March Madness 2013: The Belmont Bruins are in the NCAA Tournament

We’ll be doing NCAA Tournament profiles for all automatic bid conference winners leading into the NCAA Tournament. See below for previous team profiles.

Conference/Record: Ohio Valley (26-6)

Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Famous Alums/Attendees: Belmont is a private school located in Music City, and has a renowned music program. Famous alumni in the music world include Brad Paisley, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, and Stephen Curtis Chapman.

Social Media: @BelmontBB is the official team account. Game winner hero Kerron Johnson (@kjbbruin03) is also on Twitter.

Random Fun Fact: Rick Byrd has been coaching Belmont since 1986, when they were a NAIA school, and won the NAIA national championship in 1989.

Tournament History/Most Recent: This is Belmont’s sixth trip, and they have been pre-tournament darlings of late, but have yet to win a game, losing last year to Georgetown, and to Wisconsin two years ago.

Record vs. Projected At-Larges and Bubble Teams: 3-2

Good Wins/Bad Losses: Belmont won on the road at Stanford and beat Middle Tennessee. They lost to VCU by 10 and were handled by Kansas by 29 points. Losses to Tennessee State and Northeastern are the worst on the list.

Notable Player(s): Kerron Johnson, who hit the game winner in the OVC championship game, is now a senior and has been a key part of Belmont’s three straight tournament appearances. [Update: Everyone has let me know that I should include his partner Ian Clark, co-player of the year with Murray State's Isaiah Canaan. Sorry, Belmont fans]

All-Important Rankings: 19 (RPI), 47 (Pomeroy), 23 (Seven Overtimes)

Outlook/Seed: Belmont’s RPI is in the top twenty, but with a best win being on the road at Stanford or over Middle Tennessee, I don’t think they can expect a seed anywhere near that range. They are a wildcard when it comes to how the committee will slot them, but the more likely scenario is somewhere between a 10 and 12, subject to being moved around on the seed lines based on accomodating at-larges and conference conflicts.

[photo via US Presswire]

Previous Team Profiles:

Florida Gulf Coast
Harvard
Liberty

aroundtheweb

16 Responses to “March Madness 2013: The Belmont Bruins are in the NCAA Tournament”

GloriousMullet Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 12:56 PM

Can’t wait to drink beer and watch basketball until my wife threatens to leave me. Favorite time of the year.

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 12:57 PM

Sounds like a classic 12-seed who takes out a 5 to me.

Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:00 PM

I picked them over Duke right before it was cool to, and lost by 2.

/hipster bracket

Famous alumni in the music world include Brad Paisley

Tons of music people go there… it’s def a music biz school. But every year I mention how many really good looking girls go to Belmont. They are all total stuck up bitches, but a lot of Carrie Underwood-wannabes. It’s always a nice evening jog through campus.

knitty Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:02 PM

Sounds like a classic 12-seed who takes out a 5 to me.

If they draw another good defensive team ala Wisconsin, Gtown, its curtains for them.

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:02 PM

It’s always a nice evening jog[ging] through campus.

Things serial killers say for $1,000, Alex.

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:03 PM

Favorite time of the year.

I used to be like this. Now I come home from work, have no clue what channel the games are on and fall asleep by 10:00.

Cowboy Mike's Old Original Red Hot Ricochet Barbeque Sauce Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:03 PM

People who hold up signs with hashtags on them should be run over by a bus.

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:05 PM

People who hold up signs with hashtags on them should be run over by a bus.

Seems like an odd thing to bother someone.

Chief Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:05 PM

I used to be like this. Now I come home from work, have no clue what channel the games are on and fall asleep by 10:00.

Man, you’re old.

Cowboy Mike's Old Original Red Hot Ricochet Barbeque Sauce Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Bitch anything even remotely related to sports is “an odd thing to bother someone” don’t act like any of this matters.

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Man, you’re old.

Tell me about it.

Wide Word of Sport (?) Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:06 PM

I used to be like this. Now I come home from work, have no clue what channel the games are on and fall asleep by 10:00.

I used to love the Spring because I loved (in no certain order) (1) first day of NCAA tourney (2) MLB opening day and (3) first day of the Masters (4) Patriots Day/Marathon Monday

For various reasons, not as much with any of them

HuskerDawg Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:07 PM

anything even remotely related to sports is “an odd thing to bother someone” don’t act like any of this matters.

Except Texas football. That should bother everybody.

Cowboy Mike's Old Original Red Hot Ricochet Barbeque Sauce Says:
March 11th, 2013 at 1:12 PM

Hahahahaha, Vikings.

chatterbox Says:
March 12th, 2013 at 12:14 PM

Famous alumni in the music world include Brad Paisley, Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, and Stephen Curtis Chapman.

Who???

I did see Belmont win the NAIA title at the old Kemper Arena in KC in 1989.

belmontgrad Says:
March 17th, 2013 at 8:46 PM

Sorry to disagree, but as much as I wish it were so, Belmont did not win an NAIA championship. Bunches of conference titles and #1 rankings, but St. Mary’s won in ’89. There’s a wiki page btw. Kudos for seeding pick. #11 was spot on.

March Madness 2013: The Belmont Bruins are in the NCAA Tournament

16 Responses to “March Madness 2013: The Belmont Bruins are in the NCAA Tournament”

Leave a Reply