Conference USA was one of the best college basketball conferences in the country a season ago. Everyone remembers Florida Atlantic and their magical run to the Final Four. There was also UAB and North Texas who both played for the NIT title. Last but certainly not least is the Charlotte 49ers who won the CBI a season ago. The league placed a team in the final weekend of every single college basketball postseason tournament. The league was extremely deep and looks to be that way again this year.
For the mid-major breakout player from Conference USA, we are not going to focus on any of the teams listed above because they already received their airtime and have many players who have already arrived on the scene. This week takes us to Tennessee, for a team that has a huge NCAA tournament upset of their own on the ledger, and a team that is poised to have a seat at the top of the league this year.
The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders have a senior guard who is ready to put himself on the map. Elias King is coming off the best season of his college career and he has the skillset to take his game to the next level and potentially become one of the best players in the Conference USA.
Middle Tennessee may not have made a postseason tournament last year, but they still won 19 games and have one of the best home courts in the league. They beat Florida Atlantic, UAB, and Charlotte all in Murfreesboro. This season they are a little older and have a player who is primed for a breakout. Can the Blue Raiders get over the hump and get back to the tournament? That question will be answered soon enough. I hope to answer the other question and that is can Elias King take the next step to become one of the best players in the Conference USA?
Why you should know Elias King
The senior guard enters this season with the Blue Raiders with his highest expectations ever. He had his best season in college a season ago and he is ready to build from it. King started his career at Mississippi State and he only played in six games as a member of the Bulldogs. That led the guard to transfer to Middle Tennessee and while he was getting more minutes his role on the team was not growing as he was still getting minimal offensive looks and not providing much on the stat sheet.
At the end of his sophomore season, while playing in the CBI, something seemed to click for King as he started to show that he could score and rebound and carve out a nice role for the Blue Raiders.
Last season was a continuation of the CBI as the guard averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds per game. Those were career highs for the guard. The senior led the Blue Raiders in three-point makes and shot over 40% from deep a season ago. King was a three-point specialist last year, but as the season wore on and the guard gained more confidence he was starting to score more often from inside the three-point line. Middle Tennessee has a ton of confidence in King to get the job done when he is out on the floor and because of that he is going to have an increased role in the offense for the Blue Raiders this year.
The senior guard is deadly from the three-point line but he is developing into so much more. He still doesn’t drive the lane enough to complete his game, but when you are as good of a shooter as he has shown there really is no need for him to fix what isn’t broken. Middle Tennessee is just fine with the way their guard plays especially if he is going to shoot 40% from deep again this year. King is on the upward trajectory and if his career shows you anything about this year it is that he is going to improve from last year’s numbers. King is going to quickly put the Conference USA on watch.
Expectations for King in 2023-24
The Blue Raiders didn’t have a great start to the Nick McDevitt tenure, but with any transition to a new coach, it takes time to find the right mix of guys to run your program the way that you intend for it to be run. Middle Tennessee and coach McDevitt have figured it out over the last few seasons and have now become a threat in Conference USA again.
Conference USA is turning into one of the premier mid-major conferences in the country. I have not been very high on the Blue Raiders the last couple of years, and they have been a good team. This year the Blue Raiders don’t return much from last season, but they do have a budding star in King and were able to get some commitments in the transfer portal.
Middle Tennessee fans are going to expect a lot out of their star guard this season. It is reasonable to expect that he is going to average double-digit points, about 6 rebounds per game, and shoot 40% from deep. The Conference USA is loaded with good players who are still in the league so if King does make the all-conference team it will be because of a fantastic season and King elevating his game to become one of the biggest stars in the league. It is possible that that scenario does play out especially considering how much of a jump I think King can make this year.
Coach McDevitt is hopeful that King takes the leap forward as he has every season in his career especially since he is going to see an increase in minutes and is the only starter returning so he is going to get the looks in the offense. The Blue Raiders are going to go as far as King takes them this year.
However, just like every other great player that has ever played basketball, he won’t be able to do it all alone, Middle Tennessee went out and got a few players in the transfer portal who are going to help them immensely. Ty Mosley a transfer from Mississippi Valley State shot 47% from three last year and Jacob Johnson who played a lot at LIU before transferring to the Blue Raiders.
Middle Tennessee is going to be a top-half team in the Conference USA with one of the best players in the league in guard Elias King. Be ready for the breakout.