LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- By now, the Bellarmine story has made it around the sports world and back. It has been a topic (No. 2, top of the show) on Pardon the Interruption. It has been Tweeted and talked to death.
None of that, of course, will make much of a difference. The NCAA has rules, and it has rules. In the old days before the transfer portal, if you had what you thought was a special circumstance, you could apply for a waiver, and the NCAA might grant your appeal.
The NCAA, you see, does grant exceptions. But in Bellarmine's case, it will not. As a reclassifying program, it doesn't even see Bellarmine as a member of its club. So it can pound sand. Despite winning the automatic-qualifying ASUN Tournament, it won't be allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament. It won't be allowed to play in the NIT. It doesn't even get to participate in NCAA Tournament revenue sharing.
Now, let's be honest. The school will get FAR more publicity from this ridiculous turn of events than it would have just from going to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Scotty Davenport said mentions of "Bellarmine" across all online platforms this week have run in excess of 2 billion.
The university will be fine. Recruiting should get a boost, especially if an NCAA committee, as previously scheduled, votes to reduce by half the time reclassifying programs have to wait before achieving full membership, to two years. That would make Bellarmine eligible for NCAA play going forward. A Tweet from the school even suggested that the move would be known as the "Bellarmine" rule if adopted.
Bellarmine's CJ Fleming smiles near the end of the team's ASUN Tournament championship win in Freedom Hall.
That, of course, is a dubious distinction. It's like a doctor coming into the room and telling you, "Well, you're going to have a disease named after you."
No, thanks. Here's who suffers. And it's the same group that always suffers.
It's the players.
I'm not sure what circumstance led the school to believe it would be eligible for NIT selection. Nobody seems to have a good answer. But when Bellarmine asked that the NCAA reconsider, it they got a firm "no."
So these players gave up two seasons of NCAA possibility to help the university make this transition. They came to Bellarmine with the goal of winning a Division II national championship. They'll leave it having ushered the school to Division I in style. But they also leave with frustration, as four seniors explained Thursday.
"The support of the national media and the social media throughout the past few days has been overwhelming in the best way possible," Juston Betz said. "And it's comforting to know that so many people feel the same way as we do about these unfair and, to be honest, ridiculous NCAA rules and regulations. In our game, champions are decided on the court. And the NCAA has decided to crown champions in an inconsistent and unfair rulebook that does not look out in the best interest of student athletes. ... As far as we know, we've met every criteria that the NCAA and the ASUN have laid out in front of us. And we just won our conference tournament. So as far as we know, Bellarmine is not transitioning. We've arrived."
The rules for reclassifying from NCAA Division II to Division I state that a school must complete a four-year process to complete reclassification.
These are players who could've transferred elsewhere. But when you hear them talking about the thing that kept them from doing that — love for community, love for university, love for teammates — they aren't just paying lip service to those things. They play that way, operate that way.
The five players classified as academic seniors will have collected eight degrees this spring. What's that the NCAA used to like to say in its commercials? Most of its athletes will go on to succeed "in something other than sports." That's what these guys are. They should be holding them up as an example, not locking them out of the postseason.
The NCAA bought the NIT in 2005. And because it runs the NIT, it said that only full NCAA Division I members can play. That flies in the face of the event's history. In 1967, Southern Illinois won the NIT behind the play of a guy named Walt Frazier.
Southern Illinois could have played in the College Division (now Division II) tournament or go to the NIT, which made the invitation based on Frazier's ability and the team's record. It was tired of tangling with Evansville and Kentucky Wesleyan at Roberts Stadium in Evansville, where it was the road team. It picked the NIT. And Frazier's performance in Madison Square Garden may well have led the New York Knicks to draft him.
Regardless, there's as much history behind inviting Bellarmine to the NIT as leaving it out.
Moreover, there are a couple of other inconsistent wrinkles. If Bellarmine's women's team had done the same thing, it could have competed in the Women's NIT because the NCAA did not buy that tournament. Why the NCAA would own one and not the other, given the inequities between postseason treatment of men and women revealed last season, is a mystery.
And then there's this: Bellarmine has been an NCAA Division I member, at least in part, since 2005. That's right. For 17 years, Bellarmine's lacrosse program has competed at the Division I level, in the Southern Conference.
Does Bellarmine have a case for exception? Absolutely. Its situation right now has not applied to another team for 25 years, according to ESPN. It is the definition of an exception.
"Something we've prided ourselves on a lot this year is controlling what we can control," Betz said. "But just because we can't control it doesn't mean we can't fight it. So we're speaking up for what we believe in and for what we believe is right. And Coach D supported us every step of the way. At the end of the day, it's about not only doing what we think is right for our team but hopefully changing the path for teams in the future that are transitioning like we are. So it's for a bigger purpose. And he's always kind of instilled in us to stand up for what we believe in. And 'believe' is our word this year. So we're going to continue doing that."
Tony Kornheiser, speaking on PTI, said, "If you win, you have proven you belong in D-1. If you go 11-5 in your conference, and you're the 2-seed, you've proven that you belong in D-1. If it was me, then I would let them in."
Mike Wilbon, on the same program, agreed.
Bellamine basketball players gather to speak out about their ineligibility for the NIT or NCAA Tournaments.
"The NCAA, or the conference, they could work in tandem, could just waive it" he said. "Just waive it. Just say, you know what, they were a 2-seed. They're not some interloper. They didn't just parachute in. But this is why the NCAA is going away. It's why the NCAA is seen, by a great many of its member institutions, as fraudulent and gutless and having no particular principle to stand on, ever. They just want to adhere to a rule that it set down. I wish there was some sort of protest that could go into effect now to just sort of slap around the NCAA. I guess there's nothing this little school can do. That's what the NCAA does. It picks on little schools."
As it stands, Bellarmine will prepare to play in the College Basketball Invitational. If it is invited. "NIT, NIT, NIT" is a derisive chant at most venues. They'd welcome it at Bellarmine.
A year ago, the other Division I program in town, the University of Louisville, let it be known that it would not accept an NIT invitation.
This group of guys at Bellarmine that just wants to play. And it deserves to get to play. Sadly, it will not be on as big a stage as it deserves.
"I think the support from everybody has been overwhelming," Fleming said. "No matter what social media, TV network, platform that you look on, Bellarmine has been a staple for the past couple of days. So just being able to see the support that we have, we've built up quite the fan base on the last couple of days. We're just very thankful for everybody who's who's mentioned us, everybody who's given their support on us being able to be eligible for the NIT. So we're very thankful for everything that has gone on in the last couple of days and all the support we have been given."
Related Stories:
- Why Bellarmine isn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament, and why that rule could be changing
- CRAWFORD | ASUN shines bright — Bellarmine's first D-1 championship an emotional ride
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
