The Murray State Racers are turning themselves into one of the most exciting and confounding storylines of the college basketball season. At 20-0, Murray State has a great shot at becoming the first college hoops team to go undefeated in the regular season since UNLV did it in 1990-1991, before losing to Duke in the Final Four.
But playing in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Racers don't play the stiffest of competition, which begs the question: Do we respect the Murray State Basketball program enough to give the Racers a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament if they stay perfect against a lesser schedule?
First, it should be noted that Murray State has beaten some damn good teams this season. They took care of Southern Miss. in the non-conference, and before you go scoffing at Southern Miss., understand that the Golden Eagles are a team with some very good wins, and an RPI at No. 12 in the country, according to realtimerpi.com. The Racers spanked Dayton by 17 points, and the Flyers currently sit atop the very tough A-10 Conference. Murray State also beat a very talented Memphis team -- on the road.
I know that three wins don't make a season, and those three teams aren't from the "power" conferences -- but that doesn't mean those teams aren't every bit as good as the teams in the power conferences.
Even if the Racers stay unbeaten, it's hard to put their resume up against other quality teams that have more than three quality wins. The question, then, is not so much what does their resume prove, but how good are they and how much respect does the program deserve.
To find an answer to that question, we should all be clear on this: Murray State hasn't come out of nowhere. The Racers haven't had a losing season since 1987. Two years ago, they beat Vanderbilt in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and lost by just two points in the second round to eventual runner-up Butler.
Speaking of Butler, we should also be reminded of this: it is quite common in college basketball for a "mid-major" program to be one of the best in the country. We know Butler is a great program. We know Gonzaga. Yet the success of mid-major programs often goes unrecognized because they don't get the hype that comes from (erroneous) recruiting rankings and (erroneous) pre-season polling. Specifically, pollsters and pundits routinely doubt the ability of mid-major programs to rebound from players graduating or going pro.
Look at San Diego State as an example. After losing the four top scorers from last year's second-seeded team, no one expected much from the Aztecs this season. But SDSU didn't need a rebuilding season. Like a top team from a power conference, they had enough talent and continuity to pick up where they left off -- the experts just had to learn some new names, which they are always slow to do. Now, you can't say that San Diego State isn't one of the top five or ten teams in the country again this year. You just can't.
But back to Murray State. Perhaps we should begin thinking of them along the same lines as Butler and Gonzaga. Let me tell you, if they hadn't run into Butler in 2010, they would have gone far in that tournament. They didn't upset Vanderbilt that year; the Racers beat Vandy because they were the better team, and had been all season -- they just hadn't gotten the recogition for it until then.
Fortunately, in college basketball the bias against non-BCS schools only manifests itself in the tournament seeding -- those mid-major teams still have the chance to go out and prove themselves in the dance, which they do every year with astonishing regularity in games that we so brazenly mistake for "upsets."
Does Murray State deserve a one-seed? Hard to say they do and hard to say they don't. Will they get one? No, they will not. Should the Racers go undefeated, the best I can see them doing is a two-seed. Stumble just once -- even to a quality team like St. Mary's in the Bracket Buster -- and I think their ceiling is a four-seed.
But I can guarantee this much: no one from any conference is going to want to play them in the tournament in March.
[Men's Basketball - Murray St. Racers (2011-2012)]
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