2011-12 Blue Ribbon Preview - Belmont
Team preview: Belmont
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
COACH AND PROGRAM
Belmont Bruins
Last Season 30-5 (.857)
Conference Record 19-1 (1st)
Starters Lost/Returning 1/4
Coach Rick Byrd (Tennessee '76)
Record At School 518-278 (25 years)
Career Record 610-333 (30 years)
RPI Last 5 years 112-75-118-136-56
For Belmont, its first two games in the revamped Maui Invitational are "guarantee" games. The Bruins will get fat checks from Duke and Memphis for playing their season opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the follow-up at FedEx Forum.
"We wanted just to sort of take it easy and get in to the schedule gradually," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said.
But you can believe that Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski and Tigers coach Josh Pastner know playing Byrd and the Bruins is anything but a guarantee.
PLAYERS
Belmont returns four starters and nine players who averaged at least 10.3 minutes per game from a team that won 30 games, reached the NCAA Tournament and led the nation in scoring margin (17.5). The four teams ranked immediately behind Belmont in scoring margin were Ohio State, Duke, Kansas and BYU. Does that give you some idea of the company the Bruins were keeping last season?
Their only losses came to Tennessee (twice, the second time by one point), Vanderbilt, cross-town rival Lipscomb (their only conference loss) and Wisconsin in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Byrd knew last year's team would be good, but it wasn't even picked to win the Atlantic Sun. It proceeded to make a mockery of the conference, going 19-1. Its scoring margin in league games was a whopping 20.9. Belmont beat the only team to put a blemish on the mark, Lipscomb, by 36 in their first meeting. The Bruins beat North Florida in the A-Sun tournament final by 41.
Even Byrd was shocked by his team's cold-blooded efficiency.
"What were the chances that we'd lead the country in scoring margin? I mean, any team that Belmont has ever had I'm not sure could have done that," Byrd said. "We played only 12 of our 35 games at home, too. It was a special team that I think style of play, with the pressing and the depth, is really what enabled us to do that. The kids played so hard it all led to that. And our first-half scoring margin was better than the second, so certainly weren't running scores up.
"It was a very unusual and hard-to-believe year. The biggest challenge that our coaching staff and team has is understanding that edge that we brought to practice and games daily last year, we have to get it and throw the record out the window and just try to become a better team. Even if we're not 30-5, we still can be a better team."
That statement should serve notice to the A-Sun, if not the rest of the country. The teams that finished second, third and fourth in the conference all lost at least their leading scorer from a year ago. Belmont returns its top three scorers and six of its top seven.
It's the change in style that really keyed the Bruins' smashing success. It's a testament to Byrd, one of the best coaches in the country, that he realized his team had the kind of depth you just don't find at the mid-major level. And how do you best take advantage of depth? You play everybody and press the opposition to death.
All 12 scholarship players appeared in at least 30 games. Ten of them appeared in all 35 games. Eleven of them averaged at least 10.3 minutes per game. Is there another coach in the country who even wants to give his 10th and 11th guys double-digit minutes? Perhaps it's Illinois' Bruce Weber, who in the offseason sought out Byrd's advice on doling out minutes to a deep team.
"You have to have a team full of unselfish people," Byrd said. "Most guys come to college and want to play 35 minutes a game. These guys understand we're better this way."
Byrd, too, found the new style of play had benefits he hadn't considered.
"We can practice more full speed during the season because guys aren't playing 30-35 minutes a game," Byrd said. "They can practice harder. It didn't mean we did it all the time, it just meant we had the ability to do it. Some of your teams don't go full speed hardly at all between games.
"One thing fans don't think about that every coach does, when other team makes substitutions, players have to talk and know who they're guarding. We subbed so often it was difficult for other teams. We may have had a two become a three, a three become a four, a five become a four, a one become a two. I read quotes in the papers where [opposing players] were saying, 'We didn't know who we were guarding.' That's not a reason to do it, but different things helped us."
Different players did, too. Eight Bruins had at least one game in which they led the team in scoring, seven of them more than once.
Ian Clark (12.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, .429 3PT), a 6-3 junior, led Belmont in scoring. He finished second on the team in three-pointers (72), and his continued development as a perimeter threat will be a key this season.
Clark has been an impact player since arriving on campus from Memphis. He was the A-Sun Freshman of the Year in 2009, and he built on that last season.
"His game is really physical," Byrd said. "Probably mostly what freshmen learn during their freshman year is it's different between playing every possession in college versus you're out there the whole time as the best high school player and you can take some possessions off. He was much improved his second year.
"Ian loves to play, and I expect we'll see improvement each year. He loves to be out there. Those guys keep getting better."
The Bruins are loaded in the backcourt with Clark and the two-headed point guard monster of 5-11 senior Drew Hanlen (6.4 ppg, 4.0 apg. .344 3PT) and 6-1 junior Kerron Johnson (7.9 ppg, 2.7 apg, .429 3PT). Taken individually the numbers aren't eye-popping. But when you consider the fact they rarely play together -- Hanlen averaged 23.2 minutes and Johnson 18.2 -- Byrd essentially got 14.3 points and 6.7 assists out of his starting point guard.
Hanlen takes better care of the ball and takes a lot more three-pointers. Johnson is the better defender (team-leading 70 steals) and specializes into getting into the lane when he's on offense. Remarkably, Johnson finished second on the team in free-throw attempts despite playing less than 20 minutes per game and never starting once.
"It's not a reflection of who played better," Byrd said in reference to the fact Johnson came off the bench all season. "You have to have a team full of unusually unselfish attitudes. Kerron typified that. He's a tremendous competitor, and I'm sure in his heart of hearts he'd like to be the starter and the guy the team counts on. But when Drew made good plays, Kerron was the first guy up cheering for him. That was consistent throughout our team."
