The 2017–18 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team represented

Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...

during the

2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...

. The Blue Raiders, led by 16th-year head coach

Kermit Davis John Kermit Davis Jr. (born December 14, 1959) is an American college basketball coach for the Ole Miss Rebels men's basketball, Ole Miss Rebels. Davis was previously the head coach at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball, Middle Tennes ...

, played their home games at the

Murphy Center Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center (commonly known as the Murphy Center) is the name of the main athletic department building at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The building opened December 11, 1972, and is named in ...

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

as members of

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. They finished the season 25–8 overall, 16–2 in C-USA play to win the regular season championship. In the C-USA tournament, they were defeated in the quarterfinals by

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

in overtime. As a regular season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, the Blue Raiders received an automatic bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

, where they defeated

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

in the first round before losing to

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in the second round. The season marked the first time in the program's history that the Blue Raiders were ranked in the

AP Top 25 The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

during the season, coming in at No. 24 on the week of February 19. Head coach Kermit Davis left the school on March 19, 2018 to accept the head coaching job at Ole Miss. He finished at Middle Tennessee with a 16-year record of 332–188. On March 24, the Blue Raiders named UNC Asheville head coach

Nick McDevitt Nicholas Bryan McDevitt (born April 21, 1979) is a college basketball coach and the current head coach for Middle Tennessee State University Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Foun ...

as the team's new head coach.

Previous season

The Blue Raiders finished the 2016–17 season 27–4, 17–1 in C-USA play to win the regular season championship. In the C-USA tournament, they defeated UTSA,

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

, and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

to win the 2017 C-USA Tournament. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 12 seed in the South region, they defeated 5-seeded

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

in the first round before losing in the second round to 4-seeded

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

. The team also had several winning streaks during the season winning 8 games in a row in non-conference schedule, 10 games in a row to start conference play and a new school record, then 11 games in a row from mid-conference play all the way through winning the conference tournament and into the NCAA tournament before losing to Butler. The team finished the season with a 31–5, 17–1 record setting new school and conference records for wins in a season and in conference play and had another NCAA tournament upset for the second straight year.

Offseason

Departures

Incoming transfers

2017 recruiting class

2018 recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball seasons

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders are the men's and women's athletic teams at Middle Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. MT athletic teams participate in NCAA Division I (Bowl Subdivision in football) in Conference USA. MT com ...