The Blue Raider men and women’s basketball teams will tip-off the 2009-10 season this month as both look to rebound from disappointing ends to last season. The women’s team is one of the favorites in the Sun Belt Conference, while the men bring in a mix of new and returning players looking to improve after an early exit from the SBC tournament.
On the women’s side, this squad has received a lot of national recognition during the preseason. Four polls have the Blue Raiders finishing in the Top 25. Slam thinks MTSU will crack the Top 10, predicting them eighth. They were also picked to win the SBC East Division.
The players and coaches agree: this topic is not brought up during practice, but they know that there’re getting noticed.
“It really doesn’t mean anything to start out the season,” senior forward Brandi Brown said. “It means a lot more if we finished up the season and we’re still ranked.”
The Blue Raiders are looking to end this season a lot differently than last. They concluded the 2008-09 season as Sun Belt Champions, but they lost to Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA tournament on their home floor.
“Did we hurt from that? Absolutely,” head coach Rick Insell said. “Have we talked about it? Yes. Are we going to build on that? Yes.”
Insell, who in four seasons has posted a least 20 wins during each one, returns all five starters, including one of  the nation’s top players, senior forward Alysha Clark.
Clark was named SBC Preseason Player of the Year and first-team All-SBC.

Alysha Clark

Brown joined her on that team, and another returning starter, senior guard Chelsia Lymon, made the second team.
The team has several goals in mind as they head into the new season starting Nov. 2 with an exhibition game against Carson-Newman.
“We want to win the conference championship, but at the end of the day that is not just our only goal,” Clark said. “We have a lot of stuff we need to work on. We want to make sure we get better every day.”
In the past few years the Blue Raiders have faced tough environments against well-known teams in women’s college basketball, and they beat some of them. On Nov. 25, one of the best, the Tennessee Lady Vols, will head to the Murphy Center.
“We are excited about it,” Insell said. “We look to have a big crowd like the guys had last year. We hope to have the same-type atmosphere. It’s going to be a big day.”
The Blue Raiders, however, have several games before that showdown. They open the regular season Nov. 15 against last season’s Conference USA champion, Central Florida, at the Murphy Center.
The men’s team will host the Vols for the second straight season. This time the game will take place Dec. 11 at the Sommet Center in Nashville as part of the double header called the Sun Belt Classic. The other half of the doubleheader will pit Vanderbilt against SBC member Western Kentucky.
The Blue Raiders will do so with a mix of new and returning players. Preseason First-Team All-SBC member, senior forward Desmond “Boogie” Yates, is looking to return to his normal position. Last season, starting center senior Theryn Hudson missed a lot of time and had to reshirt because of injuries. Yates had to move to that spot, but he is excited to be back to his normal position.
“It’s good to have Hudson back,” Yates said. “He opens up so much space. That means teams can’t double-team me or double-team him. It will open up a lot more things for me and our guards.”
Another returnee, senior guard Calvin O’Neil, leads a back court that will also include a junior college transfer, James Washington. Head coach Kermit Davis said Washington has taken leadership of the team in the short time he has been on campus.
“A lot of people make the comparison as a point guard to a quarterback,” Washington said. “A quarterback is always doing extra stuff like watching film. I’m always the guy that likes to help my teammates.”
Davis likes to run an up-tempo offense and added they are going to play faster than ever before.
“Now to do that, we got to become a better defensive team,” Davis said. “That’s why we struggled late in the year; we didn’t get stops and our field goal percentage went way up defensively. We got to be able to guard and rebound.”
Last season, MTSU finished (18-14, 10-8, 4th in the SBC East) and was knocked out in the second round of the SBC tournament by North Texas.
This season, the Blue Raiders were picked to finish third in the SBC East Division.
Yates said it would take hard work and an attitude of no excuses to contend for the conference title.
The regular season begins Nov. 13 against King College at the Murphy Center.