Blue Raiders The squad has also knocked off then-No. 8 Georgia on the road, 70-62, during the 2006-07 season and welcomed defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Maryland to the Murphy Center for the 2006-07 season opener. Other notable national programs who have been on the slate since the Insell era began include Tennessee, Penn State, Virginia, Minnesota, Old Dominion, Arizona, Indiana, Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota State. Middle Tennessee has won the Sun Belt Tournament four times in his five seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament each time. In 2007, the Blue Raiders earned their first NCAA Tournament victory under his guidance with a First Round triumph over Gonzaga. In 2006, MT faced Utah. In 2009, Middle Tennessee battled Michigan State before they faced Mississippi State in 2010. The 2007-08 campaign saw the Blue Raiders playing in the Postseason WNIT, defeating Western Carolina in the opening round before falling in overtime at Kentucky. Insell believes the tough non-conference scheduling prepares the team well for postseason action and allows his players to travel into hostile environments without fear. Middle Tennessee has reached the top 25 rankings three times under his watch, including the first preseason ranking in school history with a No. 24 listing by the Associated Press prior to last season. The Blue Raiders also entered the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Top 25 just prior to tip-off of the Sun Belt Championship game against UALR. The highest ranking in school history came during the 2006-07 campaign, when the Lady Raiders reached an unprecedented height of No. 16 in both the Associated Press and coaches polls. No other program in Sun Belt history has won more regular-season conference games over a four-year span than Insell’s Blue Raiders. MT has captured 66 wins during the four-year stretch from 2006-07 to 2009-10, setting a new conference mark and bettering its own league mark and topping the Louisiana Tech teams from 1997-98 to 2000-01. Last year’s Middle Tennessee squad, led by a veteran core of five seniors, four of whom each scored at least 1,000 points in their Blue Raider careers, finished 25-6 and reached the NCAA Tournament after Clark netted the game-winning basket against UALR in overtime with 1.8 seconds left in the SBC final. The four players scoring their 1,000th point in the same season made Middle Tennessee just the sixth team in NCAA women’s basketball history to accomplish the feat. Insell led his team to a 28-6 record in 2008-09, and he captured his second Sun Belt Coach of the Year award along the way. He previously was named the league’s best following the 2006-07 campaign. The Blue Raiders participated in the 2008 Preseason WNIT and matched a school record with a 15-1 (.938) mark inside the Murphy Center. MT has dropped only one home Sun Belt game in his five seasons, compiling a staggering 41-1 (.976) mark. The Lady Raiders won 18 in a row at one point, with all but one of the
2010-11 Coach Bios
conference wins being by double-digit margins. In 2007-08, the Holt-led team finished 22-12, including 14-4 in the Sun Belt. The previous season, Insell guided the Blue Raiders to a 30-4 record and their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and Sun Belt Tournament title, tying school records for both achievements. During Insell’s first year on the bench, 200506, MT posted a 20-11 (10-4 SBC) mark. Insell’s system churns out top scorers, including the top-four single-season leaders in school history in each of the last three years: Clark, 935 (2008-09); Holt, 930 (2007-08); Clark, 824 (2009-10) and Givens, 768 (2006-07). With the addition of Clark, Brandi Brown, Chelsia Lymon and Jackie Pickel to the 1,000-point club, the group now includes 24 former Middle Tennessee greats. Anne Marie Lanning, a senior on this year’s team, enters the campaign needing just 234 to become the 25th member. His mark has also been noticed on the recruiting trail. His first class ranked No. 10 nationally and included recent graduates Brown, Lymon and Pickel. Last year’s fiveplayer class, all hailing from Tennessee, was rated as high as No. 27 by ESPN HoopGurlz and No. 38 by Blue Star Basketball’s Chris Mennig. His other significant impact has been attendance at home games. Middle Tennessee led the nation in increased attendance percentage in 2005-06, drawing 2,699 fans per game, a 276 percent increase over the previous season. A high of 10,010 passed through the turnstiles for the Maryland season opener the next year, ranking among the top 50 nationwide for a 2006-07 game. The Blue Raiders are consistently ranked among the top 35 programs nationally in attendance; an aver-
Insell’s record vs. Opponents... Alabama...................................................... 1-0 Arizona........................................................ 2-0 Arkansas State.......................................... 6-1 Austin Peay................................................ 4-1 Chattanooga............................................. 2-2 Denver......................................................... 7-0 Eastern Kentucky..................................... 1-0 FIU................................................................. 8-2 Florida Atlantic......................................... 7-1 Georgia........................................................ 1-1 Georgia Southern.................................... 1-0 Georgia State............................................ 1-0 Gonzaga...................................................... 1-0 Houston...................................................... 2-0 Indiana........................................................ 1-0 Kentucky..................................................... 1-1
Lafayette..................................................... 1-0 Louisiana.................................................... 7-0 Louisville..................................................... 1-2 LSU................................................................ 2-1 Maine........................................................... 1-0 Marist........................................................... 0-1 Maryland.................................................... 0-2 Michigan State......................................... 0-1 Minnesota.................................................. 1-0 Mississippi State....................................... 0-1 New Orleans.............................................. 7-0 North Dakota State................................. 1-1 North Texas................................................ 6-1 Oklahoma................................................... 0-1 Old Dominion........................................... 1-1 Penn State.................................................. 1-0
South Alabama.......................................11-0 South Dakota State................................. 1-2 Tennessee................................................... 0-4 Tennessee Tech........................................ 5-0 Troy.............................................................10-0 UAB............................................................... 0-1 UALR............................................................. 6-3 UCF............................................................... 1-0 ULM.............................................................. 5-0 Utah.............................................................. 0-1 Virginia........................................................ 0-1 Western Carolina..................................... 1-2 Western Kentucky.................................10-3 Xavier........................................................... 0-1 TOTAL........................................ 125-39
Middle Tennessee Women’s Basketball Keep Dreaming...Keep Believing...Keep Achieving
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