Belmont

To answer Brian’s question partially, one of those teams is Belmont, who I wanted to write about. The Bruins are 26-4 and regular season champs in the Valley, a clear 3 games ahead of the 2nd place team heading into the final weekend.

The Bruins will need to win the Valley. The resume is paper thin and they have losses to Richmond and a bad Indiana State team. The best non-con win is over Illinois-Chicago and though the Valley isn’t bad this year, it’s not good enough for multiple bids.

Belmont does what most Belmont teams have done historically, shoot the ball well. They’re the best 3-point shooting team in the nation, shooting 41% from 3. They’re 5th in the nation from 2, as well. Add it up and this is the best real shooting team in America. With an effective fg% of 61.4, that’s clear of number 2 St. Louis and St. Thomas who are 60.1. So-so defending teams want nothing to do with Belmont should they draw them in March. 

Defensively, they aren’t nearly as good and should give you pause as a bracket buster. 119th in KenPom is a red flag. They don’t anything terribly on defense but nothing is top-50 other than FTA/FGA and that’s right at 50. Ideally, they draw someone like Carolina or St. John’s.

For the most part, this is a pretty young team, 280th in experience, so if they somehow manage to keep the team together, they’ll be a menace next year. They do have a senior in Tyler Lundblade who sees the most minutes. He plays largely off ball and shoots 41% from 3. He’s also 93% from the line. Frosh Jack Smiley has seen some minutes at PG and has a 26% assist rate while shooting 44% from 3.

Casey Alexander has seen his name mentioned for potential openings and maybe he jumps but he’s a Nashville guy having coached at Lipscomb before taking over at Belmont. Not that it always matters, he’s also an alum and is from Chattanooga originally. If he goes, he’ll have a nice group to potentially bring with him. Hopefully, he stays and retains his roster. If so, they’ll be a force in ‘27.