Getty Ja Morant, of Murray State, hit a game winning shot to send Murray State to the NCAA Tournamen
After 40 minutes of back and forth basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, Ja Morant showed why he was worthy of a top lottery pick on the back of a monster performance leading Murray State to a March Madness bid. With the win, a 77-65 triumph over Belmont, Murray State becomes the first team to earn a bid to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
With a week and a half to rest now before the first round of the NCAA tournament, Ja Morant and Murray State get some much-needed rest before they inevitably face a tough first-round matchup. Despite their strong record and conference championship, Murray State is the definition of a mid-major program and will likely draw the task of facing a very solid Power Five school. With close losses to both Alabama and Auburn, Murray State has shown themselves capable of hanging with tournament caliber programs and may draw the infamous upset-heavy 12 seed come selection Sunday.
Ja Morant Shines as Murray State Earns the First NCAA Tournament Bid of 2019
Ja Morant was electric for the Racers, making big play after big play down the stretch to hold off the late push from Belmont. Leading the way for the Racers with 36 points, Morant was the steady hand that guided Murray State
Ja Morant just did it again.
A former two-star basketball recruit, Morant has improved at a breakneck pace over the past two seasons and has firmly cemented himself as a top lottery pick in the NBA. Averaging 24.2 points per game to go with 10.3 assists and 5.5 rebounds, Morant produces one of the gaudiest stat lines across all of college basketball. The eighth leading scorer in the NCAA, Morant came up with big bucket after big bucket to will Murray State over Belmont.
Murray State March Madness Prediction
As mentioned earlier, with Murray State’s resume and star power, they seem like an ideal fit for the infamous 12th seed. Typically, the selection committee will pick the strongest Mid-Major programs (not named Gonzaga or Buffalo) as 12 seeds and the five versus twelve matchups result traditionally result in quite a few upsets. In fact, 12 seeds are 47-89 all-time against five seeds, good for a 34.56%.
Ja Morant and Murray State are going to the tourney!
According to teamrankings.com, the most likely teams that Murray State would face if they wind up as the 12th seed would be Cincinnati, Marquette, Villanova, and UCF. While Murray State would undoubtedly be the underdog in any of these matchups, Ja Morant is good enough by himself to get hot and carry this team to victory and no team in the nation has shown any ability to slow him down.
If Morant stays hot, there is no reason as to why Murray State couldn’t be able to pull off the upset and move into the round of 32. However, if they do pull off the upset and move forward in the tournament, their lack of depth is going to become an increasing issue as they will without a doubt need some reliable help from their supporting cast alongside Morant. Don’t expect a deep run, but look for Murray State to be a prime upset candidate come opening weekend.