MTSU Blue Raiders Shock Tourney

MTSU

Courtesy of RutherfordSource.com

Who out there had predicted this? Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis said at least one group had; the Blue Raiders had heard from a little girl back home who said her class had picked them.

“I’m sure they took it home to their mom and dad, and they laughed,” Davis said. “So we got one second grader in the e-mail that had Middle Tennessee in the second round.’’ —ncaa.com

Before yesterday only seven #15 seeded teams had beaten a #2. Now there’s eight. In a seeding that many questioned,#15 MTSU went to St. Louis and turned the city, arena, the tournament, and everyone’s brackets into a zoo…a Blue Zoo!

It was one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. Brackets could be heard breaking all over the world. 98% in Yahoo had MSU winning. 64% had MSU in their Final Four. Give credit to MTSU , this wasn’t just a victory, it was a statement. Never were the Blue Raiders not in control of the game. They completely shut down Sparty’s key player Denzel Valentin.#MTSU , @_BlueZoo, @MT_MBB were trending all over the country. MTSU was the #1 trending both in Murfreesboro and in St. Louis. It was a special day, and possibly a precursor for things to come.

The starting five were they key to the whole game. It was a team effort and a great coaching job by Coach Davis. All five starters logged lots of minutes and all five scored double digits. They outscored MSU in the paint 38-36. They held their star player Denzel Valentin to 13 points. A much deeper MSU bench could only put 13 points on the board. MTSU matched Sparty in second chance points, fast break points, and points off turnovers. MTSU never gave up the lead, their largest lead was at the 5:39 mark and was 13 points. They out hustled MSU on the boards 28-20. The biggest difference was that MTSU hit 11-19 3 pointers for an amazing 58%; MSU hit less than 50% 11-24.
MTSU plays Syracuse Sunday night, at 5:10pm.
Get more on MTSU’s historic win at RutherfordSource.com.

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