Another Blue Raider men's basketball season tips off Tuesday night against Brescia University. However, this is a season many fans are not eager to begin.

MTSU is coming off an 5-18 year, and losing four of their top six scorers to graduation or the transfer portal. Then it was announced Monday that a fifth would be lost due to injury.

The win totals have declined every season since the program hired head coach Nick McDevitt. And if you're thinking that might have to do with the volume of games, the winning percentage has fallen from .344 in 2018-19, to .258 in 2019-20, to .217 in 2020-21. The consolidated winning percentage over that span is .279, and the only lower winning percentage over a three-year span in the history of the program happened in the 1930's.

The projections this year are not optimistic either. Media, coaches, and bloggers alike have picked the Blue Raiders to finish last in Conference USA for the 2021-22 season. With the perception of the program trending down and rock bottom getting closer by the year, the hype and anticipation towards the season has been bleak.

Taking a break from the misery and returning to the status of the roster, the newcomers to the team this season include:

-Josh Jefferson, a 6'2 RS senior guard, UW-Green Bay transfer

-Isaiah Turner, a 6'9 sophomore forward, JuCo transfer

-Camryn Weston, a 6'3 sophomore guard, JuCo transfer

-Justin Bufford, a 6'6 freshman guard, JuCo transfer

-Teafale Lenard Jr., 6'7 freshman guard, Snyder HS (TX)

There are some solid takeaways when diving into the pasts of these players. Jefferson in his D1 career has shot a respectable 37% from behind the arc while averaging nearly six attempts per contest. Bufford had efficient scoring on solid production inside and outside in his single season at Shelton State CC. Lenard Jr. might be the hidden gem high school recruit McDevitt finally strikes gold on like he did many times at UNCA.

There is no shame in the majority of new faces on the Blue Raider roster being JuCo players either. Heck, MTSU used to be made of JuCo products. Five of the eight top minute getters in the 2013 NCAA Tournament team were such. JuCo players can have a grit and work ethic that more naturally gifted D1 players are sometimes missing. That type of attitude can create good culture. Maybe that is a piece of what has been missing.

These players, along with the returners, deserve the benefit of the doubt. They deserve to be believed in. Making it to the D1 level of college basketball isn't easy. The problem: can belief be given so unconditionally to the rest of the program at this juncture? More on this later...

The first year of the McDevitt era required the head coach to recover from a high roster turnover in a short amount of time. A mass exodus of graduations and dismissals led to only five scholarship players (who made up only 15% of the minutes played the prior season) being available as of June. With no recruits committed, the staff had to work quickly to field a roster. That led to an 11-21 season.

The next year, they added an Arkansas rotational player in CJ Jones and a solid crop of freshman. Despite Jones leading the team in scoring, the record regressed to 8-23. Alright, not ideal but I guess we knew it was possible. It was okay because NEXT year was going to be THE year.

The following season, last season, did not end up being the year. MTSU added four transfers with solid mid-major production as well as two high-major reserve transfers that were more likely to see the fruits of their labor in Murfreesboro. Despite loading up on talent, the team finished with their worst record yet.

So it begs to question: if the coaching staff cannot finish with anything close to a .500 record with a collection of players like that, can we expect them to mold JuCo products into the LaRon Dendys and Marcos Knights of college basketball?

Nick McDevitt has had plenty of legitimate excuses during his time in Murfreesboro. Perpetual roster turnover, injuries to key players, COVID-19, etc.. On-court chemistry has been a consistent challenge. There is no secret to why they have one of the worst turnover rates in college basketball every year.

But adversity hits every team in the country in some form or fashion. At some point, the excuses run dry. Anyone who is a fan of Middle Tennessee basketball wants positive results, and they have received very few.

The program went 179-62 over Kermit Davis' final seven seasons in Murfreesboro. Nick McDevitt has amassed a 24-62 record in his three seasons. Fans would have been naive to think that the program wasn't going to take at least a moderate, temporary drop after Davis left town. Well, right now we are far from that point. We have seen the literal peak and valley of the MTSU men's basketball program over the last six years. The nose dive they have taken has pushed the fanbase to the worst possible state it could be in: apathy.

I think anyone reading this, including myself, hopes these implications and projections end up falling flat. And I will go ahead and say that it is EXTREMELY possible. As Jon Rothstein says, college basketball is where the unexpected becomes ordinary.

People in this community love their Blue Raiders, and they will get behind any team that they believe in. However, we are at the point where that belief needs to be earned back, and it is no longer given.