Athens High School boys basketball coach Stace Tedford remembers when people thought Giddy Potts was too short or too heavy to play high-level college basketball.

Even though Potts was one of the top high school players in Alabama his senior year in 2014 — finishing second in the 2014 Mr. Basketball vote — he didn’t receive a single offer from an SEC school.

“I thought he was as good as anybody in the state his senior year,” Tedford said. “He had a lot of interest from different schools, but the big schools never pulled the trigger. He was always too short, or too heavy. But (Middle Tennessee State coach) Kermit Davis took a chance on him, and you see what happened.”

What has happened is Potts has enjoyed one of the most successful careers in Middle Tennessee’s basketball history, and helped the Blue Raiders to unprecedented heights.

Middle Tennessee enters the Conference USA tournament today as the No. 1 seed after winning the regular season conference championship with a 16-2 conference record.

MTSU hasn’t just beat up on teams in its conference. The Blue Raiders took on a challenging non-conference schedule, beating SEC teams Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, and losing close games to SEC champion Auburn (76-70), Southern California (89-84) and Miami (84-81).

Middle Tennessee can guarantee an NCAA Tournament berth if it wins the C-USA tourney, but it’s season might be successful enough to garner an at-large berth even if it fails to win the conference tournament.

Potts burst onto the scene two seasons ago, when the 15^th seeded Blue Raiders upset No. 2 seed Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Potts scored 19 points in that game in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history.

MTSU backed up that success last season, when it again went to the NCAA Tournament, and again won its first round game, this time as a 12 seed, knocking off fifth-seeded Minnesota.

All the while, Potts has been a consistent scorer and 3-point shooter. He led the team in scoring during his sophomore season at 14.9 points per game and set a school record for 3-point percentage, making 50.6 percent of his attempts.

He was second on the team in scoring last season at 15.3 points per game and led the team with 47 steals. His scoring stats are down this year, as he averages 12.4 points per game. That is not due to him slipping as a player but rather his unselfishness.

In the offseason, Middle Tennessee signed Alabama graduate transfer Nick King, who has led the league in scoring this season and is the front-runner to be C-USA player of the year. Potts has taken a secondary role with the team, still the second leading scorer, but improving his assist numbers as the Blue Raiders have continued to thrive.

“He was going into his senior year and was the pre-season conference player of the year when they signed Nick King,” Tedford said. “But instead of Giddy being upset about the success Nick is having, he changed his role. He’s not as much of a scorer, but has more assists and it’s really helped the team.”

If Middle Tennessee wins its Conference USA tournament quarterfinal game today, Potts will become the winningest player in Blue Raider basketball history. He truly has been a part of the renaissance of the Middle Tennessee basketball program. That is something that doesn’t go unnoticed by his high school coach.

“Giddy has helped Middle Tennessee become a national brand,” Tedford said. “They’re being talked about now as a mid-major like Gonzaga and Butler, who are NCAA Tournament teams consistently year in and year out. He has really helped change the basketball culture of the university. That’s a pretty dad gum big accomplishment from a kid out of Athens High School.”