Bellarmine basketball makes the jump to Division I in 2020-21. A look at what this season could look like for the Knights.
For years, Bellarmine basketball has been a powerhouse at the Division II level. The success of the Knights program is thanks in large part to head coach Scotty Davenport. Since arriving in 2005, Davenport has led the program to 6 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) regular-season titles. Additionally, they’ve captured 5 GLVC tournament titles, 4 final four appearances, and a national championship over BYU-Hawaii in 2011. Before the 2020 tournament was canceled, Bellarmine went to 11 straight tournaments and was slated to participate in a 12th.
Bellarmine basketball schedule
NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE
The Knights schedule looks a lot different than when it was originally released. Hell, even the updated schedule was changed after the program was shut down temporarily. They did manage to keep the Duke game on the schedule but now it is going to be their first-ever game as a D1 program. The Knights then travel to take on HBCU Howard. Unfortunately, Howard’s top player, 5-star recruit Makur Maker, cousin of Cavs’ center Thon Maker. Next is the first home game of 2020-21 – when they host Chattanooga. This will be the first college game at Freedom Hall in 10 years. The Knights then hit the road to face Morgan State and Miami (OH) before returning home to take on Middle Tennessee. They make the return trip to Murfeesboro three days later. The Knights close out non-conference play with two D3 opponents, Mount St. Joseph and Transylvania.
ASUN SCHEDULE
The Knights will be competing in the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) conference. In the preseason poll, the Knights were picked to finish 8 out of 9 in the coaches and last in the media. However, it is hard to gauge how they will fare since they haven’t played any of these schools before.
In order to limit exposure the conference has modified their schedule so that each school plays 2 games on consecutive games against the same school in the same location. This is to minimize travel and length of stays in opposing cities. Schools will also alternate weeks between hosting and playing road games.
Bellarmine will open up conference play with ASUN preseason favorite Lipscomb for two games at Freedom Hall. Lipscomb is led by unanimous preseason player of the year Ahsan Asadullah who averaged 18.6 ppg and 10.1 RPG. They then travel to Fort Meyers, Florida to take on Florida Gulf Coast who fans might remember from their “Dunk City” days when they became the first 15 seed to advance to the sweet 16 in 2013.
The Knights then alternate weeks with Stetson at home and on the road against a Kennesaw State team that won just one game last season. They return home to take on Jacksonville before heading back to Florida to take on North Florida on the road. The Knights close out Freedom Hall with North Alabama, who is in their 3rd of 4 years transitional period, before concluding on the road with 2 time defending ASUN regular season and tournament champs Liberty in Lynchburg, Virginia. Liberty won 30 games last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2019.
Bellarmine basketball roster overlook
Despite this being their first year in D1, the roster still has D1 experience in way of transfers. Senior Ethan Claycomb began his college career at Indiana State before transferring to the program for the 2018-19 season. Junior Pedro Bradshaw began his career at Belmont before transferring to EKU and eventually found a home with the Knights last season. Sophomore Sam DeVault transferred in from Austin Peay over the summer and was granted a waiver by the NCAA and is immediately eligible to play this year.
The Knights return three starters from last year’s team that went 20-8 (13-7 in GLVC) but lost Alex Cook to graduation. BU does return junior Dylan Penn, who was 2nd on the team in scoring with 11.6 ppg and led the team in assists with 2.7 APG, and Bradshaw who finished 2nd in rebounding with 5.3 RPG. Senior CJ Fleming is another returning starter who has seen his minutes go up every year and looks to be one of the leaders on this team. Claycomb was the 6th man on last season’s team and is expected to step up and take on a larger role. Bellarmine doesn’t have much size so fans should expect to see more of a small ball lineup throughout the season.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
G- CJ Fleming- Senior/6’0”/180 lbs
G- Dylan Penn- Junior/6’3”/190 lbs
G/F- Pedro Bradshaw- Junior/6’7”/185 lbs
F- Ethan Claycomb- Senior/6’7”/205 lbs
F- Sam DeVault- Sophomore/6’10”/220 lbs
Bellarmine basketball season outlook
Since Bellarmine is transitioning to Division 1, they will be ineligible to qualify for the NCAA and NIT tournament but can qualify for College Basketball Invitational (CBI) or Collegeinsiders.com tournament (CIT). The ASUN conference does allow transitioning members to participate in their postseason tournament, but Bellarmine won’t be eligible for the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
None of the D1 opponents are familiar to the Knights so it is pretty tough to gauge how well they will compete against the competition. While the non-conference slate isn’t as difficult as originally thought, it is still a tough schedule for a transitioning school. Last year, Merrimack stunned everyone and won the Northeastern Conference (NEC) regular season despite being in their first year of transition.
While it will be hard for the Knights to sustain instant success given the recent history of teams like Liberty, it is certainly a possibility. Realistically, they can be a middle of the pack team in the 9 team conference. The top 8 qualify for the ASUN tournament and they can certainly finish above one team. It is hard to give a record prediction since there is a possibility that this schedule isn’t the final schedule for the Knights. As we have already seen, games are being canceled and teams are rescheduling opponents on short notice. In a few years when the tournament ban is lifted, Bellarmine should be able to compete in the conference and one day we will be able to hear them called on Selection Sunday. Until then, we can watch a program in our hometown make history as they begin the rise up to Division 1.
