BASKETBALL On the Brink of a Breakout
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
excerpt:
...The foundation has been there. The breakthrough came Friday. The opportunity for a program-altering moment comes Sunday.....
...The foundation has been there. The breakthrough came Friday. The opportunity for a program-altering moment comes Sunday.....
this part of the article caught my eye:
Kind of like George Mason 10 years ago, which turned an out-of-nowhere Final Four run into three weeks of frenzy and exposure. Robert Baker, director of GMU’s sports management department, did a study on that exposure and concluded that it would cost $650 million to buy it.
Applications, ticket sales, merchandise sales, fans — they all grow when something like this happens. And something like this happens somewhere every March.
The difference between this basketball program and some of the others that have gone full Cinderella is that this one doesn’t have to be a one-hit wonder.
Why can’t it be another Butler, another San Diego State? Those are two schools, like MTSU, that compete with higher-profile sports entities in their area, yet have located consistency and fan support.
The academic performance is beyond impressive, especially in the transient world of mid-major basketball. This team has seven transfers. This program has graduated 40 straight players who finished their eligibility, and the latest graduation rates for the MTSU men’s and women’s teams are 100 percent.
Davis has a points system in place to foster accountability. Miss a class and it’s a half point on the board, for all to see. Get to two points and it’s 6:30 a.m. running. Get to four and the whole team runs.
“You don’t want to be that guy,” Upshaw said.
Doesn’t sound like it. Davis doesn’t “play,” senior guard Jaqawn Raymond said, when it comes to academics. And there are coaches who do. I’ll take a wild stab and say Boeheim hasn’t been running the same system.
So we’re talking about a college basketball team that shares the ball, shoots the 3, wins and cares about the college part. By early evening Sunday, we could be talking about a university presented to the nation like never before in its history.
Kind of like George Mason 10 years ago, which turned an out-of-nowhere Final Four run into three weeks of frenzy and exposure. Robert Baker, director of GMU’s sports management department, did a study on that exposure and concluded that it would cost $650 million to buy it.
Applications, ticket sales, merchandise sales, fans — they all grow when something like this happens. And something like this happens somewhere every March.
The difference between this basketball program and some of the others that have gone full Cinderella is that this one doesn’t have to be a one-hit wonder.
Why can’t it be another Butler, another San Diego State? Those are two schools, like MTSU, that compete with higher-profile sports entities in their area, yet have located consistency and fan support.
The academic performance is beyond impressive, especially in the transient world of mid-major basketball. This team has seven transfers. This program has graduated 40 straight players who finished their eligibility, and the latest graduation rates for the MTSU men’s and women’s teams are 100 percent.
Davis has a points system in place to foster accountability. Miss a class and it’s a half point on the board, for all to see. Get to two points and it’s 6:30 a.m. running. Get to four and the whole team runs.
“You don’t want to be that guy,” Upshaw said.
Doesn’t sound like it. Davis doesn’t “play,” senior guard Jaqawn Raymond said, when it comes to academics. And there are coaches who do. I’ll take a wild stab and say Boeheim hasn’t been running the same system.
So we’re talking about a college basketball team that shares the ball, shoots the 3, wins and cares about the college part. By early evening Sunday, we could be talking about a university presented to the nation like never before in its history.
The guy who wrote the piece is moving to Nashville. Good way to introduce him to MT
Ok, I'm going to be that guy to bring this up in all the coverage. A dream Sports Illustrated article that includes this:
"Middle Tennessee snuck up on Michigan State and the rest of America as a collection of directional-school unknowns with a clunky moniker (the full run-on: Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders)..."
Just as clearly known for years and now being exposed on a national stage. Any chance something can be done with the ridiculously long name for the university?
"Middle Tennessee snuck up on Michigan State and the rest of America as a collection of directional-school unknowns with a clunky moniker (the full run-on: Middle Tennessee State University Blue Raiders)..."
Just as clearly known for years and now being exposed on a national stage. Any chance something can be done with the ridiculously long name for the university?
