Nick King
The MTSU Blue Raiders men’s basketball team tipped off its 2017–18 season early in November, and it has been a coming out party for senior forward Nick King.
The Memphis native who averaged only 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds over his first three collegiate seasons has burst onto the scene in Murfreesboro. Through six games, King has scored more than 20 points in all games except for the season opener, when he scored 17. In two of those contests King broke the 30-point plateau, including a double-double performance in which he scored 32 and raked in 11 rebounds. He is currently averaging 24.3 points per game, which ranks him fifth in the nation in scoring.
Brandon Walters has also made an impact in the early going for the Blue Raiders. Despite averaging only 11 minutes per game for MT last season, Walters ended the year on a high note when he scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds in just 17 minutes in the NCAA Tournament loss to Butler. Walters has seemingly picked up where he left off as he currently ranks second on the team in points per game and rebounds per game.
While King and Walters have been pleasant surprises, the Blue Raider fan base has not yet seen the Giddy Potts that they have become accustomed to seeing over the past two seasons.
Potts has struggled mightily from the field, connecting on only 35 percent of his attempts. That is a drop of 13.5 percent over his two previous seasons. Potts has also seen nearly a five-point decrease in his points per game production, averaging only 10.3 points per contest so far. Potts scored a season-high 15 points in the opener against Trevecca, and has not scored more than 12 points since. Twice he failed to score more than seven. On the bright side, Potts has nearly doubled his steals per game so far this season, maintaining his identity as one of the team’s top defenders.
Giddy Potts
Still, as of presstime the Blue Raiders sit at 5–1 on the season with the only loss coming at home against Belmont.
Middle Tennessee will get only one home game in December when they host Ole Miss at Murphy Center on Dec. 9. From there they will play Auburn in Birmingham before they take a tropical Christmas vacation to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic. MT will play Princeton in the first round. Other participants in the tournament include Akron, Davidson, Hawaii, Miami, Southern California and New Mexico State.
The Blue Raiders will end 2017 back in Birmingham to play its first Conference USA opponent, Alabama-Birmingham.
If King can continue his monstrous production, and Potts can increase his, there is no reason the Blue Raiders can’t make it through a tough non-conference schedule with only one loss. Such a feat would go a long way in making MT the favorite in the first round of the NCAA tournament rather than the underdog.
