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NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheet: Getting to know Belmont

Belmont OVC

BelmontBruins.com

Read through the rest of the Cheat Sheets here.

Conference: Ohio Valley

Coach: Rick Byrd

Record: 26-6, 14-2

Rankings and Ratings:

- Kenpom: 42
- RPI: 23
- AP/USA Today: N/A

Seeding?: Our Dave Ommen had Belmont as a No. 12 seed in Friday’s Bracket Projection, and they actually had a strong enough profile to contend for an at-large bid.

Names you need to know: Ian Clark (18.4 ppg, 2.5 apg, 46.9% 3PT), Kerron Johnson (13.8 ppg, 4.8 apg, 1.7 spg)

Stats you need to know: Belmont can shoot it with the best of them. Their effective field goal percentage is second nationally, and they hit 38.0% of their threes as a team.

Tendencies: Belmont still likes to press and still wants to get into an uptempo game by using their terrific back court of Ian Clark (who was named co-Conference Player of the Year with Isaiah Canaan and defensive Player of the Year) Kerron Johnson to force turnovers. But Byrd has installed a ball-screen heavy offensive this year that takes advantage of the ability of those two veteran playmakers.

Big wins, bad losses: The Bruins have three good wins this season, beating Stanford in Palo Alto and knocking off Middle Tennessee State and Ohio at home. They have no horrific losses, but losing at Murray State and Tennessee State didn’t help their profile in league play.

How’d they get here?: The Bruins won the Ohio Valley Conference championship in thrilling fashion, thanks to this pull-up jumper from Kerron Johnson.

Outlook: Once again, Belmont is going to end up being one of those mid-majors that everyone thinks has a chance, with the right matchup, to make a run to the Sweet 16. They don’t have much size and they have a tendency to get crushed on the glass, but Clark and Johnson will not be outplayed any back court in the country -- I truly believe that -- and with this team’s ability to shoot it from deep at all five positions, all they need is one night where they get hot to pull an upset.

How do I know you? Despite never winning an NCAA tournament game, the Bruins have been a Cinderella candidate for much of the last decade. They took Duke to the wire in 2008, and have faced blue bloods UCLA, Wisconsin and Georgetown (twice).

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.