Conference champions. The title means an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament for the Eagles.

The fans outside Ellis T. Johnson Arena wanted to be the first faces the team saw when they climbed off the bus. The smile on Kenneth Faried's face said it all. With 24 points and 15 rebounds, the MSU senior posted his 27th double-double of the year in Saturday's victory over Tennessee Tech at the OVC finals in Nashville. It was a game longtime fans like Rhonda Whelan were not going to miss. "The whole way down to Nashville my husband kept looking at me going, 'What are you thinking about? What are you thinking about?' I just, I want this so bad for these kids," Whelan said, "They deserve it."

Even for those who couldn't see the game in person, watching the Eagles win their fourth Ohio Valley Conference crown in the school's history was something fans will never forget. "We were in the dorms, and we were down in the lobby," MSU freshman Nick Moore said, "We had it on, the game, and we were screaming and yelling and cheering and facebooking and tweeting. It was a fun time."

Moore says he and his fellow fans wanted the players to have a warm welcome home from Nashville. "For us to have such a talented team and Kenneth and all this attention we've been getting and press and everything, it's been really cool 'cause Morehead's kind of unseen on the map, and this year I think we've really earned our reputation, so it's been a good year."

"This is a very big deal for a town of this size and a university of this size," Whelan said, "We're very proud of them, and we know how hard they work, and I think they ought to be recognized for that."

MSU will learn who and where they'll play their first game of the tournament in one week during Selection Sunday.