Belmont punched its ticket to the Big Dance by outlasting Murray State in an overtime classic in the Ohio Valley championship game on Saturday night. Bruins guard Kerron Johnson hit two clutch jumpers from the free throw line–one at the end of regulation and one in overtime–to lift Belmont to the title and back into the NCAAs for the third consecutive year. Belmont (26-6) will likely be seeded somewhere in the 10-12 range.
Here are five things you probably didn’t know about the Bruins:
1. They’ve now reached the NCAAs in two different conferences. Belmont was the class of the Atlantic Sun in each of the past two years (and five of the last seven), but conference realignment caused them to move up to the OVC for this season. The change in scenery didn’t really affect the Bruins, who went 14-2 and captured the regular season title.
2. They’ve got a legitimate chance to make a run. The Ohio Valley Conference champion has won at least one game in the NCAAs in each of the past four seasons. Murray State defeated Colorado State as a sixth-seed last year, and Kenneth Faried and his Morehead State Eagles knocked out Louisville two years ago. Belmont nearly upset Duke as a 15-seed in 2008, losing 71-70.
3. Country music artists Brad Paisley, Trisha Yearwood, and Lee Ann Womack went there. The school is located in Nashville, and has a legendary music program. Womack purportedly pumped the team up before the OVC title game by singing her annoying hit, “I hope you dance.” Unfortunately, you probably know how it goes. “I hope you daaaaaaaance…I hope youuuuuuuu daaance.”
4. They shoot the heck out of the ball. Belmont ranks fifth in the nation in field goal percentage, shooting 49% for the season. Four Bruins average in double figures in scoring, including go-to-guy Kerron Johnson (13.8 ppg) and OVC co-Player of the Year Ian Clark (18.4 ppg), both of whom are seniors.
5. Head coach Rick Byrd has 663 career wins. 663. That’s more than Rick Pitino, and closing in on Roy Williams and Bo Ryan territory. Byrd has been at Belmont since the mid-80s, when it was an NAIA program. He’s guided it into Division I, and now the Bruins are a legitimate mid-major power. The man can coach.
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