The college basketball offseason is here, and we decided to have some fun over the next few months, ranking ALL 364 teams in D1. Number 155 is Middle Tennessee basketball.
Before you say we’re crazy – or that all of this is up for debate, let’s go over the very intricate process of how we came to this conclusion. We took a very statistical approach – with the help of Chat GPT – taking into consideration everything from March Madness wins and finishes, to AP Poll appearances, to conference players of the year. And then, a good friend of ours, Scott Blanchard, took our approach to the MAX.
Click here to visit the FIRST article, which explains how the formula works!
Here’s the breakdown of Middle Tennessee basketball!
NCAA Tournament Success
- Championships: 0
- Finals appearances: 0
- Final Fours: 0
- Elite Eights: 0
- Sweet 16s: 0
- NCAA wins: 4
- Bids: 9
Consistency Over Time
- Wins per season: 15.4
- Bids per season: 0.12
- AP Polls: 2
Player Quality & Talent
- All-Americans: 0
- NBA players drafted & played: 1
- Conference Players of the Year: 8
Conference & Other Success
- Conference regular season titles: 12
- Conference tournament titles: 7
- NIT titles: 0
- Other tournament titles: 0
Overall scoop on Middle Tennessee basketball
I apologize to our graphic designer, a Michigan State fan, for having to make the social media post to highlight this program. And that’s where I must start the article, too, because MTSU’s upset of 2-seed Michigan State in 2016 was one of the greatest March Madness upsets of all time. Brackets got busted. Denzel Valentine’s career was ended in an instant. And the legend of Giddy Potts came to life. Sure, they’d fall to Syracuse (YAY!) in the round of 32, but for 24 hours, all you could talk about was that MTSU Cinderella story.
Of course, they turned out not to be a one-hit-wonder, because Kermit Davis had a 332-188 record with the Blue Raiders, also going to the big dance in 2013 and 2017. And in 2017, they followed up that Spartans win with an upset of 5-seed Minnesota. Maybe it was a little bit more expected, but clearly the Gophers weren’t ready. During the Davis era, MTSU also won three Sun Belt and three Conference USA regular season crowns. MTSU had quite the run under Kermit.
But this wasn’t the only great era of MTSU hoops. Bruce Stewart coached them from 1984-91, going 141-75 and leading them to a trio of NCAA Tournaments himself. In 1989, they knocked off 4-seed Florida State.
Middle Tennessee basketball also made it to the tourney twice under Jimmy Earle in 1975 and 1977 and once under Stan Simpson in 1982. Simpson’s squad knocked off 6-seed Kentucky in the first round. So yes, four of their nine trips to March Madness, MTSU has won one game as the lower seed.
MTSU really has been a giant killer when it comes to March Madness, and they had an outstanding run under Davis, even getting ranked at one point in the 2017-18 season. Nick McDevitt hasn’t done a bad job either, with a pair of 20-win seasons, but a 122-133 record overall. The program isn’t quite what it used to be, but that would be one heck of a coaching job to equal Kermit’s success.