Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Quick Hitters: What Made the Difference in MT Women’s Basketball’s Second C-USA Title in Three Years
3/12/2023 4:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Lady Raiders left no doubt on the court of the Ford Center at The Star
FRISCO, Texas — Long after the streamers had been swept off the court, long after the ladder had been rolled off the court after the nets were cut and even longer after the Conference USA Championship t-shirts and hats had been passed out, Rick Insell sat at the podium next to his tournament MVP, Jalynn Gregory, with a big smile on his face.
His Lady Raiders had left no doubt, defeating rival WKU handily, 82-70, leading by as many as 22 points against their rival, in the 2023 C-USA Tournament Championship game. After a dominant 31-point win over Charlotte in the quarterfinals and a competitive, but in control six-point win over UTEP in the semifinals, MTSU had only proven what the C-USA double round robin already had: that the Lady Raiders were the class of the league this year.
But winning the conference title did leave Rick Insell with one regret.
"Very proud of our young ladies, they've been under the gun all year long and now we don't get to prove that we had an at-large bid," Insell said, before pausing briefly and glancing toward the direction of his boss, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. "Chris, do I get paid for that at-large bid anyway?"
Massaro affirmed he would, which only added to the laughter in the room at Insell's off-hand remark. The comment was demonstrative of how MTSU Women's Basketball conducted themselves this season: quietly confident of the team's skill on the court, but also not afraid to let people know about that skill once the proof had been shown.
People didn't always listen to the explanations, of course, though a plethora of folks around the country did, as evidenced by the program's five weeks in the Top 25, including a final ranking of No. 25 in the final AP poll of the season ahead of this week's games. It didn't matter, of course, because the Lady Raiders kept winning in a dominant fashion so that those who failed to listen, who failed to watch, were ultimately forced to. A record of 28-4, quite frankly, is too good to ignore.
But many of the details of how the Lady Raiders made it happen might be easy to miss, easy to let slip by, easy to chalk up to a hot week in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. Let's dive into three vignettes — two on specific players and one on a slightly broader topic — that came up all the time as I covered the team this season and were key to MTSU winning in Frisco.
---
The Snub
When I first heard the news that Alexis Whittington was shutout of the All-Defensive team as part of Conference USA's superlative awards this season, I might've had to pick my jaw up off the floor. She had made it last year, meaning that there was at least some constituency within the voting pool that respected what she does on the defensive end enough to recognize it. Plus, MTSU was far and away the best defensive team in the league, holding opponents to over six points per game less than the next closest team in the league rankings.
So shocked, I made sure I tweeted out my thoughts as soon as the embargo was lifted.
As I mentioned in that thread, there's a way to see how such an oversight can happen, where the best defensive team's best defensive player is left off the All-Defense team. Whittington's defensive prowess stems far more from her ability to prevent opportunities to score from even forming, rather than eliminating them at the last second. The latter category more regularly manifests itself in stats that you can quantify quickly, namely steals and blocks. Whittington has never ranked high in those categories.
But I think the type of defense that Alexis plays, where she denies often the best team's opposing guard even the chance to attack the basket, to have an open shot, sometimes to even touch the ball, is far more valuable to active hands on helpside defense or in a press. Rick Insell seems to think so as well.
"I think we led in all the defensive categories," Insell said after MTSU's victory over Charlotte on Thursday, when Whittington held All-Conference first teamer Jada McMillian to just four points. "And when that coach, which is me, puts up what he thinks is their best defensive player, that should send an alert, like a tornado is around, that this guy thinks that she's a great defensive player."
To borrow one of my favorite Sorkinisms, if you haven't seen Alexis Whittington play defense, well you haven't seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be done.
Whittington is in the face of whoever she's guarding, denying passing lanes, closing the distance on shooters, having the lateral quickness to push them baseline. Even as good as she is individually, she still plays within the system, rotating helpside, icing screens when they're called, switching the rare times the Lady Raiders call for it. All while usually limiting the opponent's best offensive player to entire possessions where she does not touch the ball.
In addition to shutting down McMillian, Whittington held All-Conference First Team UTEP guard Jazion Jackson to just five points in their matchup in the semifinals. Against WKU's havoc lineup, which flourishes with depth rather than having a primary scorer, Whittington held her two primary matchups, Mya Meredith and Macy Blevins, to just five combined points in 36 minutes.
