March Madness 2012: The Belmont Bruins Are Dancing In the NCAA Tournament
By Jason Lisk
Conference: Atlantic Sun (27-7)
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Famous Alum: 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.
They’re Back! Belmont has only been a D-I program since 2000, but this marks their fifth trip to the tournament. They have yet to win a game, and lost last year to Wisconsin as a 13 seed.
Resume: Belmont opened the year with a 1-point loss at Duke, then lost at Memphis. They split with Marshall and Middle Tennessee State in close games, and have won 14 games in a row to end the season.
Notable Player(s): Mick Hedgepeth gives them the interior presence. Junior point guard Kerron Johnson keys the play on a dynamic offense, and Drew Hanlen and Ian Clark are both dangerous spot up shooters.
Team Style/Strengths: The Bruins are much better offensively than defensively. They rotate two senior big men in Hedgepeth and Scott Saunders, have an athletic 4-man in 6’6″ J.J. Mann, and play with the three guard lineup. They prefer to play an up tempo style.
All-Important Rankings: 58 (RPI), 25 (Pomeroy)
Projected Outlook/Seed: They could be a 12 seed but will probably fall victim to the seeding for the “First 4 games” that will slot and that line, and might get bumped to a 13 seed. Either way, they now have a year experience after that slow start against Wisconsin last year, and will be a dangerous opponent for a 4 or 5 seed.
[photo via US Presswire]
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