Belmont Vision - Sports - In A-Sun, scenarios favor BU

ISSUE: 02/28/07 > sports > In a-sun, scenarios favor bu

The ’05-’06 Bruins squad earned their first NCAA bid in epic fashion with an overtime victory against archrival Lipscomb in Johnson City’s Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Championship. A year later with yet another No. 2 seed to work with, a perfect storm of circumstances beyond Belmont’s control may backdoor them into the Big Dance for the second straight year.

“Instead of having to play two tough games back-to-back in order earn another NCAA bid, Belmont will likely only face one significant test in their road to a second-straight league title.”

Following second-half collapses against Lipscomb (17-12, 11-7) this year, Belmont remained the No. 2 team in the A-Sun, but Lipscomb’s 3rd-place standing would have had them on the same side of the tournament bracket against Belmont to begin March. Instead, following back-to-back losses against North Florida (worst RPI ranking in Division 1) and Jacksonville to end the Bisons’ regular season, LU falls to 4th-place, giving them a No. 4 seed in the conference tourney.

So what does this all mean for Belmont? Instead of having to play two tough games back-to-back in order earn another NCAA bid, Belmont will likely only face one significant test in their road to a second-straight league title. The Bruins open tomorrow at 1 p.m. against No. 7 seed Gardner-Webb (9-20, 7-11 A-Sun), a team they swept by an average of 24 points during the regular season.

From there, a win would pit Belmont against the winner of No. 3 Jacksonville/No. 6 Campbell for the Mar. 2 semifinal at 9:15 pm. Although Belmont swept Jacksonville (15-13, 11-7) during the regular season, Belmont athletic director Mike Strickland said JU could be the most dangerous team in the tournament after going 11-5 since the beginning of 2007. Though Campbell (13-16, 7-11) beat Belmont at home 79-67 Jan. 18, the Bruins got revenge with a comfortable 92-68 victory at the Curb Feb. 17.

A semifinal win would pit Belmont against either the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 or No. 8 seeds in the tournament final. While host and No. 1 seed ETSU (22-8, 16-2) should coast past No. 8 Stetson (11-19, 6-12), Lipscomb faces perhaps the toughest first-round test against No. 5 Mercer (13-16, 8-10). The survivor of that match-up must muster enough energy to challenge ETSU the next day.

This scenario allows Belmont to avoid Lipscomb until the conference final at the earliest while switching the Bruins’ likely semifinal opponent from a team (Lipscomb) that swept Belmont to a team (Jacksonville) that Belmont swept. Before they face Belmont, Jacksonville must first rid themselves of a pesky Campbell squad before trying to re-group and accomplish what Campbell did once this season against the Bruins, who have won seven of their last eight games. Meanwhile, on the tougher side of the bracket, ETSU, Lipscomb and Mercer will be eating each other alive.

Belmont will smoke Gardner-Webb in the first round before dispatching a “dangerous” Jacksonville squad, who will have barely beaten Campbell the night before, for the third time this season. Belmont will most likely face ETSU, who traded overtime victories with BU in season, in Saturday’s championship game. Belmont’s last three games at ETSU have ended in overtime victories, so expect a result much like last year’s A-Sun Championship. Junior guard Justin Hare and senior center Boomer Herndon have been Belmont’s top two scorers against ETSU this season, and the preseason All A-Sun first-teamers must play up to the same billing if the Bruins want to make it past Johnson City.