Middle Tennessee State, Xavier bag upsets as Northwestern break maiden

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders play the Butler Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament March Madness game on Saturday, start time at 7:10 PM ET, at BMO Harris Bradley Center.

Butler will face the victor of the No. 1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels versus the No. 8 seed Arkansas Razorbacks on March 24 in Memphis, Tenn.

The Gophers went 8-23 and 2-16 in the Big Ten last season. Seriously, don’t. Middle Tennessee may be a no. 12 seed, but in Vegas sportsbooks it was favored by one point over Minnesota, the no. 5 seed in the South region. “He’s very consistent with his mid-range. and (can) get to the hoop and being physical”, Butler forward Andrew Chrabascz said. Tyler Lewis drove and drew in two defenders before kicking it back to Chrabascz for an open 3-pointer at the top of the key that restored Butler’s lead to six with 3:25 to play. On the ensuing play, coach Chris Holtmann called Chrabascz’s number, getting him involved in a two-man game that resulted in a wide-open look from the left wing.

Senior Josh Hart scored 19 to lead the Wildcats, but the guard was bottled up and stripped by Wisconsin’s Ethan Happ and Vitto Brown on a drive in the final seconds. “But honestly, I’m so proud of our guys, because this was one of the historical Gophers teams coming from only an eight-win season past year”.

“I don’t think so at all”, Davis said when asked if he would classify the win as an upset. “I didn’t really imagine us being this good, but I knew we had a chance”, Williams said. I love humility. I think that is a great characteristic for anybody to have. “Give them credit. They were really blocking out well”. They rattled off eight straight wins but then lost two of their last three games at the end of the season plus the Big Ten Tournament. “This is the best time of the year, we have the best fans in the country and we have another weekend for them to come with us”.

Can No. 12 Middle Tennessee find a way to get another upset when it takes on No. 4 Butler today at 7:10PM ET in the second round of the NCAA Tournament? They shot 51.1 percent from the floor and an even more impressive 53.3 percent on threes. Freshman guard Kamar Baldwin scored 11 of his 13 in the first half.

Martin led the Bulldogs with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting. But now BU is matched up against a tremendous Middle Tennessee team. He was held scoreless, missing all eight of his field-goal attempts.

Riley LaChance made a layup with 18 seconds remaining in Thursday’s game to put the ninth-seeded Commodores up by one after trailing by as many as 15.

With nothing from Potts, who was benched for a portion of the second half, sophomore Antwain Johnson offered an unlikely source of scoring from an otherwise barren backcourt. He wasn’t around in 2003 when Butler reached the Sweet 16 and star Joel Cornette made a blunt statement that still resonates within the Bulldogs’ community.

The Gophers (24-10) were the first No. 5 seed not to be favored against a No. 12 seed since 1999. Williams seemingly grasps that inarguable point, but for Smith’s benefit, I could mention that the Bulldogs (25-8) have now won 21 games in the NCAA Tournament since the 2001 tournament, which is 50 percent more than in and Purdue (14 each) or Notre Dame (13).