Making those defensive performances all the more impressive this week was Whittington's offensive prowess, hitting a plethora of three-pointers against both Charlotte and WKU, while her three-point play in the fourth quarter against UTEP, her only three points of the day on Friday, reclaimed the lead in a crucial moment for the Lady Raiders.
All of that combined was good enough to earn Whittington my vote for the All-Tournament team. I know at least two other voters associated with MTSU voted for her too. Sadly, it wasn't quite enough, as she just missed making the All-Tournament squad.
But she proved everyone in the league wrong this weekend. And that's something that will stick with them a long time after she hangs up the MTSU jersey for the final time.
---
The One They Got Right
The best laugh of the Championship press conference came at the expense not of Rick Insell's joke about a bonus, but rather at the circumstances of a question. And how neither Insell nor Jalynn Gregory wanted to show all their cards.
Calvin White, the excellent sports editor for MTSU's Sidelines newspaper, had just asked Insell about the folks that had said he shouldn't have recruited Gregory to Middle Tennessee, and whether Gregory had proven them wrong.
It's a story Insell's told in one form or another often, particularly during Gregory's breakout freshman season, where she started all 34 games for the Lady Raiders and made the All-C-USA Freshman team after averaging 10.4 points per game. Take, for example, his answer at last year's Conference Tournament when asked about Gregory.
"I was criticized for recruiting Gregory," Insell said after MTSU's win over Southern Miss in 2022. "'She's too small, she plays at a little bitty school.'
"But she can shoot, she can shoot the heck out of the basketball. And she's a winner. She did play a little bitty school, but they won state championships. When you go out and recruit those type of kids, they come from championship programs. They know how to win. And it's tougher sometimes to teach players that than it is the fundamentals."
On Saturday, Insell and Gregory looked at each other and smiled, each cracked a laugh.
"I think they were in the crowd," Insell smirked. "I think she answered that question."
Hey, by the way, did you know that Bowling Green, Ky. is closer to Gregory's hometown of Lafayette, Tenn. than Lafayette is to Murfreesboro? Not by much, Bowling Green is only about 20 minutes closer by driving, but still! Just a totally unrelated fact, but something that, when coupled with Insell's remarks, those who wonder why Gregory ended up at MTSU might find interesting.
The 2023 Conference USA Tournament was Jalynn Gregory's, who lit it up from outside as she always has for the Lady Raiders. But her 5-for-5 beyond the arc night against the Lady Toppers was pristine even for her elite shooting touch. Gregory averaged 17.7 points across MTSU's three games in Frisco, and 23.0 points across the Lady Raiders final two.
"Good gosh, she can shoot the heck out of the ball," Insell said. "She comes over the center line, she's open. Plays defense, rebounds, pushes the ball. She's MVP.
"If there was one award that was gotten right this week," Insell wrapped up, banging the table and pointing at Gregory. "(This one) right here."
Gregory reflected on her path to being on the podium two nights in a row at the conference tournament, thinking back to her days playing for Macon County High School, in a community where everybody knows everybody, as both Insell and Gregory attested too.
"Especially playing in those games," Gregory said, referring to Macon County's state title runs during her career. "There's been moments where I've had to step up, because on my high school team, we had a bunch of role players."
'Just you,' Insell interjected.
Gregory smiled, and as always, gave credit elsewhere. "It wouldn't have been possible without them."
Very true. But the 2023 Conference USA title also would not have been possible without Jalynn Gregory. But she didn't come all this way to stop there.
"That was one of the reasons I chose to come here, because I didn't want to just settle for making it to the conference tournament," Gregory said. "I wanted to go to the NCAA Tournament and win some games there."
Not too bad for a small wing from a little bitty school.
---
The X-Factor
Rick Insell is always sure to bring up in these press conferences is his coaching staff. How much work his assistants, Matt Insell, Kim Brewton, Nina Davis and his Director of Analytics, Tom Hodges, put into the team's scout every single game and how much of an edge that gives their team on the court.
One perk of being the in-house beat writer? During tournament time, I get to watch a bit of the scouting work, the clips the coaching staff puts together, the instructions they relay for each player during their pre-practice or pre-shootaround meetings. Seeing that work get put together on the court is even more impressive, with players remembering which opponents to slip under the screen for, and which opponents to attack over the top. Who to close out on and who to give space.
The scouts, and by extension the coaching staff, have a lot to do with why MTSU is successful. But after this weekend, I think I'm even more impressed by what the staff does during the game to get the most out of their players.
