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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The fact of the matter is that Bellarmine may wind up getting more publicity and name recognition for not being allowed into this year's NCAA Tournament than it might've gotten for playing in it.

But that still doesn't make it fair for the players, who earned what normally qualifies for an automatic bid on the court.

NCAA rules mandate a four-year transition period from schools moving from Division II to Division I. Bellarmine is now only halfway through that. Its first year of eligibility for the NCAA Tournament will be 2025, unless the NCAA makes a change when it revisits the issue this spring.

The rule is intended so that only the most serious schools will make that leap, and so that they can get scheduling and facilities up to D-1 standards before competing for national championships. Still, few have made that transition as seamlessly as Bellarmine men's basketball.

IMAGES | Celebrate! Bellarmine wins ASUN Championship

I told some of Bellarmine's players Tuesday night that one national voice, Jeff Goodman, had already begun lobbying for Bellarmine to get an NIT bid.

"Everybody go like and retweet it," CJ Fleming said. "How about the NCAA Tournament, too? We deserve to hear our name on Selection Sunday. To be a 16 seed, whatever, we don't care. Not only that, but we put in the work that all the other teams have. Maybe even more. We had that grueling stretch to start the season. . . . We deserve to hear our name, but unfortunately that's not the case."

There is a Bellarmine way of doing things, fans who may just be starting to follow the program will quickly see, and senior Juston Betz returned to one of the program's mantras.

"We've made it a point to control what we can control," Betz said. "And that's it. And as exciting as Selection Sunday is, and as exciting as it would be to see our names up on the screen, which we deserve, we're going control whatever comes next. whether that'd be practice later this week, or film or anything like that, we're going to do it together. And we're going have the right attitude about how we approach things. That's the reason that we're here today is just being in the moment. Never taking for granted where we are. And as badly as we would love to be able to have the chance to play the NCAA Tournament. We're just going to enjoy and take in the last moments that we have together as a team."

Around the country on Tuesday (and Wednesday morning), the reaction was pretty unanimous. The NCAA Tournament would be better with them. A sample:

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