Middle Tennessee, ridiculously misseeded, is the real deal this March
MILWAUKEE — Upsets are what make the NCAA tournament so much fun.
Even if they're not really upsets.
Everybody's new favorite party crasher was at it again Thursday, as Middle Tennessee sent a better-seeded Big Ten team packing for a second year in a row. Not to be outdone, 11th-seeded Xavier upended No. 6 Maryland a few hours later.
Don’t mistake these games for the chaos that sets brackets throughout the country aflame and keeps Warren Buffett's checkbook safely in his desk, however. These were more like artificially created drama, courtesy of the selection committee.
“Our record speaks for itself and kind of what we've done all year long,” Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis said after his team dispatched Minnesota 81-72. “I know our players don't think it was an upset by any means.”
Hey, after a day clouded in chalk dust, we'll take what we can get.
BOX SCORE: Blue Raiders 81, Gophers 72
REGION ANALYSIS: East | South | Midwest | West
HIGHLIGHTS: The best of Thursday's tournament action
BRACKET: Follow the field to Glendale
The first round of last year's tournament was wonderfully raucous, with a record 10 double-digit seeds winning. Hawaii, Little Rock, Northern Iowa, Stephen F. Austin — there was bedlam across the entire bracket, and no upset sent bigger shock waves than Middle Tennessee taking out second-seeded Michigan State, a trendy Final Four pick.
By comparison, this year's tournament is a snoozefest. Of the 16 games played Thursday, the lower seed won just two. Two!.
Sure, there were some thrilling finishes as Princeton, Bucknell and even South Dakota State tried to shake things up. But Xavier and the Blue Raiders were the only ones whose results didn't go according to seed, and you can argue that both are only because the selection committee goofed when they were seeding the field last weekend.
(Fine, I’ll cut the committee slack on Xavier. Hampered by injuries, they looked abysmal at the end of the season.)
Middle Tennessee returned Reggie Upshaw and Giddy Potts, the top two scorers from last year's tournament troublemakers, and the addition of JaCorey Williams made the Blue Raiders all the more dangerous.
They steamrolled their way through the regular season, with only Gonzaga and Villanova finishing with a better winning percentage. They protect the ball better than most teams and play bigger than they look. (They outrebounded Minnesota 37-24 on Thursday.)
Yet the selection committee saw fit to only make them a 12 seed. Better than their 15 seed last year, yes, but probably two spots below where they should have been.
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Minnesota, meanwhile, was gifted a five seed, a spot or two above where it should have been.
"A lot of people said we got lucky with what we did last year," said Upshaw, who likely gave Michigan State fans flashbacks after scoring seven of his 19 points to stop a late Minnesota rally cold.
"To back it up with the season we’ve had, now 31-4, tells the nation how mature this team is and just how dedicated and how determined we are.”
After leading by as much as 17, the Blue Raiders watched Minnesota whittle the lead down to six. Williams was struggling and Potts was in foul trouble.
“In the huddle, I was just telling everybody they’re making a run but we’ll make the right plays,” Upshaw said. “We’re used to taking everybody’s best shot. All year we’ve had a target on our backs and coming into this game it was the same way.”
Upshaw drilled a three and followed with a jumper. After Nate Mason’s three on the other end, Upshaw scored a gorgeous fadeaway jumper that will probably be shown a time or 10 the next few days. Williams was fouled by Mason after a timeout and converted both free throws, and the Gophers never threatened again.
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Potts finished with 15 and Williams 13.
“We have a lot of fun, but when you blow the whistle, that team is a focused group,” Davis said. “There was no doubt in their mind that they thought they were going to win the game.”
Which brings us back to those upsets.
Part of what makes the first weekend of the NCAA tournament the four best days of the year is the teams that play above their seed. Get a few good players, some experience and some swagger, and a team from a school most people couldn’t find on the map can hold their own — and then some.
It's how teams like Gonzaga and Butler became household names. After a few years of “upsets,” both were eventually granted entrée into the NCAA tournament elite.
It’s that kind of status that Middle Tennessee wants. (How’s this for irony: Middle Tennessee’s opponent Saturday? None other than Butler. Fourth-seeded Butler, I might add.)
"We were excited last year with what we did against Michigan State and I think we lost our way against Syracuse," Upshaw said, referring to Middle Tennessee's loss in the second round. "It’s a little different feeling. Everybody knows — we’re excited about the win we just had, but we know what it takes."
An upset. Even if it might only be on paper.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NCAA TOURNAMENT'S FIRST ROUND
