Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: “Knowing that it would get better.”
2/27/2022 3:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball, BRAA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Nick McDevitt just wanted to soak it all in.
The handshake line ritual quickly done, the court of the Murphy Center was quickly becoming a mosh pit as the Blue Zoo rushed out to celebrate the men's basketball team winning the C-USA East Division after being picked dead last in the conference heading into this season.
But McDevitt hadn't joined his players in that pile quite yet, he'd crossed the court like he always does post-game, walking over towards Chip Walters for the Blue Raider Radio Network for his usual post-game interview.
I'm not sure when that interview happened, but it wasn't any time soon last night. McDevitt instead paused right in front of the sideline on that end of the court, looked up at some of the 6,102 fans assembled in the Murphy Center, and just looked on. And while this writer is not sure enough to say a tear fell down his face at that moment, the emotions of the situation certainly seemed to be getting to the head coach.
"I was just really happy for our players," McDevitt said about that moment postgame. "To be able to step back and watch the excitement that our players had, that they were out there with their fellow classmates. There were folks from the community out there with us that have always been behind us. I just wanted to take a step back and soak that in.
"It takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people, not just the players and the managers, the GAs, the coaches, the trainers. But people that work in this building and on this campus every day, the people in the community that support our program. To be able to share that moment and hoist that trophy in your own building, those are special moments."
—
When I first took this job this past summer, I had to take a crash course in a lot of things at Middle Tennessee Athletics. Football, with its season up first, was naturally the priority, but I was able to sneak in the summer months to a few of Nick McDevitt's men's basketball practices.
The coaches and players talk a lot about those summer practices and workouts when talking about this team. They say that's when they first started to think that this group might have what it takes not only to finish with a winning record, but to win a championship.
A ridiculous thought, many might've said, at that time last summer, coming off a season where the team won just five games after only winning eight games the season before that. But watching those practices, you could see the tools. A long, athletic group that was capable of playing the "positionless" basketball that's en vogue at nearly all levels of the game. Depth, where there wasn't a big drop off from the team's best player to the team's ninth best player. And enough size for the mid-major level where they wouldn't be picked apart by bigger teams.
Still, the sentiment of Jim Root, who writes for the Three Man Weave, in his C-USA season preview was a common one. Root wrote at the time:
"McDevitt simply has not been able to find the success here that he consistently had at UNC (Asheville)...He has dealt with his fair share of injury issues in that span, but the healthy players have also performed well below expectations (and often worse than they did at previous career stops). Barring unforeseen progress from across the roster, veterans and newcomers alike…it looks bleak for Middle Tennessee this year."
I say this not to dunk on Root with the benefit of hindsight — it was a completely reasonable take at the time given the results on the court. I also use Root as an example of that sentiment because there was a line, almost a throw-away mention in his team preview for the Blue Raiders, that is what made me believe that this year's team might be different.
"This is almost all in stark contrast to McDevitt's time at UNC Asheville," Root wrote. "(W)here he won consistently with aggressive defenses and impressive (for the Big South) offenses, often flush with outside shooting."
Hmmm, aggressive defenses flush with outside shooting? That sounds like what this year's Blue Raiders are, with a relentless, 40 minutes of hell pressure defense, working in all sorts of full-court pressure looks and air tight on ball defense. And while the shooting could be streaky, there was enough firepower from guys like Josh Jefferson, Eli Lawrence, Donovan Sims and even forwards like Teafale Lenard Jr., Tyler Millin and Christian Fussell to be a constant threat from deep.
That sort of ability was evident in the summer, even from this outsider's eyes. But I suspect it had a little more to do with the people than the system, at the end of the day. There was indeed that "unforeseen progress from across the roster," but it was more the mentality of this team. How well they play together. How well they play for each other.
"I've been fortunate enough to be around championship level programs in the past, and I knew, and so did my assistant coaches," McDevitt said. "We knew what we saw, we knew what we were hearing, the way that they carried themselves, we could see the talent that we had."
—
I'm going to think about that moment on the court Saturday night for a very long time after this season is over. There's the magic of it all, sure, a community coming together to celebrate what ultimately is a shared achievement, as McDevitt alluded to last night. But there's a deeper, more human moment underlying it all, for everyone involved with Blue Raider basketball.
DeAndre Dishman put that sentiment into words well during the post-game presser.
"It was rough," Dishman said of those losing seasons "Especially the first few years, I sat out, I wasn't able to come out and help the team. Just sitting through that, and then coming out and being able to play, and then we were still going through the same thing. So it was rough, but we all stuck in, knowing that it would get better."
"Knowing that it would get better."
What an amazing thought, at the end of the day. But thankfully, hopefully, nowhere close to the end of this season for the Blue Raiders, who will enter the C-USA Tournament in Frisco as one of the top two seeds, three wins away from the NCAA tournament, and a team I guarantee no one in the conference is excited to play in their own imaginary route to the finals.
Here's to finding more moments along the way to soak it.
