Bellarmine Preview

Bellarmine arrives in the Stroh today.  This is a team probably no one knows much about.  They are the Knights and from Louisville.  Since the 1960s, they were a nationally prominent program in DII. They won it all in 2011, made 4 other final four appearances, 2 more times in the Sweet Sixteen and 13 other tournament appearances.

In 20-21 they moved up to D1 in the Atlantic Sun.  They won the 22 ASUN tourney, but were not eligible yet.  In fact, this is their last year of not being eligible for the tournament.  They upset Louisville last year.

Their coach is Scott Davenport.  He has been there for 16 years and most of the NCAA success. He is 409-150 (73%) at Bellarmine.

The ASUN is the #18 ranked conference.  That's one spot ahead of the MAC last year.  They were 15-18 last year.  They are picked #6 in the official pre-season poll.  Blue Ribbon has them 7th.

They are 0-3 this year. They lost big @Washington (74), by 8 @ Kansas State (40) and by 8 against @ Chattanooga (182).  Their kenpom is 262.

It's early and they have only played on the road, but they are a below average offensive team and a poor defensive team. They have played at a very slow pace. Their shooting and turnovers are below average and they are among the worst on the offensive boards and getting to the line.  (Teams that want to control the pace often don't crash the boards).  They try and average number of 3s and make 34% which is not bad. 

On defense, they are easy to shoot against but they have forced turnovers and they don't foul.  They are also poor on the defensive glass. Teams made 35% from 3FG against them and 64% from 2FG, which is among the worst in the land.

Their leading scorer is Ben Johnson. He's a 6'3" G scored 12 a game with most 3FGs.  He's making 44%. 

Next is Bash Wieland, a 6'6" G scoring 11.7 a game on 56% shooting, mostly 2s. 

Peter Suder is a 6'5" G scoring 11.3 PPG but only at 39%, mostly 2s.

Their leading rebounders are 6'10" Langdon Hatton and 6'5" Alex Pfriem.

For whatever reason, Garrett Tipton was named pre-season All-ASUN but has had a really rough start, shooting 25%.

BG is a 3.5-point favorite.