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BASKETBALL NCAA Tournament: #25 Middle Tennessee (12) vs Minnesota(5) (TNT), 3PM, Thursday, 3/16/2017

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GAME INFORMATION
Game Notes: Middle Tennessee, Minnesota
Hashtag: #TrueFamily, #BlueRaiders
Twitter: MT_MBB
Instagram: @MT_MBB
Facebook: Blue Raider Athletics

Date: Thursday, March 16, 2017
Time: 3PM
Teams: Middle Tennessee (30-4, 17-1) vs. Minnesota ( , )
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Arena: BMO Harris Bradley Center (19,000)
Television: TV: TNT - Carter Blackburn (Play-by-Play); Mike Gminski (Analyst); Debbie Antonelli (Analyst); Lisa Byington (Sideline)
Radio: WGNS (1450/100.5/101.9), WPRT (97.5/102.5), WMOT (89.5)
Play-by-Play: Chip Walters
Analysis: Kyle Turnham


NCAA RPI: MT #35 / Minnesota #20

warren nolan live rpi: MT #35 / Minnesota #20

Live-RPI.com: MT #35 / Minnesota #20

Sagarin: MT #60 / Minnesota #33

Pomeroy: MT #48 / Minnesota #33

KPI: MT #33 / Minnesota #16

ESPN BPI: MT #45 / Minnesota #38


 
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I am disappointed you guys are in the same region as Butler/Winthrop and my Kentucky team. I would like to see all 3 of you guys make the sweet 16 and only 1 can assuming you beat Minnesota. I guess I won't worry about you guys playing Kentucky until both of us make it to the Elite 8. Just knock off Minnesota, Butler and UNC and if we can knock off Wichita St and UCLA we meet...................
 
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Minnesota fan here. Should be a good matchup. We just lost a key rotation player in the Big Ten tournament though, so we are basically going to be running a 6-man rotation with 1-2 other guys sprinkled in. I'll give you a quick rundown of the 6 guys.

Starters

PG- Nate Mason (6'2) 15.5ppg & 5apg- He is the engine that makes us go. Not the most efficient shooter, but can knock down 3's at a solid 37% clip. Takes good care of the ball and averages less than 2 to's a game in 35mpg. Made 1st team Alll-Big Ten this year.

SG- Dupree McBrayer (6'5) 10.9ppg & 2.7apg- Most improved player on the team by far. Couldn't hit the broadside of a barn last year. This year he is shooting 41.7% from three. Not a high volume three point shooter though. He also acts as the backup PG, but I expect Nate Mason to play most if the game Thursday.

SF- Amir Coffey (6'8) 12.1ppg, 3.1apg & 4rpg.- Best Freshman we have had in over a decade. Was rated a top 50 player in the 2016 class. He can be a matchup problem for opposing teams due to his length and ball-handling ability for his size. Good at driving and getting to the line.

PF- Jordan Murphy (6'6) 11.2ppg & 8.8rpg- Had a slow start to the season, but he has been a beast over the last 10 games averaging 15.2ppg & 12.2rpg. Undersized at 6'6 but he is built and is a very quick leaper. Not much shooting to speak of, but his job is to clean up inside and score off of dropoffs and putbacks.

C- Reggie Lynch (6'10) 8.4ppg, 6.2ppg & 3.5bpg- Illinois St. transfer is one of the best shot-blockers in the nation. Solid rebounder and has kind of an unorthodox but somewhat effective post game. Was Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and probably will be a national finalist for the award as well.

Bench
PF/C- Eric Curry (6'9) 5.4ppg and 5.3rpg- Very solid player for a Freshman. Very good lateral quickness for a guy his size. If he gets switched on a guard, he can stay in front of them most of the time. Good touch at the free-throw line for a big.

C- Bakary Konate (6'11)- Don't think he plays in this game. He is reserved for the bigger centers Curry can't guard which it seems that you guys don't have one.

SF- Michael Hurt (6'6)- Hasn't played a whole lot this season, but may spell Coffey for a couple of minutes. Plays sold D when out there, but hasn't provided much on offense.

SF- Ahmad Gilbert (6'7) May play a few minutes with Akeem Springs injury.

That's about it. Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer and Amir Coffey are going to be playing pretty much the whole game. We have no quality wing depth after losing Akeem.

We are a defensive orientated team that guards the paint and 3-point line well. We are 11th in the country in EFG% defense, 11th in 3p% defense, 23rd in 2p% defense, and 18th in adjusted defensive efficiency. We also lead the nation in blocks.