The handshake line ritual quickly done, the court of the Murphy Center was quickly becoming a mosh pit as the Blue Zoo rushed out to celebrate the men's basketball team winning the C-USA East Division after being picked dead last in the conference heading into this season.
But McDevitt hadn't joined his players in that pile quite yet, he'd crossed the court like he always does post-game, walking over towards Chip Walters for the Blue Raider Radio Network for his usual post-game interview.
I'm not sure when that interview happened, but it wasn't any time soon last night. McDevitt instead paused right in front of the sideline on that end of the court, looked up at some of the 6,102 fans assembled in the Murphy Center, and just looked on. And while this writer is not sure enough to say a tear fell down his face at that moment, the emotions of the situation certainly seemed to be getting to the head coach.
"I was just really happy for our players," McDevitt said about that moment postgame. "To be able to step back and watch the excitement that our players had, that they were out there with their fellow classmates. There were folks from the community out there with us that have always been behind us. I just wanted to take a step back and soak that in.
"It takes a lot of hard work by a lot of people, not just the players and the managers, the GAs, the coaches, the trainers. But people that work in this building and on this campus every day, the people in the community that support our program. To be able to share that moment and hoist that trophy in your own building, those are special moments."
—
When I first took this job this past summer, I had to take a crash course in a lot of things at Middle Tennessee Athletics. Football, with its season up first, was naturally the priority, but I was able to sneak in the summer months to a few of Nick McDevitt's men's basketball practices.
The coaches and players talk a lot about those summer practices and workouts when talking about this team. They say that's when they first started to think that this group might have what it takes not only to finish with a winning record, but to win a championship.
A ridiculous thought, many might've said, at that time last summer, coming off a season where the team won just five games after only winning eight games the season before that. But watching those practices, you could see the tools. A long, athletic group that was capable of playing the "positionless" basketball that's en vogue at nearly all levels of the game. Depth, where there wasn't a big drop off from the team's best player to the team's ninth best player. And enough size for the mid-major level where they wouldn't be picked apart by bigger teams.
Still, the sentiment of Jim Root, who writes for the Three Man Weave, in his C-USA season preview was a common one. Root wrote at the time:
"McDevitt simply has not been able to find the success here that he consistently had at UNC (Asheville)...He has dealt with his fair share of injury issues in that span, but the healthy players have also performed well below expectations (and often worse than they did at previous career stops). Barring unforeseen progress from across the roster, veterans and newcomers alike…it looks bleak for Middle Tennessee this year."
I say this not to dunk on Root with the benefit of hindsight — it was a completely reasonable take at the time given the results on the court. I also use Root as an example of that sentiment because there was a line, almost a throw-away mention in his team preview for the Blue Raiders, that is what made me believe that this year's team might be different.
"This is almost all in stark contrast to McDevitt's time at UNC Asheville," Root wrote. "(W)here he won consistently with aggressive defenses and impressive (for the Big South) offenses, often flush with outside shooting."
Hmmm, aggressive defenses flush with outside shooting? That sounds like what this year's Blue Raiders are, with a relentless, 40 minutes of hell pressure defense, working in all sorts of full-court pressure looks and air tight on ball defense. And while the shooting could be streaky, there was enough firepower from guys like Josh Jefferson, Eli Lawrence, Donovan Sims and even forwards like Teafale Lenard Jr., Tyler Millin and Christian Fussell to be a constant threat from deep.
That sort of ability was evident in the summer, even from this outsider's eyes. But I suspect it had a little more to do with the people than the system, at the end of the day. There was indeed that "unforeseen progress from across the roster," but it was more the mentality of this team. How well they play together. How well they play for each other.
"I've been fortunate enough to be around championship level programs in the past, and I knew, and so did my assistant coaches," McDevitt said. "We knew what we saw, we knew what we were hearing, the way that they carried themselves, we could see the talent that we had."
—
I'm going to think about that moment on the court Saturday night for a very long time after this season is over. There's the magic of it all, sure, a community coming together to celebrate what ultimately is a shared achievement, as McDevitt alluded to last night. But there's a deeper, more human moment underlying it all, for everyone involved with Blue Raider basketball.
DeAndre Dishman put that sentiment into words well during the post-game presser.
"It was rough," Dishman said of those losing seasons "Especially the first few years, I sat out, I wasn't able to come out and help the team. Just sitting through that, and then coming out and being able to play, and then we were still going through the same thing. So it was rough, but we all stuck in, knowing that it would get better."
"Knowing that it would get better."
What an amazing thought, at the end of the day. But thankfully, hopefully, nowhere close to the end of this season for the Blue Raiders, who will enter the C-USA Tournament in Frisco as one of the top two seeds, three wins away from the NCAA tournament, and a team I guarantee no one in the conference is excited to play in their own imaginary route to the finals.
Here's to finding more moments along the way to soak it.
What a season. What a team. Your #BlueRaiders are @ConferenceUSA East Division CHAMPS. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/vxSAP4m454
— MT Athletics (@MTAthletics) February 27, 2022
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