The Bellarmine Knights did all they could to make the NCAA tournament, but they won’t be getting an automatic bid to the Big Dance.
The Knights defeated Jacksonville University 77-72 in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Tuesday night, but due to NCAA rules, regular season ASUN champions Jacksonville State will be heading to the NCAA tournament.
Bellarmine moved from Division II to Division I in 2020, meaning they are in the second year of a four-year period in which they are ineligible for postseason play. NCAA rules require a school reclassifying to Division I to wait four years before being eligible for the NCAA tournament.
“I don’t know how any coach at any level of any sport could be more proud than I am,” Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport said. “My highlight of this journey is seeing this team celebrate each other. That locker room was one of the highlights of my life.”
Bellarmine went 17-13 in the regular season before defeating No. 1 seed Liberty University and Jacksonville to win the ASUN tournament.
“We’ve made it a point to control what we can control,” senior guard Juston Betz said, according to The Courier Journal. “As exciting as Selection Sunday is, as exciting as it would be to see our names up on the screen, which we deserve, we’re going to control whatever comes next. We’re going to do it together, and we’re going to have the right attitude about how we approach things. That’s the reason we’re here today.”
“As badly as we would love to be able to have the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament, we’re just going to enjoy and take in the last moments that we have together as a team,” Betz continued.
Five other teams secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on Tuesday.
The No. 1 team in the country, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, avenged their regular season loss to St. Mary’s with a 82-69 victory in the West Coast Conference tournament final.
“Their offense is as good as any in the country,” Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett said about Gonzaga. “There’s a lot of things you have to do right to have a chance and we did that for a while, but you have to do it for 40 minutes.”
Bryant defeated Wagner 70-43 in the Northeast Conference Tournament to secure their first trip to the NCAA tournament. The game was overshadowed by a fight between the two fan bases during the second half, causing a delay of nearly 30 minutes.
“I didn’t see any of it — how any of that thing started. All I knew is we needed to finish the game in a first-class manner,” Bryant Athletic Director Bill Smith said after the game. “Get both teams back on the court, shake hands at the end and finish the game.”
“Unfortunately I don’t think there was anything else we could have done that would have prevented what occurred,” he continued. “It’s just been an incredible night and we’re going to move on.”
Delaware defeated UNC Wilmington in the CAA Championship, Wright State beat Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League final, and South Dakota State earned their 30th win of the season in a 75-69 win over North Dakota State in the Summit League Championship.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
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Source: Dailywire
