{"id":1942,"date":"2016-09-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/blogtest\/mt-athletics\/"},"modified":"2025-03-27T17:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T17:19:34","slug":"mt-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/mt-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"MT Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The Blue Raider basketball team\u2019s stunning upset\u00a0<\/b><\/span>over Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Tournament attracted global attention to the University.\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

One Shining Moment<\/h3>\n

Our University received untold attention around the nation during March Madness when the 15th-seeded Blue Raider men\u2019s basketball team scored its stunning upset, 90-81, over No. 2 seed Michigan State in a NCAA Tournament bracket-buster. The resulting media and social media spotlight on MTSU and our community was priceless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

It seemed like almost everyone, everywhere, was True Blue<\/span>, if only for a few moments.
\nSocial reach<\/b> tracked by MTSU\u2019s Division of Marketing and Communications hit an all-time high of 167,025,273 people<\/b> during March 18\u201321.<\/p>\n

\n#MTSU was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter<\/b> leading up to the final seconds of the win over the Spartans.<\/p>\n

\nThere were 60,000-plus mentions about MTSU in three days<\/b>, 300 percent more than the University\u2019s monthly average of 15,000 mentions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMTSU\u2019s win was tweeted by such notable influencers as Magic Johnson<\/b> (2.9M reach); ESPN<\/b> (25.7M);
\nWall Street Journal<\/i><\/b> (10.3M); Sports Illustrated<\/i><\/b> (1.4M); MLB pitcher and Murfreesboro native David Price<\/b> (1.3M); Getty Images Sport<\/b> (978K); Dick Vitale<\/b> (822K); Yahoo! Sports<\/b> (381K); and the Denver Broncos<\/b> (294K).<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMTSU\u2019s brand reach on social media extended worldwide as a result of the game<\/b> to areas where it doesn\u2019t usually register, like Liechtenstein, Kenya, Norway, Andorra, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.<\/p>\n

Vitale, the iconic ESPN basketball analyst who had picked Michigan State to win it all, called it \u201cone of the all-time shockers.\u201d The game also was deemed the biggest upset in tournament history by the likes of Sports Illustrated\u00a0<\/i><\/b>and<\/b> USA Today.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The Spartans were favored by oddsmakers<\/span> to win the national title, and MTSU was a 16- to 17-point underdog going into the game. Seven other No. 15<\/span> teams had registered wins over No. 2 seeds, but none beat a No. 2 that was so highly regarded. All five Middle Tennessee starters scored in double figures: Reggie Upshaw (21 points), Giddy Potts (19), Darnell Harris (15), Perrin Buford (15) and Jaqawn Raymond (11).<\/p>\n

In interviews beamed around the world in the afterglow of the upset, Coach Kermit Davis became an instant media superstar and talked about the importance that the win had in bolstering MTSU\u2019s brand. He anticipated that a lingering benefit of the victory would be increased visibility of the University not just on athletics, but also academics.<\/p>\n

\"coach-with-mens-net-img_5010\"
Coach Kermit Davis cuts the nets at C-USA Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This group of student-athletes also put MTSU on an exclusive list of only seven programs to win an NCAA Tournament game AND boast an NCAA graduation rate of 100 percent. Additionally, the Blue Raiders have the most wins (123) of any Division I school in the state of Tennessee the past five years and have captured five conference titles in the past seven seasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Davis likened athletics to being \u201cthe front porch of the University\u201d and expressed hopes that the student-athlete success on the court \u201cputs a brighter bulb over the door and shines some attention on our faculty, our academic programs, and our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The University\u2019s marketing team produced new TV commercials, secured air time during the NCAA second round across Tennessee, and upped advertising on social media and electronic billboards as part of MTSU\u2019s Take a Closer Look campaign. The latter encourages students <\/span><\/p>\n

