March Madness: Belmont is Going to the NCAA Tournament

Conference: Atlantic Sun (30-4)
Location: The Country Music Capital, Nashville, TN
Famous Alum: Belmont is well-known for its music programs, and has a host of famous musicians who have attended, including country stars Lee Ann Womack, Trisha Yearwood, and Brad Paisley.
They’re Back! Fourth appearance overall, last time was in 2008 in a 1 point loss to Duke as a #15 seed. Belmont has yet to win a tournament game.
School’s Leading Scorer: Joe Behling (2,823 points) was a three-time NAIA All-American and NAIA Player of Year in 1989
Resume: They played a weak schedule in the Atlantic Sun, but destroyed it, including that 41 point win in the final. No signature wins, but close, competitive losses at Vanderbilt and Tennessee that show they can play with big conference teams.
Giant Killer in Waiting?: They remind me of 2008 Davidson, but without an NBA player in Steph Curry. Davidson couldn’t get over the hump early in that season with close losses against good competition, then rolled their weak conference, and got their signature wins in March. Belmont plays with a deep bench and an uptempo style that will make opponents uncomfortable and should be a must-see in the tournament.
All-Important Rankings: 55 (RPI), 20 (Pomeroy), 33 (Sagarin)
Projected Seed: Palm says 13/14, Lunardi says 13, but I look at the junk at the bottom of the at-large selections and think they should move in front of them and be at least a #11. If Palm/Lunardi are right and I am wrong on seeding, then those Pomeroy/Sagarin predictive ratings say the likes of Florida or a Big East team like Louisville should not be happy with the decision.
Twitter: The official men’s basketball team twitter account is @BelmontMBB.

Other teams with their tickets punched to the dance:
Morehead State
UNC Asheville

[photo via Getty]