Meet Middle Tennessee State, the school that blew Minnesota out of March Madness
Seriously, how were the Gophers a five-seed team?
Despite being knocked out in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament and having a worse record (24-10) than Wisconsin (25-9), the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities came into the NCAA Tournament as a five seed while Wisconsin entered as an eight seed. This may have led you to believe Minnesota was, in fact, good at basketball. You would have been wrong.
Middle Tennessee State University, apparently a real school, defeated the Golden Gophers 81-72. I am guessing you have not heard of this school, I sure hadn’t, but I did some research so you wouldn’t have to.
Middle Tennessee State hails from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and plays in the mighty Conference USA. Their nickname is the Blue Raiders, a name I’d give a solid 7/10 for. The team had an impressive 31-4 record entering the tournament and, despite being a 12-seed to Minnesota’s five seed, were favored by 1.5 points.
This is not their only tournament victory against a Big Ten rival in recent memory: as a 15-seed last year, the Blue Raiders upset Michigan State in the first round. My favorite thing about this team is easily their head coach, Kermit Davis. You read that correctly. Kermit. Davis. Davis’s full name is John Kermit Davis, Jr., which means that he is an adult man who willingly goes by the name ‘Kermit’.
Minnesota was not the favorite in this game, but the disparate seeding means this game may have already ruined your bracket as it did mine. But I don’t care about my bracket right now. What’s important is the Gophers lost on the first day of the tournament after inexplicably being seeded ahead of the Badgers. Wisconsin has some definite flaws, but those flaws do not include being worse than Minnesota. Let’s laugh at our friends across the border and hope the Badgers don’t lose to a small team like they did.