Beware of Belmont

By - Kris Fletcher

I'm sure by now a lot of you have started to fill in your NCAA Tournament Bracket, and are trying to decide who in the field of 68 may be a possible "sleeper" team, or "bracket buster" as some like to call it.

I suppose I could be like everyone else and pick 4-5 possible sleeper teams for this years tournament, in which case, I may accidentally get one right. Instead, I'm only going to give you one. So, if they get beat in the second round, I'm really gonna look clueless. I'm willing to risk that though and offer up the Belmont Bruins as my surprise team moving forward.

Photo from: forum.belmont.edu

Belmont is the 13-seed in the Southeast Region, and they take on the 4-seed Wisconsin Badgers in the second round.

Now, I'm not saying the Bruins are going to win the entire thing, but you don't win 30 games in a season unless you're doing SOMETHING right.

What all is there to like about Belmont you ask? Well, the Bruins average 80 points per game and shoot over 46% from the field. Not only are they capable of scoring in bunches, they also know how to defend well. They allow just under 62 points per game and hold teams to just over 40% shooting.

They have two big men inside in Mick Hedgepeth and Scott Saunders, both of whom average over 10 points and 5 rebounds per contest. They help open things up on the outside for Ian Clark and his over 12 point average and five other players who all average at least 5 points per game. They have very good depth and are also very good from 3-point land, hitting at over 38% of the time.

Yet another reason to like Belmont, if only for the this round, is because they're taking on a Badger team that scored only 33 points in their loss to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament. Yes, you saw that correctly. 33 points. TOTAL. For the ENTIRE GAME. That's not exactly good.

The bottom line is, the Bruins can beat you in a variety of ways and they're going to be a tough out for Wisconsin, and/or anyone else they may play down the line.

So remember, you heard it here first. Beware of Belmont.

Photo by: Getty Images