Seeking Justice for the Bellarmine Knights

Any self-respecting basketball junkie in Louisville will tell you the same thing: if you’re looking for the best college hoops environment in the city, you won’t find it in the Chicken Bucket. Try Freedom Hall, the one-time Cardinal den and current home of the Bellarmine Knights. And on Tuesday, it’s playing host to a Division I conference championship for the first time in 19 years.

However, there’s a better-than-average chance that the winner of this important event will be denied its rightful place in the Big Dance. In the words of Jay Bilas, IT’S WRONG. So as KSR’s resident Bellarmine guy (with apologies to Shannon), I’ve made it my mission to bring this travesty to light. It’s time we found justice for the Bellarmine Knights.

What’s the big deal?

In case you haven’t heard, the Knights are legit. After years of dominating Division II, Bellarmine made the move to join the NCAA’s highest level for the 2020-21 season. While most teams struggle with this transition, the Knights have simply kept on winning: in their first 48 games against D-I competition, they’ve compiled a 27-21 record (56%), with more than half of those losses coming against power conference/NCAA tournament-caliber teams. In ASUN play, they’ve totaled a 21-8 record with a pair of top-three finishes in the conference. Back in November, they lost to St. Mary’s by nine points and gave then-no. 2 UCLA a game as well.

But Bellarmine’s best win yet came on Saturday night, as they upset reigning champion Liberty — and all-everything guard Darius McGhee, the second-leading bucket-getter in America — in the ASUN tournament semis. In doing so, they earned a chance to host the conference championship on Tuesday night. The winner of this game has earned the league’s auto-bid to the big dance in each of the past 20 years, with several going on to make memorable March runs (see: Dunk City). For Coach Scott Davenport & co., doing this in year two is truly special.

.@BUKnightsMBB head coach Scott Davenport (@Bellarminehoops) reflects on what it means for the program to host the @ASUNSports Championship inside historic Freedom Hall. pic.twitter.com/7sSWZBuESB

— Andrew Chernoff – WLKY (@ADChernoff) March 8, 2022

The problem is, thanks to an obtuse NCAA rule, Tuesday’s game is virtually meaningless. Even if the Knights win, they’re barred from partaking in March Madness. Why, you ask? Because the NCAA requires that new D-I programs complete a four-year probation period before gaining full eligibility to compete for championships. This rule has changed various times over the years, but it’s been set at four years since 2011. 12 schools have completed the four-year transition in men’s basketball in that time, including Northern Kentucky University in 2016. Unfortunately, most players don’t have that kind of time.

Safeguard or Punishment?

While their success is unusual, Bellarmine’s situation is not unique. One comparable example is the case of Merrimack, a small college in Massachusetts that transitioned to D-I in 2019. In their first year of probation, they shocked everyone by finishing first in the Northeast Conference. But the NEC opted to hold them out of their conference tournament, which was ultimately won by Robert Morris before COVID-19 robbed them of their auto-bid.

At the time, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander wrote a column on the Merrimack Warriors and their unfortunate predicament. He cited a passage from the NCAA’s 2011 press release regarding the new transition rule saying it’s meant to “ensure that reclassifying members are committed” and “increase the likelihood” of their success.

In other words, the NCAA’s official position seems to be that the four-year rule is designed as a safeguard for newly-transitioned programs — training wheels for the D-I bike, as it were. But that’s obviously ridiculous. What difference could arbitrary tournament eligibility make in determining future success? Getting blown out by a power conference team in the first round of the NCAA tournament is a dream season for most mid-majors. What is there to be afraid of?

The real reason, as Norlander points out in his article, is a disincentive. Division I men’s basketball is overflowing with member schools already, and the NCAA wants to scare those top-tier D-II programs into staying put. That’s fair enough, I suppose. But with eight schools currently in the process of going D-I (including Bellarmine and Billy Gillispie’s Tarleton State program) plus several more on the way soon, this strategy doesn’t seem to be working. If the disincentive continues to fail, then what’s the freakin’ point?

The Waiting Game

The result, of course, is just another example of self-serious NCAA nonsense. Bellarmine is better than they’re supposed to be right now, and they’re being punished for it. It’s like putting a “boys only” sign on the door of a treehouse, only the treehouse is a bangin’ club and the boys have been in there all day. Isn’t it time someone else got a turn?

Some people have asked why the ASUN even let Bellarmine play in the tournament instead of just barring them during their transition, as the NEC did with Merrimack. Commissioner Ted Gumbart took to Twitter on Sunday defending the decision, saying the conference prides itself on being “willing to lead change.” He even shared a bill he’s sending to the NCAA proposing liberal changes to the reclassification rule:

Make a difference! If you haven't read this, please do. Decide whether you're in favor or opposed. Voice your opinion! The court of public opinion can carry the day on this. Go @BUKnightsMBB Go @JAX_MBB Go @ASUNSports
NCAA Proposal: https://t.co/30qGlZmExB

— ASUNCommish (@ASUNCommish) March 7, 2022

Gumbart argues that the rule is unfair as it prevents an entire class of student-athletes from competing for a championship while in school. This point hits home for me, since most of the players on this year’s Bellarmine roster were there while I was in school. I’ve seen these guys wait their whole careers to get an opportunity like this, and now all that’s standing in their way is an 11-year-old bylaw that says they have to keep on waiting. By the time that waiting’s done, this special group (and maybe Coach Davenport too, if some UL fans get their way) will be long gone.

As you might imagine, I could go on with my bellyaching. But instead, I plan on enjoying tonight’s ASUN Championship at Freedom Hall, which you can view at 5:00 on ESPN2 if you’re inclined. It’s a classic winner-takes-all event — unless of course, the home team wins, thus making it a team-that-just-lost-takes-all event. Hey, welcome to March!