Middle Tennessee had a 29-4 record, won the C-USA regular season championship, won the C-USA Tournament, was ranked #22 in the nation, and had an RPI of 17... but got an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament...
Thank you all. Great information. As always, I am smarter for time spent in your presence.
So I'm getting the picture. Even with graduations, MTSU has an excellent staff top-to-bottom, with Brewton and now the return of Tom Hodges to coach post players. I also noticed an incoming MTSU forward got MVP honors at the Tennessee-Georgia HS All-Star game. But the Tenn all stars had four 6'+ players to Georgia's one. MVP Rebecca Reuter scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 2 assists in a 60-31 blowout. http://timesfreepress.com/news/2014/...georgia-stars/
With their staff against ours, it looks like a natural rivalry. MTSU must battle nearby KY and UT for top recruits, just as LaTech must recruit against LSU and TA&M.
Hope the game date allows me to attend our game at MTSU. It's only an hour away (but 3 hours returning--time zone change). I did graduate work there back when it had 18,000 fewer students. MTSU is now the largest university in Tennessee. All the demographics are blowing MTSU a favoring wind, should KY or UT suffer a tumultuous drop.
Congrats on winning the Away Game Lottery, Brad!
Objectively speaking... Tennessee-Chattanooga would be a good candidate for the LaTech pre-conference rota. Excellent coach, and the team's play has historically been similar in style to MTSU. [insert biased, self-serving smilie icon]
I'm guessing our program's first major hurdle/goal is catching MTSU and winning the CUSA title. That's gonna be tough, as the Lady Raider's program is still ascending. MTSU just lost an excellent assistant (Mariska Harris) but quickly replaced her with a former Lady Vol who assisted at KY for the past five years.
http://www.goblueraiders.com/content.cfm/id/77478
It's a glowing article about Shalon Pillows, but ya gotta wonder why Mitchell at (declining) KY released her from his staff. As an assistant coach, Pillows was known for her work ethic, but she's been coaching in one position or another since 2003. Her specialties are post-players (already well-covered by MTSU's staff) and academics. Nevertheless, her recruiting contacts should be invaluable in MTSU's quest to get to the next level.
I guess the reality check is... we're chasing a moving target that has momentum and focus. It may take awhile.
Last year, it was a one point lead at half time and they ended up beating us 68-51. It was close until the last 10 minutes, like many of our losses. We certainly had the talent to beat them on the floor. They had the better plan and executed it well. I don't think they are that far above us right now, unless they are much better this year. If Tyler had been coaching, I suspect we would have won that one.
Jan. 24, 2015: RICE
Jan. 29, 2015: at Western Kentucky