Friday, February 22, 2013
Middle Tennessee poised for March?
By Nic Reiner
Middle Tennessee continued it's torrid run through Sun Belt play last night with an 85-50 thrashing of second-place South Alabama at home. The Blue Raiders now stand at 17-1 in conference play and have reeled off 13 straight victories. The Blue Raiders clinched their second straight regular season Sun Belt title but hope to better capitalize on that feat this year. Last season's fantastic 14-2 regular season ended with a disappointing flameout in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt tournament and an NIT berth.
This year, Kermit Davis' team is projected by our Joe Lunardi in his latest iteration of Bracketology as a 12 seed, slotted to play Butler. If the season ended today, the Blue Raiders would be a slight favorite over the Bulldogs in Vegas. Comparing Middle Tennessee to other teams it might face on the 5 or 6 seed lines, like Colorado St., Ohio St., Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, to name a few, the Blue Raiders could be a trendy (and smart) pick to win a game or two in March. Middle Tennessee hasn't been to the Big Dance since 1989 so the pressure is even higher in Murfreesboro to translate this year's dominant regular season into a fruitful March.