Offensively we are just ok. We want to get out and run and also try to get to the line. Not an efficient shooting team night in and out. We run the weave and alot of pick n roll. Ok that's it, I'm going to bed. Good luck on Thursday.

Edit: I forgot to add that we only won 8 games last year. Most fans expected a jump because of the talent we added, but not to make the tournament. Pitino went from possibly getting fired to possibly getting an extension. It's been a wild ride for us Gophers fans this year.
 
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Reading Minnesota's message board is pretty funny. They say that our win vs Michigan State was last year and doesn't matter but yet they are pointing out the fact that we lost to Syracuse by 20+ last year...even though Cuse was the hottest team in the tourney. Apprently they will beat us based on that Cuse loss.
 
I'm hoping that minny is full of themselves and MT stomps them as if they were vandy this past December
 
MTLynn said:
I'm hoping that minny is full of themselves and MT stomps them as if they were vandy this past December
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This is a very humble Minnesota team they won't take anyone lightly. Your win against MSU last year will certainly make sure of that. MTSU is also the trendy popular upset pick with the pundits, I'm sure the Gophers have taken notice of that as well.
 
MTBig Blue said:
Reading Minnesota's message board is pretty funny. They say that our win vs Michigan State was last year and doesn't matter but yet they are pointing out the fact that we lost to Syracuse by 20+ last year...even though Cuse was the hottest team in the tourney. Apprently they will beat us based on that Cuse loss.
Click to expand...

We were doing well until Raymond fouled out. We were nowhere near as deep then as we are now.

I hope we do well. I'm worried about all the hype about us going into this game, but I guess we went into this season with a lot of hype, too.
 
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MidTnBlues said:
We were doing well until Raymond fouled out. We were nowhere near as deep then as we are now.

I hope we do well. I'm worried about all the hype about us going into this game, but I guess we went into this season with a lot of hype, too.
Click to expand...


This team has had a target on their back all season, and has responded as well as any Blue Raider team I can recall all season.
 
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For pretty much the entirety of this season, MT has been the hunted instead of the hunter. Credit to the team and Kermit for grinding out a lot of those games vs hungry teams that did not necessarily get the team all fired up to play. You know, sometimes it's difficult to get up vs an opponent who is well below .500.

As much as I appreciate MT finally getting much respect and attention from the national media, I imagine it's not helping any in flying under the radar vs Minn. Matter of fact, it will likely further motivate Minn.

I hope MT comes out with the hunter mentality in this game. While MT may be getting much respect and media attention, MT is still way under-seeded at 12. I hope the team uses that for motivation and plays with a chip on their shoulder.

Speaking of seeds and expectations. The new rankings came out yesterday. MT stayed the same as last week, one place outside of 25 in the AP and #25 in the USA Today Coaches poll. In both polls, Minn is just behind the Blue Raiders. In the AP, I think Minn was right behind MT as in MT #26 & Minn #27. This type of seeding is still a slap in the face of MT!

Despite the poor seed from the committee, I would rather be in the 12 seed rather than be in Vandy's place of an 8 or 9 seed.
 
It's almost easy to forget since it was a few years ago now, but Minn edged out MT in the 3rd Rd of the NIT at The Murph. There seems to be a little history being built between these two programs, and in the fall the football team heads north to play Minn as well.
 
dukewayne said:
It's almost easy to forget since it was a few years ago now, but Minn edged out MT in the 3rd Rd of the NIT at The Murph. There seems to be a little history being built between these two programs, and in the fall the football team heads north to play Minn as well.
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That 72-78 Minnesota loss is the only MT loss where I felt genuine satisfaction in a losing effort. Despite us not going to Madison Square Garden in the NIT final four, it was a sense of a true accomplishment that we made it deep to an NIT. That Minnesota game was an excellent game. Blue Raiders just truly came up a bit short. Contrast that with MT's 57-58 defeat to Denver in opening round of Sun Belt Tournament when we hosted back in 2006...that Denver game still has raw emotions and frankly still upsetting to think about.
 
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Really amped for this game. Not real worried about the hype and minny being extra motivated. This is the big stage, every team is motivated. Pitino has plenty of locker room material to use but ultimately doesnt matter much after tipoff. I'll trust Kermit's in-game adjustments over less experienced Pitino.
 
