Middle Tennessee's Giddy Potts, right, heads to the basket as Michigan State's Denzel Valentine defends during the first half in a first-round men's college basketball game in the NCAA tournament in St. Louis.

Giddy Potts and the the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders are again ready to make some noise in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Fresh off a second-straight Conference USA Tournament championship win Saturday where Potts was named the tournament MVP, MTSU is looking to repeat what it did a year ago during March Madness.

As a 15-seed a last year’s tournament, Middle Tennessee State upset second-seeded Michigan State in the first round and Potts, an Athens native, became a household name.

This year, the Blue Raiders earned a No. 12 seed and will face No. 5 seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Thursday. The team is making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history.

The Blue Raiders and Gophers will tip at approximately 3 p.m., following the conclusion of the match-up between Butler and Winthrop at 12:30. Thursday’s contest will be televised on TNT.

“We know Minnesota is going to travel really well; it’s kind of Big Ten country in that area,” MTSU head coach Kermit Davis said. “It would make our players feel really good to have a great contingent of blue there on Thursday.”

MTSU has now made the field of 68 three times in the last five seasons, and its No. 12 seed is the second highest in school history.

The Raiders are led by the dynamic trio of seniors JaCorey Williams and Reggie Upshaw and Potts, a 2014 Athens High graduate and an all-conference third-teamer. He averages 15.8 per game to go with 5.5 rebounds. He leads the team with 74 made 3-pointers and 46 steals.

Middle Tennessee is making its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance and is 3-8 all-time in the tournament.

“We’re excited,” Upshaw said. “Every year you see a 12-5 upset, and to have that 12 seed, we know the history behind it. There’s nothing but excitement from us, because we know what we can do when we get into the national spotlight in the NCAA Tournament.”

Davis will be making his fifth trip to the dance and third as the head man of the Blue Raiders. He took the Idaho Vandals to the tournament in back-to-back seasons in 1989 and 1990 after winning the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament championships both years.

Middle Tennessee currently stands at 30-4 and finished the conference slate with a 17-1 record. It is just the fourth C-USA school all-time to reach 30 wins in a season, joining Memphis (five times), Louisville (once) and Cincinnati (once). Its 17 league wins are the most in a Conference USA season. The Blue Raiders were the outright regular season conference champs and tournament champs for the first time since 1975, when they were in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Middle Tennessee has squared off with Minnesota five times. The Golden Gophers lead the all-time series 4-1, and the last meeting was on March 21, 2012, in the National Invitation Tournament, a 78-72 Minnesota win.

Head coach Richard Pitino’s Golden Gophers go into the tournament winners of nine of their last 11 games. They lost in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament to Michigan 84-77.

“We have great respect for Minnesota, and we’re sure excited to play,” Davis said.

Pitino is no stranger to facing off against the Blue Raiders. He was the head coach at FIU from 2011-2013, and MT held a 4-1 record over the Panthers over that stretch.