Early Bracket Breaker: Murray State

Earlier this week, Brian made some predictions about how the season plays out. My prediction is March Mayhem. There are going to be more over-seeded teams than any year I can recall. Let’s start taking a look at some teams that will ossicle benefit this March.

Murray State is no stranger to March Mayhem. They’re also a very good team this year. In their last season in the OVC, they are undefeated. They likely won’t go undefeated but outside Morehead State and Belmont who they throttled on the road, they should roll through the rest of the league.

The Racers are a very efficient basketball team. 41st overall in KenPom, they’re 47th in offense and 57th ind defense. They’re 40th in offensive fg% and have the 11th best offensive rebounding %. The only offensive weakness is bad FT shooting. They only make 67% of FTs. 

Defensively, they are good at turning teams over, 46th in turnover %. 91st in effective defensive fg%, that’s solid. Teams only shoot 29% from beyond the arc against them. 2pt defense is weak, 225th in 2pt %. They’re a little below average on the defensive glass, so size will be an issue for them.

KJ Williams and Tevin Brown are in their 4th seasons with the Racers. Williams is a high usage guy but very effective. He’s also their best glassman. Brown is a good defender and the Racers best threat from 3, shooting 40%. This is a veteran team who has been building to this season.

Brian has them as a 10-seed at the moment, right where they should be. No 7 or 2 seed will want to see them. They’ll have to win the OVC Tournament. They have a win over a mediocre Memphis team and that’s about it. That’s a tough task to have no room for an upset in league tourney play but if they get through, they’ll be a team to watch.