To an outsider, and heck, even to me sometimes, the sideline instructions from MTSU can be chaotic. There's frequently plenty of yelling, sometimes just to get a message cross court, but often the yelling is just to put extra emphasis on what the players need to correct.
"They know how to take their coaching," Rick Insell said after his team's win over Southern Miss in 2022. "Some people might call it butt-chewing, but we call it coaching. They go back out and respond."
I personally don't think the two terms are mutually exclusive, Coach, but he's right, his players do respond. Take the tale of Kseniya Malashka in the Championship game, for instance.
She entered the game during the first quarter, off the bench like usual, but was ineffective, missing both her shots and not helping the offense get a rhythm. Rick Insell quickly switched her out and made his point for what the team needed her to do clear.
"One of my closest friends is Jimmy Earle," Insell recalled post game. "(He says) you've got to enter the ball to the post in order for your outside game to come to where it needs to be. And that's what we were trying to do with Nastiia and Kseniya, get the ball in there, and then they had to bring help and then we had to make that extra pass and share the ball."
Insell was correct. WKU was bringing a double team, meaning that someone was likely open along the perimeter. Malashka needed to see that, get the ball to them, for her own ability one-on-one to open up. Insell made his case veraciously on the bench, Malashka sitting stoically, absorbing it.
When the Belarus international checked back in for the second quarter, the message had stuck. She found Whittington for three off a double team, giving MTSU a four-point lead. The double teams came, she found options, and MTSU knocked down the triples.
After a timeout, WKU started staying out on the shooters. Malashka feasted, scoring 10 points in the quarter, making all four of her field goals and both of her foul shots.
"When Kseniya went back in after I talked to her, (telling her) basically she's so talented, just use the rest of your teammates," Insell said. "And then she hit someone, and they buried the three. Then after they got to covering down on those young ladies, she started to be matched up one-on-one, and she can beat anybody in America one-on-one."
Insell is quick to defend his player, noting that her mindset is always to score when she gets the ball, just because she's so talented. But finding ways for her to do the little things, the extra pass, the 14 rebounds she had against UTEP, that's why Malashka made the All-Tournament team, even more than her scoring. And the coaching, from my chair, is what helped bring that out.
His Lady Raiders had left no doubt, defeating rival WKU handily, 82-70, leading by as many as 22 points against their rival, in the 2023 C-USA Tournament Championship game. After a dominant 31-point win over Charlotte in the quarterfinals and a competitive, but in control six-point win over UTEP in the semifinals, MTSU had only proven what the C-USA double round robin already had: that the Lady Raiders were the class of the league this year.
But winning the conference title did leave Rick Insell with one regret.
"Very proud of our young ladies, they've been under the gun all year long and now we don't get to prove that we had an at-large bid," Insell said, before pausing briefly and glancing toward the direction of his boss, Director of Athletics Chris Massaro. "Chris, do I get paid for that at-large bid anyway?"
Massaro affirmed he would, which only added to the laughter in the room at Insell's off-hand remark. The comment was demonstrative of how MTSU Women's Basketball conducted themselves this season: quietly confident of the team's skill on the court, but also not afraid to let people know about that skill once the proof had been shown.
People didn't always listen to the explanations, of course, though a plethora of folks around the country did, as evidenced by the program's five weeks in the Top 25, including a final ranking of No. 25 in the final AP poll of the season ahead of this week's games. It didn't matter, of course, because the Lady Raiders kept winning in a dominant fashion so that those who failed to listen, who failed to watch, were ultimately forced to. A record of 28-4, quite frankly, is too good to ignore.
But many of the details of how the Lady Raiders made it happen might be easy to miss, easy to let slip by, easy to chalk up to a hot week in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. Let's dive into three vignettes — two on specific players and one on a slightly broader topic — that came up all the time as I covered the team this season and were key to MTSU winning in Frisco.
---
The Snub
When I first heard the news that Alexis Whittington was shutout of the All-Defensive team as part of Conference USA's superlative awards this season, I might've had to pick my jaw up off the floor. She had made it last year, meaning that there was at least some constituency within the voting pool that respected what she does on the defensive end enough to recognize it. Plus, MTSU was far and away the best defensive team in the league, holding opponents to over six points per game less than the next closest team in the league rankings.
So shocked, I made sure I tweeted out my thoughts as soon as the embargo was lifted.
