Sold on Insell
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Looks like Rick Insell made good on his promise.
The high school coaching great had vowed to make his alma mater, Middle Tennessee, one of the top women’s college basketball programs in the nation.
He did it in his second season.
The Blue Raiders are riding a 14-game winning streak that includes their first victory over a Top 10 team, and are enjoying their first national ranking at No. 20.
They are thriving with senior guard Chrissy Givens, junior college transfer Amber Holt and a pressing defense that feeds the country’s fourth-best scoring offense.
“We’re excited about where we’re at right now, and we may be there a little quicker than we thought,” Insell said.
Could they make a deep run in the NCAA tournament?
“We’ve got a lot of pieces of the puzzle. Have we got enough to take it to the next level? I guess we’ll have to wait another month and half or two months, but I think so,” Insell said.
His Blue Raiders agree.
“Our goal is to get to the Elite Eight,” Holt said.
Adds Givens: “We’re still not getting the amount of recognition that we want yet.”
When coach Stephany Smith left for Alabama after leading the Blue Raiders to consecutive first-round NCAA tournament victories, Middle Tennessee officials took a chance.
Insell, who graduated from Middle Tennessee in 1977, won a record 10 state championships coaching girls at Shelbyville Central High School. He went 775-148, including 110 consecutive wins, national titles in 1989 and 1991 and a trip to the White House.
Hired in May 2005, he took over a Middle Tennessee program used to some success, with nine NCAA tournament berths and two WNIT appearances. But Insell saw potential for even better things, and he declared that a Final Four was possible some day.
Results have come quickly.
A program that averaged 600 fans per game before Insell arrived drew 2,699 his first season and was up to 3,766 going into Thursday night’s game against Arkansas State – the 29th-best average in the country. He is shooting for 4,500 by season’s end and area fans, used to rooting against his high school team, are getting used to cheering him.
Insell’s first recruiting class produced four freshmen, one who redshirted, led by Brandi Brown. He also landed Holt, a junior college player originally headed to Georgia until she found out not all of her credits would transfer.
She scored 28 points in her debut against defending national champion Maryland, a game tied at 72 with 3:11 left before the Blue Raiders lost 80-76 in front of a record 10,010 fans in Murfreesboro.
Insell presses on defense, an approach that has forced 20 or more turnovers in all but one game this season and a season-high 40 that turned into 51 points in a victory Jan. 13 at New Orleans. His offensive philosophy is simple: Get a good look at the basket, shoot away.
“I’ve never had a team that has had better chemistry than we’ve got right now,” Insell said.
The biggest scare came against New Orleans. Givens crumpled to the court after hearing a pop in her left knee, but an MRI showed no damage. She didn’t miss a game and had a school-record 11 steals in a 78-50 victory.
“It was a pure blessing it was but a bruise,” Givens said.
The Blue Raiders, 17-3 after Saturday’s 75-62 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock, have not lost since falling 88-64 at No. 4 Tennessee on Nov. 26. Their victory at then-No. 8 Georgia is why their RPI was 13th last week before slipping to 17 after three Sun Belt Conference road games last week.
If Middle Tennessee wins a fourth straight conference tournament and gets an unprecedented fourth straight NCAA tournament berth, Insell believes his team would deserve a No. 5 or No. 6 seed, maybe even as high as fourth.
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt thinks the Blue Raiders are poised for tournament success.
“This is a team that’s skilled, very athletic, well-coached. They play hard. They’re a very dangerous team,” Summitt said.
Having the chance to build a program is why Givens, the nation’s 12th-best scorer averaging 21.4 points per game, chose Middle Tennessee.