2008 Woodie Awards
Don't be surprised if MT surprises
Chris Martin
Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Sports
For spectators, college basketball's blessing has also turned out to be its curse-the NCAA tournament.
Many fans don't watch a basketball game until early March, when the conference tournaments begin, and some don't tune in until the big dance starts. As with the NBA, the end-of-the-season tournaments make the regular season almost pointless.
However, for Middle Tennessee, the insignificance of the regular season is surely a blessing.
The Blue Raiders had a rough start to the season. In November and December, they got off to a 4-8 start that included a loss to San Jose State (12-14) and a 109-40 embarrassment at No. 2 (soon to be No. 1) Tennessee. To make matters worse, three of the four wins came against Florida International (9-17), Lipscomb (13-15) and NAIA opponent Tennessee Wesleyan (who isn't even a good NAIA team as its 10-18 record would indicate).
Looks can be deceiving, though. According to kenpom.com, MT played the 46th most difficult nonconference schedule in the nation. To compare, Texas played the 47th hardest out-of-conference slate with opponents such as: Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin and St. Mary's.
It's not surprising MT's nonconference docket is ranked so high, just look at the teams the Blue Raiders played-Tennessee (25-2), Memphis (26-1), Houston (20-6) and Belmont (20-8). In fact, of MT's 10 non-Sun Belt Conference opponents, seven have winning records.
To make matters worse for the Blue Raiders, junior guard Calvin O'Neil, a starter, was lost for the season due to injury after playing only one game.
Since trudging through an arduous stretch of early season contests, MT is 9-6. That shows this young team-there are no seniors on the roster-is just now beginning to peak and its best basketball has yet to be played.
Consider this: of the 13 teams in the SBC, MT has the third-best conference record, trailing only South Alabama and Western Kentucky-both of which could receive at-large bids to the NCAA tournament if neither wins the SBC tournament. The Blue Raiders boast a 10-7 conference record despite being 13-14 overall. Taking into account the fact they played all of their nonconference schedule at the beginning of the season (their last non-SBC game was a 78-75 loss to Austin Peay on Dec. 29), that surely would indicate improvement.
Despite having the third best conference record, MT is tied for only the sixth best overall record in the SBC. That would further suggest that this team is going to be underrated come tourney time.
Given the fact MT has beaten South Alabama and nearly knocked off WKU, the Blue Raiders are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the SBC tournament. One big caveat for the Blue Raiders is the location of the SBC tournament-Mobile, Ala. South Alabama has lost on its home court just once this season. However, while the path to the SBC title won't be easy, it is definitely a goal that can be achieved.
That's one of the beauties of college basketball. A team with the third-best conference record and sixth-best overall record can string together a four-game winning streak and be dancing in the tournament.
They don't call it March Madness for nothing.
Chris Martin is a junior journalism major and can be reached at slsports@mtsu.edu
Many fans don't watch a basketball game until early March, when the conference tournaments begin, and some don't tune in until the big dance starts. As with the NBA, the end-of-the-season tournaments make the regular season almost pointless.
However, for Middle Tennessee, the insignificance of the regular season is surely a blessing.
The Blue Raiders had a rough start to the season. In November and December, they got off to a 4-8 start that included a loss to San Jose State (12-14) and a 109-40 embarrassment at No. 2 (soon to be No. 1) Tennessee. To make matters worse, three of the four wins came against Florida International (9-17), Lipscomb (13-15) and NAIA opponent Tennessee Wesleyan (who isn't even a good NAIA team as its 10-18 record would indicate).
Looks can be deceiving, though. According to kenpom.com, MT played the 46th most difficult nonconference schedule in the nation. To compare, Texas played the 47th hardest out-of-conference slate with opponents such as: Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin and St. Mary's.
It's not surprising MT's nonconference docket is ranked so high, just look at the teams the Blue Raiders played-Tennessee (25-2), Memphis (26-1), Houston (20-6) and Belmont (20-8). In fact, of MT's 10 non-Sun Belt Conference opponents, seven have winning records.
To make matters worse for the Blue Raiders, junior guard Calvin O'Neil, a starter, was lost for the season due to injury after playing only one game.
Since trudging through an arduous stretch of early season contests, MT is 9-6. That shows this young team-there are no seniors on the roster-is just now beginning to peak and its best basketball has yet to be played.
Consider this: of the 13 teams in the SBC, MT has the third-best conference record, trailing only South Alabama and Western Kentucky-both of which could receive at-large bids to the NCAA tournament if neither wins the SBC tournament. The Blue Raiders boast a 10-7 conference record despite being 13-14 overall. Taking into account the fact they played all of their nonconference schedule at the beginning of the season (their last non-SBC game was a 78-75 loss to Austin Peay on Dec. 29), that surely would indicate improvement.
Despite having the third best conference record, MT is tied for only the sixth best overall record in the SBC. That would further suggest that this team is going to be underrated come tourney time.
Given the fact MT has beaten South Alabama and nearly knocked off WKU, the Blue Raiders are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the SBC tournament. One big caveat for the Blue Raiders is the location of the SBC tournament-Mobile, Ala. South Alabama has lost on its home court just once this season. However, while the path to the SBC title won't be easy, it is definitely a goal that can be achieved.
That's one of the beauties of college basketball. A team with the third-best conference record and sixth-best overall record can string together a four-game winning streak and be dancing in the tournament.
They don't call it March Madness for nothing.
Chris Martin is a junior journalism major and can be reached at slsports@mtsu.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
James
posted 2/25/08 @ 12:30 PM CST
Remind me, who is USAs one loss at home to? I'm pretty sure we're undefeated at home.
T
posted 2/27/08 @ 3:30 PM CST
Three Sun Belt Teams in the tournament would be a dream. it may be a while before see something like that. i'm pretty sure it's been 6 years since we've had two teams in it. (Continued…)
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