\"kermit-cuts-net-womens-img_7913\"
Coach Rick Insell cuts nets at women’s C-USA Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and parents to dig deeper into the University\u2019s many academic attributes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of MTSU\u2019s newly added catch phrases became: \u201cOur team may have busted your tournament bracket. But that\u2019s not the first time Middle Tennessee State University exceeded expectations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Davis said he enjoys helping spread the True Blue message, including to students or parents who may not have ever considered MTSU. And I\u2019m happy to say he recently signed an eight-year contract extension through 2023\u201324.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to put a price tag on the extensive exposure on varied platforms that the historic NCAA victory brought to the University. <\/span><\/p>\n

Blue Raider Duo Makes Olympics<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"rio-2016-logotrans\"Former Middle Tennessee standout <\/span>John Ampomah<\/b> and current Blue <\/span>Raider runner Janet Amponsah<\/b> <\/span>qualified for the Olympic games in <\/span>Rio for their native Ghana after hitting <\/span>the IAAf qualifying <\/span>standards at the <\/span>Soga-Nana Memorial meet. <\/span>Ampomah<\/b>, who <\/span>finished third at <\/span>the 2016 NCAA Out<\/span>door Championships <\/span>in the javelin and second at the Senior <\/span>African Championships, broke his <\/span>own national record with a throw of 83.09 meters (272-7) at Cape Coast Stadium. Amponsah<\/b>, who is labeled the Ghanaian sprint queen, qualified in the 200 meters after running a personal-best 22.99 seconds. Amponsah was also the anchor leg in Ghana\u2019s 4x<\/span>100-meter relay, which qualified for Rio in a national-record <\/span>42.67 seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Track Finishes 18th in Nation<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Middle Tennessee men\u2019s outdoor track team capped off an exciting season by finishing 18th nationally. The Blue Raiders\u2019 18th-place finish was the second-highest outdoor finish in program history behind the 2003 squad\u2019s 17th-place finish.<\/p>\n

Other Highlights<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • During the Spring 2016 semester,
    \n12 of 15 teams had a semester team grade point average of 3.0 or higher; 90 student-athletes made the Dean\u2019s List (3.5+ GPA), and 30 had a perfect 4.0. Overall, 174 of 304 student-athletes had a 3.0 or higher (57%).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Outfielder Blake Benefield<\/b>, named to the Louisville Slugger All-American Baseball team, became just the fifth freshman All-American in program history and 16th player overall.<\/li>\n
  • Former Blue Raider golfer Kent Bulle<\/b> <\/span>(2006\u201310), who plays on the Web.com Tour, saw a dream come true as he qualified for the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont. He is only the second Blue Raider to ever play in the U.S. Open.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • For the second consecutive year, Middle Tennessee men\u2019s tennis has notched the No. 25 recruiting class in the country, according to tennisrecruiting.net<\/b>.<\/li>\n
  • Max Rauch<\/b>, Tom Moonen<\/b> and Nicolas <\/b><\/span>Buitrago<\/b> all join the team this fall.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • Eliud Rutto<\/b> was named Conference USA Male Track Athlete of the Year, and fellow junior Elizabeth Dadzie<\/b> was voted C-USA Field Athlete of
      \nthe Year by conference coaches.<\/li>\n
    • The MTSU women\u2019s golf team won its second straight Conference USA tournament, and Chris Adams<\/b> was tabbed the C-USA Coach of the Year.<\/li>\n
    • Pitcher Kelci Cheney<\/b>, an Exercise Science major with a 3.74 GPA, was named to the 2016 Conference USA Softball All-Academic Team in May.<\/li>\n
    • The baseball team (3.329 GPA) and men\u2019s tennis team (3.385) each repeated as C-USA Sport Academic Award winners for 2015\u201316 year.<\/li>\n
    • The Tennessee Sports Writers Association voted MTSU guard<\/li>\n
    • Brea Edwards<\/b> their women\u2019s basketball Player of the Year.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Blue Raider soccer standout Kelsey Brouwer<\/b> was MTSU\u2019s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The Blue Raider basketball team\u2019s stunning upset\u00a0over Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Tournament attracted global attention to the University.\u00a0 One Shining Moment Our University received untold attention around the nation during March Madness when the 15th-seeded Blue Raider men\u2019s basketball team scored its stunning upset, 90-81, over No. 2 seed Michigan State in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtsu.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}