There were a lot of positives to be found in the final six weeks of Middle Tennessee's season.

The Blue Raiders were 7-11 overall and 4-4 in the Sun Belt when they proceeded to win four straight games and closed out their regular season by winning seven of 10, including a home win over regular-season conference champ South Alabama.

Then the Blue Raiders beat top-seeded South Alabama 82-73 in the semifinals of the Sun Belt tournament, on USA's home floor. Even though Middle Tennessee lost 67-57 to Western Kentucky in the tournament championship game, that one loss didn't take away from all the progress the Blue Raiders made down the stretch on the way to a 17-15 record, an 11-7 finish in the Sun Belt and a trip to the title game.

Even better is the fact that Middle Tennessee is expected to return all of its players in 2008-09 and should enter the season as one of the favorites to contend for the Sun Belt title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Raiders have the pieces to put together a championship run, with sophomore forward Desmond Yates, a first-team all-conference selection, a trio of junior guards in Kevin Kanaskie, Demetrius Green and Nigel Johnson and junior center Theryn Hudson. They will be joined by senior guard Calvin O'Neil, a defensive specialist who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the season opener, and freshman guard Antwaun Boyd, who did not become academically eligible until January and redshirted.

"I'm very proud of our team and the run we made," coach Kermit Davis said. "You can't fault the effort and we're excited knowing we have every player on this team coming back in addition to the players we gain. We made a lot of progress and we can carry that over."

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