NCAAB Team Profiles: Murray State Racers

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Murray State Racers is a men’s basketball team that represents Murray State University in the NCAAB, they are a great choice for NCAAB picks, as they completed a 74 season run in the Ohio valley Conference, which is a part of Division I of the NCAAB last season. 

They moved over to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2022, however. 

They’ve been playing home games at the CFSB Center on campus since ‘98, and their 18th appearance in the NCAAB tournament was back in 2022.

They’ve advanced in the tournament on 5 occasions, and their most recent occurrence of this was in 2022 when they defeated the University of San Francisco. 

Back in ‘88, they defeated NC State in the first round, but eventually they lost to the national champion, which was Kansas. Then in 2010, the 22-year anniversary of their win in 1988, they ended up beating Vanderbilt, but lost to Butler, the runner-up in the second round!

So, we can safely say that while they’ve had quite a few losses to high ticket performers, they have had a lot of success, and therefore, if you’re looking for a team to bet on in the NCAAB, the Murray State Racers are worth your attention.

Check out the information we have available on this team below!

 

Champion Titles

The Murray State Racer’s have made quite a few championships, but also have made it quite far in their advancements in the game. 

Below you will find all the years that they made major tournament appearances and gained a champion/championship title.

NCAA Tournament Round 32: 1964, 1969, 1988, 2010, 2012, 2019, 2022.

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1964, 1969, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2994, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2022.

Won Conference Tournament (Champions): 1951, 1964, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2022.

Regular Season Champions For Conference: 1951, 1964, 1969, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022.

Season Champions For Conference Division: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.

This is exactly why we say that if you are a fan of NCAAB betting action, the Murray State Racer’s are worth considering, they’ve certainly been doing well in recent years. 


History

Back in 2005, Street & Smith’s named the racers to be the overall 52nd best program in the NCAAB of all time. ESPN also ranked Murray State as being the 30th best from ‘84 until ‘08, which broke a tie with Villanova, all thanks to a higher winning percentage. 

Overall, Murray State are considered to be the truest middle-major team in their ranks. 

While they have a complex history, as does any team, their history has not seen such an aggressive rise and fall as in some teams, they’ve been fairly consistent.

They were considered mid-major back in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, and if you check out FanDuel NCAAB picks, you’ll find they likely still are, when it comes to betting action.

 

Rivalries

NBA teams are not the only ones with rivalries, NCAAB teams have their own rivalries, and Murray State’s oldest rivalry is with the Western Kentucky University (WKU). These two became archenemies in their time together in the Ohio Valley Conference. 

While they don’t even have the conference affiliation anymore, since Kentucky joined the Sun Belt Conference in 82, and then Conference USA in 2014, they still put the effort in to keep the series alive. 

They have met in basketball at least 147 times.

For the remainder of the Racer’s tenure OVC, their in-conference rivalry was mainly Austin Peay State University, which is closer than WKU, geographically. 

However, in more recent years, they’ve built a new rivalry with the newcomer to OVC, Belmont. In three seasons one after the other, the Bruins and Racers have met in tournament finals, from 2017-2020, with Murray State being the winner of two of these!


Significant Players

If you want to know who has made this team great then you will be glad to know that the Racer’s have seen quite a few significant faces. 

Let’s start with the Racer’s players who are All-Americans!


All-American Players

The Murray State Racers have had 14 All-Americans overall, their first All-American was in ‘38 and their most recent in 2019. 

See if you recognize any of these names!

  • Etheridge McKeel - 1938.

  • Bob Salmons - 1941.

  • Joe Fulks - 1943.

  • Garrett Beshear - 1951.

  • Bennie Purcell - 1952.

  • Howie Crittenden - 1956.

  • Stew Johnson - 1966.

  • Dick Cunningham - 1968.

  • Jeff Martin - 1989.

  • Popeye Jones - 1992.

  • Marcus Brown -1994.

  • Cuthbert Victor - 2004.

  • Isaiah Canaan - 2012.

  • Ja Morant - 2019.

 

NBA Draftees

The Racers have seen 25 of their players get selected for the NBA Draft. Their first was Reagan who was selected by the Stags in ‘48. 

In 1967, they had two players selected in the draft, Herb McPherson, for San Diego (currently Houston Rockets) in the 3rd round, and Don Duncan who was also picked by the Rockets in the 10th.

Then in 1971, Hector Blondet was picked in the 5th for the Trail Blazers, and Ron Johnson for the Bullets (now Wizards) in the 9th.


Overall

The Racers are an NCAAB team who have seen quite a lot of success and are considered a real mid-major team, worth betting on!