Basically 7 man rotation for minny with 3 juniors but Konate is just a depth big. Lynch always a candidate for foul trouble. Their starters are very good and will be tough but I feel good about MTSU's depth, experience and coaching against this team. Giddy up Raiders.....
 
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I lost IQ points reading their message board. Yes, we are a 12 seed in a worse conference than the BIG10 but we won our conference and got 30 wins. You can't say we're a crappy team no matter how you slice it. They barely beat a Vandy team that we absolutely destroyed 5 days later. If we get hot, we can play with anyone. Sorry, this "they can't play because they aren't in our conference" crap is stupid. Villanova won it all last year and look at teams like Gonzaga, St Mary's, VCU, etc. We have a good team and this game will be a war. The line is even for a reason.

Is Minny a good team? Of course. Petino knows our D. It will be hard. He knows we are running a 1-3-1 and switch to 2-3. He's game planning for that because he's a good coach.

Minny allows points and that will help us too. We cause turnovers and we hog clock. It's gonna be a war. We are capable of winning and so are they. Minny is not MSU last year. They aren't. It's not a diss. They lost a key starter and aren't as deep as we are. They aren't. It's not a diss. It will come down to how we shoot and the type of shots we take. Williams will be a factor in this game. This is his type of game and I even see Reggie going off if they DT Williams. If all 3 are scoring, our chances go up exponentially. It's a coin toss. It also comes down to how we start.
 
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blueraiderJT said:
I lost IQ points reading their message board. Yes, we are a 12 seed in a worse conference than the BIG10 but we won our conference and got 30 wins. You can't say we're a crappy team no matter how you slice it. They barely beat a Vandy team that we absolutely destroyed 5 days later. If we get hot, we can play with anyone. Sorry, this "they can't play because they aren't in our conference" crap is stupid. Villanova won it all last year and look at teams like Gonzaga, St Mary's, VCU, etc. We have a good team and this game will be a war. The line is even for a reason.

Is Minny a good team? Of course. Petino knows our D. It will be hard. He knows we are running a 1-3-1 and switch to 2-3. He's game planning for that because he's a good coach.

Minny allows points and that will help us too. We cause turnovers and we hog clock. It's gonna be a war. We are capable of winning and so are they. Minny is not MSU last year. They aren't. It's not a diss. They lost a key starter and aren't as deep as we are. They aren't. It's not a diss. It will come down to how we shoot and the type of shots we take. Williams will be a factor in this game. This is his type of game and I even see Reggie going off if they DT Williams. If all 3 are scoring, our chances go up exponentially. It's a coin toss. It also comes down to how we start.
Click to expand...

Like all fan bases, we do have some village idiots! :D

I think some fans are just a little peeved that MTSU is getting most of the hype for this matchup.
 
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I'm worried about the hype we're getting. So much for being overlooked as a 12-seed. Minnesota fans may not respect us but I bet their players are going to be motivated by the lack of respect the "experts" are showing them. I think we're more than capable of winning but I think it's an even matchup will can come down to late game shot/turnover/mistake that will decide it for whoever wins.
 
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MT Glenn said:
I'm worried about the hype we're getting. So much for being overlooked as a 12-seed. Minnesota fans may not respect us but I bet their players are going to be motivated by the lack of respect the "experts" are showing them. I think we're more than capable of winning but I think it's an even matchup will can come down to late game shot/turnover/mistake that will decide it for whoever wins.
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Agree. That is the one thing that is scary. Seems like MT is the most trendy "sleeper" Minnesota won't take MT lightly IMO.
 
If this was the football team I would be scared. They have sh** their pants so many times on the national stage that I have lost count. Kermit has this team ready. We may win, we may lose, but it will be a good game.
 
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MT Glenn said:
I'm worried about the hype we're getting. So much for being overlooked as a 12-seed. Minnesota fans may not respect us but I bet their players are going to be motivated by the lack of respect the "experts" are showing them. I think we're more than capable of winning but I think it's an even matchup will can come down to late game shot/turnover/mistake that will decide it for whoever wins.
Click to expand...
Another reason I think Minnesota will be ready from the jump, was the preformance against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament Semi-final. That was some of the most lethargic defense I have seen them play all year, in the first 10 minutes of the game. We basically spotted them 16 points. We did end up coming back and tying the game in the second half, but had to expend alot of energy in doing so. I don't see us coming out flat defensively, two games in a row.

I am preparing myself for a close, blood pressure raising game. :)
 
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