But this is basketball country, and the all-encompassing intensity that surrounds University of Kentucky and Louisville hoops trickles down here. Prohm graduated from Alabama, and he recognizes the feeling from his time in football-obsessed Tuscaloosa.

“The passion they have there is very similar to what we have here,” he said.

Prohm, a lean and intense 37-year-old who looks as if he could be Mark Cuban’s younger brother, took over as the coach last spring when Billy Kennedy left for Texas A&M.

“Coach gave me an unbelievable endorsement,” Prohm said. “And I was ready to take over. I’ve been involved in every part of the program, from recruiting to academics to coaching on the floor. I think that’s enabled me to have a smooth transition.”

There are close to 18,000 people in Murray, according to the 2010 census, and it seems that almost all of them have an opinion on the Racers. (“There are a lot of coaches in this town,” Prohm said.) They pack the 8,700 seats in CFSB Center on game nights, giving the Racers a distinct home-court advantage.

Several generations of fans are represented at the weekly taping of the radio show, from children wearing Racers sweatshirts to 99-year-old J. D. Rayburn, a 1935 Murray State graduate. Rayburn, who is known as Stumpy, played football and basketball at the university back when the basketball team played on an auditorium stage. He needs a walker to move around these days, but he never misses a taping of “Hey Coach,” or a Racers game.

Despite the support from the locals, the setting can take some getting used to for players.

“You take Vegas, picture the exact opposite of it, and that’s Murray,” said the senior guard Donte Poole, who grew up in Las Vegas. “There’s no lights, no clubs, no places to go after dark. But that transition has made me focus and made me a better basketball player.”

Ed Daniel, a center from Birmingham, Ala., has become a cult hero of sorts on campus because of a hairdo that vacillates between an Afro and braids. T-shirts showing the outline of a horse’s head with an Afro and the words Mr. Ed are popular around town. Even he, however, says he sometimes yearns for a little more excitement.