LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Late Wednesday morning, minutes after his Bellarmine University men’s basketball team finished practice, I broke some unsettling news to coach Scott Davenport.
The Knights were not picked to finish first in the West Division of the ASUN Conference by Blue Ribbon Basketball Yearbook.
Bellarmine was also not picked second or third.
“Fourth?” Davenport asked.
Bingo.
Behind Jacksonville State, Eastern Kentucky and Lipscomb.
“Great,” Davenport said. “What else do you have for me?”
Just this: Athlon picked the same teams in the same order.
“Fantastic,” Davenport said.
Here is my call: Proceed with care when filing out your Bellarmine basketball predictions. Ask the wise guys what happened last season.
The Knight were a consensus pick to finish last in what was a 9-team league. Bellarmine finished second. The Knights trailed only Liberty. They won 10 of conference 13 games, including 10 straight in one stretch.
“I’ll tell my guys the same thing I told them during those seasons we were picked as one of the top teams in Division II,” Davenport said,
“Will those predictions score a point or get a rebound for you?”
If you wonder if Davenport was in a sensational mood Wednesday because his team just finished its second practice of the season, you are not a student of Bellarmine basketball.
Davenport is always in a sensational mood about Bellarmine basketball, especially when somebody informs him insiders have publicly questioned the Knights’ ability to achieve what they achieved last season.
Yes, top frontcourt player Pedro Bradshaw has departed, still hoping to draw an invite to an NBA G-League training camp. Bradshaw could have played another college season but decided to pursue his dream of professional basketball.
Guard Dylan Penn did return. Blue Ribbon and Athlon picked Penn as one of the top five players in the ASUN. Penn scored a dozen or more points in 10 of Bellarmine’s final 11 games.
What also returns is one of Davenport’s primary points of emphasis, a staple he learned while working for Denny Crum and Rick Pitino:
Shot selection. Shot selection. Shot selection.
Take ones you can make. Resist the temptation to force ones when you are closely defended. Always make the extra pass. Always.
Davenport said Bellarmine led all Division 2 teams in field goal percentage in 6 of their final 10 seasons at that level — and finished in the top 4 in 10 of 11 years.
No way that translated to Division I. The Knights would compete against taller, longer, quicker and more talented players who had access to sophisticated scouting tools.
Wrong.
Bellarmine made 50.4 percent of its shots last season.
The only two D1 teams that shot the ball better were Gonzaga and Stephen F. Austin.
Take good shots — and then take your chances. By December 1, I’ll be calling Davenport for help with my ballot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and to make early Final Four predictions.
Bellarmine will play its first six and seven of its first eight games away from Freedom Hall.
They will open at Purdue Nov. 9 — and follow that with trips to Murray State, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.
How did the Knights get the Purdue game?
“Matt Painter (Purdue’s coach) is just a phenomenal guy,” Davenport said.
And Gonzaga?
“We told them we have the same goals and aspirations they had 20 years ago and all we wanted was a chance,” Davenport said.
Then comes a pair of games in Las Vegas against UCLA and Central Michigan. The Knights get Franklin College Nov. 28 in their home opener before taking a bus trip to Morgantown to play Bob Huggins and West Virginia Nov. 30.
That tastes like 2-6 (or worse) to me.
Athlon ranked Gonzaga No. 1, UCLA No. 2, Purdue No. 11 and West Virginia as a team that will win two games in the NCAA Tournament. Blue Ribbon has it Zags on top, followed by the Bruins with Purdue at No. 9.
“Are we going to be able to match the physicality and size of Purdue, Gonzaga, UCLA and West Virginia?” Davenport said.
“No.”
So how are you going to be able to compete?
“By playing good basketball,” Davenport said. “One thing is true at every level of basketball. Nobody makes bad shots. Nobody. Passing has become a lost art. So we work on that. These first few days of practice are my favorite practices of the year.
“You don’t have to worry about scouting reports or the next game. It’s just pure basketball, teaching pure basketball and learning how to play the game.”
A game Bellarmine plays remarkably well — even if the national publications are slow getting the word.
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