I have to say, it's wild the best defensive team in Conference USA (@MT_WBB), who's best by nearly five points a game, that's also the best defensive rebounding team in the league, and Top 2 in blocks and Top 3 in steals, can't get a single player on the All-Defensive Team. https://t.co/IwIOBKZLQ1
— Sam Doughton (@sjdoughton) March 7, 2023
As I mentioned in that thread, there's a way to see how such an oversight can happen, where the best defensive team's best defensive player is left off the All-Defense team. Whittington's defensive prowess stems far more from her ability to prevent opportunities to score from even forming, rather than eliminating them at the last second. The latter category more regularly manifests itself in stats that you can quantify quickly, namely steals and blocks. Whittington has never ranked high in those categories.
But I think the type of defense that Alexis plays, where she denies often the best team's opposing guard even the chance to attack the basket, to have an open shot, sometimes to even touch the ball, is far more valuable to active hands on helpside defense or in a press. Rick Insell seems to think so as well.
"I think we led in all the defensive categories," Insell said after MTSU's victory over Charlotte on Thursday, when Whittington held All-Conference first teamer Jada McMillian to just four points. "And when that coach, which is me, puts up what he thinks is their best defensive player, that should send an alert, like a tornado is around, that this guy thinks that she's a great defensive player."
To borrow one of my favorite Sorkinisms, if you haven't seen Alexis Whittington play defense, well you haven't seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be done.
Whittington is in the face of whoever she's guarding, denying passing lanes, closing the distance on shooters, having the lateral quickness to push them baseline. Even as good as she is individually, she still plays within the system, rotating helpside, icing screens when they're called, switching the rare times the Lady Raiders call for it. All while usually limiting the opponent's best offensive player to entire possessions where she does not touch the ball.
In addition to shutting down McMillian, Whittington held All-Conference First Team UTEP guard Jazion Jackson to just five points in their matchup in the semifinals. Against WKU's havoc lineup, which flourishes with depth rather than having a primary scorer, Whittington held her two primary matchups, Mya Meredith and Macy Blevins, to just five combined points in 36 minutes.
Making those defensive performances all the more impressive this week was Whittington's offensive prowess, hitting a plethora of three-pointers against both Charlotte and WKU, while her three-point play in the fourth quarter against UTEP, her only three points of the day on Friday, reclaimed the lead in a crucial moment for the Lady Raiders.
All of that combined was good enough to earn Whittington my vote for the All-Tournament team. I know at least two other voters associated with MTSU voted for her too. Sadly, it wasn't quite enough, as she just missed making the All-Tournament squad.
But she proved everyone in the league wrong this weekend. And that's something that will stick with them a long time after she hangs up the MTSU jersey for the final time.
---
The One They Got Right
The best laugh of the Championship press conference came at the expense not of Rick Insell's joke about a bonus, but rather at the circumstances of a question. And how neither Insell nor Jalynn Gregory wanted to show all their cards.
Calvin White, the excellent sports editor for MTSU's Sidelines newspaper, had just asked Insell about the folks that had said he shouldn't have recruited Gregory to Middle Tennessee, and whether Gregory had proven them wrong.
It's a story Insell's told in one form or another often, particularly during Gregory's breakout freshman season, where she started all 34 games for the Lady Raiders and made the All-C-USA Freshman team after averaging 10.4 points per game. Take, for example, his answer at last year's Conference Tournament when asked about Gregory.
"I was criticized for recruiting Gregory," Insell said after MTSU's win over Southern Miss in 2022. "'She's too small, she plays at a little bitty school.'
"But she can shoot, she can shoot the heck out of the basketball. And she's a winner. She did play a little bitty school, but they won state championships. When you go out and recruit those type of kids, they come from championship programs. They know how to win. And it's tougher sometimes to teach players that than it is the fundamentals."
On Saturday, Insell and Gregory looked at each other and smiled, each cracked a laugh.
"I think they were in the crowd," Insell smirked. "I think she answered that question."
Hey, by the way, did you know that Bowling Green, Ky. is closer to Gregory's hometown of Lafayette, Tenn. than Lafayette is to Murfreesboro? Not by much, Bowling Green is only about 20 minutes closer by driving, but still! Just a totally unrelated fact, but something that, when coupled with Insell's remarks, those who wonder why Gregory ended up at MTSU might find interesting.
The 2023 Conference USA Tournament was Jalynn Gregory's, who lit it up from outside as she always has for the Lady Raiders. But her 5-for-5 beyond the arc night against the Lady Toppers was pristine even for her elite shooting touch. Gregory averaged 17.7 points across MTSU's three games in Frisco, and 23.0 points across the Lady Raiders final two.
