As we move through Championship Week, we’ll continue to bring you short reviews of each of the automatic qualifiers to help you fill out your bracket next week. The first team to gain entry into the 2015 NCAA Tournament is Belmont, the Ohio Valley Conference champion. Here’s what you need to know about the most recent bid winner.
Belmont Bruins
Belmont took down the 25th-ranked Racers and punched a ticket to the Dance. (Samuel M. Simpkins / The Tennessean)
- OVC Champion (22-10, 11-5)
- RPI/Pomeroy/Sagarin = #144/#147/#151
- Adjusted Scoring Margin = +2.4
- Likely NCAA Seed: #15
Strength: Another year, another Belmont roster loaded with outside shooters. As usual with Rick Byrd’s 4-out, 1-in motion offense, Belmont hoists three-pointers at an incredibly high rate – 26 attempts per contest, which account for nearly 50 percent of its shots – and hits them often enough (37.9% 3FG) to remain competitive on most nights. And when the ball movement is really crisp and the shots are really falling, it’s capable of flat-out bludgeoning opponents; against Eastern Illinois in the Ohio Valley Tournament quarterfinals, the Bruins shot 16-of-27 from behind the arc and crushed the Panthers by 33 points. The constant movement and ball-screening also enables Byrd’s club to find easy buckets on backdoor cuts, a major reason why it ranks fifth nationally in two-point percentage (56.2% 2FG).
Weakness: The Bruins give up 106.4 points per 100 possessions this season, their worst mark since 2006 and the fourth-worst mark within the Ohio Valley. With no prominent player standing taller than 6’8”, they are susceptible to being gashed inside and occasionally manhandled on the glass. Belmont’s two-point defense (51.2% 2FG) ranks among the 60 worst in college basketball. Offensively, the Bruins turn the ball over at their highest rate since 2010 (evident at times against Murray State on Saturday), lowlighted by 18-turnover and 16-turnover losses to Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State, respectively, in early February.
Key Player: Evan Bradds (14.1 PPG, 7.1 RPG). Craig Bradshaw (17.9 PPG) is Belmont’s offensive leader and Reece Chamberlain (5.9 APG) runs the show, but Bradds will be especially crucial against a bigger, stronger opponent(s) in the NCAA Tournament. The 6’7” sophomore scored 21 points and ripped down 11 rebounds against the Racers on Saturday, including seven offensive boards that helped keep possessions alive throughout the evening. As the Bruins’ only real inside presence, Bradds will have to play at a similarly high level in two weeks for Belmont to pull off an upset.
Outlook: Belmont’s recent tournament history is not great – three-straight opening round, blowout losses (2011-13) – but the last time it was a #15-seed (2008), Byrd’s club came within a basket of knocking off #2 seed Duke. If the Bruins avoid a stout defensive foe – especially one that applies pressure – and manage to catch fire from behind the arc, they can remain competitive for 40 minutes.