"Good gosh, she can shoot the heck out of the ball," Insell said. "She comes over the center line, she's open. Plays defense, rebounds, pushes the ball. She's MVP.
"If there was one award that was gotten right this week," Insell wrapped up, banging the table and pointing at Gregory. "(This one) right here."
Gregory reflected on her path to being on the podium two nights in a row at the conference tournament, thinking back to her days playing for Macon County High School, in a community where everybody knows everybody, as both Insell and Gregory attested too.
"Especially playing in those games," Gregory said, referring to Macon County's state title runs during her career. "There's been moments where I've had to step up, because on my high school team, we had a bunch of role players."
'Just you,' Insell interjected.
Gregory smiled, and as always, gave credit elsewhere. "It wouldn't have been possible without them."
Very true. But the 2023 Conference USA title also would not have been possible without Jalynn Gregory. But she didn't come all this way to stop there.
"That was one of the reasons I chose to come here, because I didn't want to just settle for making it to the conference tournament," Gregory said. "I wanted to go to the NCAA Tournament and win some games there."
Not too bad for a small wing from a little bitty school.
---
The X-Factor
Rick Insell is always sure to bring up in these press conferences is his coaching staff. How much work his assistants, Matt Insell, Kim Brewton, Nina Davis and his Director of Analytics, Tom Hodges, put into the team's scout every single game and how much of an edge that gives their team on the court.
One perk of being the in-house beat writer? During tournament time, I get to watch a bit of the scouting work, the clips the coaching staff puts together, the instructions they relay for each player during their pre-practice or pre-shootaround meetings. Seeing that work get put together on the court is even more impressive, with players remembering which opponents to slip under the screen for, and which opponents to attack over the top. Who to close out on and who to give space.
The scouts, and by extension the coaching staff, have a lot to do with why MTSU is successful. But after this weekend, I think I'm even more impressed by what the staff does during the game to get the most out of their players.
To an outsider, and heck, even to me sometimes, the sideline instructions from MTSU can be chaotic. There's frequently plenty of yelling, sometimes just to get a message cross court, but often the yelling is just to put extra emphasis on what the players need to correct.
"They know how to take their coaching," Rick Insell said after his team's win over Southern Miss in 2022. "Some people might call it butt-chewing, but we call it coaching. They go back out and respond."
I personally don't think the two terms are mutually exclusive, Coach, but he's right, his players do respond. Take the tale of Kseniya Malashka in the Championship game, for instance.
She entered the game during the first quarter, off the bench like usual, but was ineffective, missing both her shots and not helping the offense get a rhythm. Rick Insell quickly switched her out and made his point for what the team needed her to do clear.
"One of my closest friends is Jimmy Earle," Insell recalled post game. "(He says) you've got to enter the ball to the post in order for your outside game to come to where it needs to be. And that's what we were trying to do with Nastiia and Kseniya, get the ball in there, and then they had to bring help and then we had to make that extra pass and share the ball."
Insell was correct. WKU was bringing a double team, meaning that someone was likely open along the perimeter. Malashka needed to see that, get the ball to them, for her own ability one-on-one to open up. Insell made his case veraciously on the bench, Malashka sitting stoically, absorbing it.
When the Belarus international checked back in for the second quarter, the message had stuck. She found Whittington for three off a double team, giving MTSU a four-point lead. The double teams came, she found options, and MTSU knocked down the triples.
After a timeout, WKU started staying out on the shooters. Malashka feasted, scoring 10 points in the quarter, making all four of her field goals and both of her foul shots.
"When Kseniya went back in after I talked to her, (telling her) basically she's so talented, just use the rest of your teammates," Insell said. "And then she hit someone, and they buried the three. Then after they got to covering down on those young ladies, she started to be matched up one-on-one, and she can beat anybody in America one-on-one."
Insell is quick to defend his player, noting that her mindset is always to score when she gets the ball, just because she's so talented. But finding ways for her to do the little things, the extra pass, the 14 rebounds she had against UTEP, that's why Malashka made the All-Tournament team, even more than her scoring. And the coaching, from my chair, is what helped bring that out.
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballFacility tour – Stephen and Denise Smith Student-Athlete Performance Center
Wednesday, July 30
Rick Insell Conference USA Hall of Fame Announcement
Wednesday, July 09
2025 Blue Raider Blitz Media Panel
Thursday, July 03
MTSU Women's Basketball Coach Rick Insell interview at 2025 Blue Raider Blitz
Monday, June 30