One of the few position battles for the Bruins is at the three spot, where glue guy Jon House graduated after starting all 35 games last season. The leading candidates to replace him are 6-7 sophomore Blake Jenkins (3.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg) and 6-6 sophomore J.J. Mann (6.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg). Mann was an A-Sun all-freshman choice.
"J.J. and Blake have got to be ready to play more significant roles and minutes," Byrd said. "Jon House could defend one through four and did. He was probably our best defender. He was not one of those guys who has a lot of steals or blocked shots, but in playing his position, he's as good as I've coached."
Jenkins is more of a slasher, while Mann (fourth on the team with 36 threes) is the better marksman. The hope is Mann also can pick up some of the slack from the departure of Jordan Campbell, the only other significant loss for Byrd's team. Campbell graduated after sinking a team-high 77 treys and shooting a jaw-dropping .458 from three-point range.
Everybody is back in the frontcourt, including two post players who almost never played together yet both were chosen all-conference. Mick Hedgepeth (10.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg), a 6-9, 235-pound senior, and Scott Saunders (9.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg), a 6-10, 250-pound senior, are both forces on the low block who allow Byrd to play his preferred style of four out, one in.
"I'm not sure how many times if ever a team has had two guys at the same position who almost never played at the same time and both of whom were all-conference players," Byrd said. "We didn't play them together early and we played great. Are they two of the best five players on our team? By vote of the [league] coaches they were. But does having them both out there together at the same time help our team? I felt not. One allows us to space the floor better. So we just didn't do it much."
Certainly no one can argue with the results.
The four spot is held down by 6-7, 240-pound junior Trevor Noack (5.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg) and 6-6, 220-pound junior Brandon Baker (3.1 ppg, 2.0 rpg). Noack made 22 starts, and Baker made 12. It was the only lineup change Byrd made all season.
"We need both of those guys to improve," Byrd said. "They were both going from a freshman year of playing behind [longtime starter] Keaton Belcher to being guys we counted on. Now they've been in that role for a year, and it's a good predictable time for guys to improve significantly from their first year of lot of playing time to their second year of a lot of playing time.
"Both need to improve their three-point shooting if they're gonna be as good as we'd like them to be. They need to be tougher, more physical. Those guys need to bring that to us defensively and rebounding."
The team's only newcomer is 6-3 freshman Spencer Turner (16.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg at Bloomington South HS/Bloomington, Ind.). Byrd thinks Turner could find his way to some playing time as a three-point specialist. Turner's father played on the 1979 Indiana State national runner-up team with Larry Bird.
Also on the roster are two redshirt freshmen, 6-3 Holden Mobley from Nashville's Montgomery Bell Academy and 6-11 Chad Lang, from Marietta (Ga.) High School.
In the offseason, Byrd's staff went through some major upheaval. It might not be uncommon for assistants at other programs to move around, but at Belmont it was big news. Casey Alexander, who had been a Bruins assistant the last 16 seasons, took the head-coaching job at Stetson. He brought Roger Idstrom, a Bruins assistant for 11 years, with him to DeLand, Fla.
Byrd promoted remaining assistant Brian Ayers to associate head coach, a title previously held by Alexander. The head man then hired former Vanderbilt star James Strong and Mark Price (no, not that Mark Price).
"It's different around here for sure, but when an assistant coach who's a former player gets a D-I head job you've just gotta be proud and happy for him," Byrd said. "And Roger gets to move into No. 1 assistant spot. So both of them got to make significant career moves in a positive way.
"We were fortunate on the hiring end. We got two guys that both have been D-I recruiters -- James his whole career and Mark at Furman. Both fit Belmont. I can't tell you how many times in July I heard from other coaches -- head coaches and assistants -- about one or both of them. 'He's a great guy, you made a great hire.' I heard it consistently. They both have great reputations as people and assistant coaches. The other thing is any change creates new ideas and new discussions. You can always get better."
This is Belmont's swan song in the A-Sun before moving to the Ohio Valley Conference. The switch caught the conference off guard, but in basketball terms it's a good move up the competition ladder for a team that has been, well, the Duke of the A-Sun.
"We can't forget it [the A-Sun, then the Trans-American Athletic Conference] was a league that embraced us before any other would," Byrd said. "And we've enjoyed success and who knows what would have happened if it had been the OVC, Big South or Southern [Belmont's other options when it moved into Division I from the NAIA ranks]? At that point we needed to be in a conference. The Trans-America extended an invite, and we couldn't have done anything without that.
"We've definitely built up some rivalries that we'll miss. The obvious one is Lipscomb [the schools, located three miles from each other in Nashville, have been rivals since their NAIA days], but I feel certain we'll continue to play. ETSU is a rivalry and one I think fans on both sides will miss. The last six years it has been us as the two teams that have gone to the NCAAs. Those games have always been big to fans and teams and coaches on both sides."
BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS
BACKCOURT: A-
BENCH/DEPTH: A-
FRONTCOURT: A-
INTANGIBLES: A-
Belmont will be the overwhelming favorite to repeat as A-Sun champion. The only challenge Byrd faces is managing expectations given the extraordinary season the Bruins had a year ago.
The coach is to be applauded for taking games at Duke and Memphis to start this season. He understands the value in challenging his team.
"The game at Duke may be more than we can handle," Byrd said. "They beat good teams badly there. In the end, though, the guys on this team will say 25 years down the road they got to play at Cameron Indoor. That's a great thing you can do for your players.
"Memphis is a good in-state game for us to play. We've only played them one other time, when [John] Calipari was there. It's two national teams on the road. We've got some early preseason mentions by some people, and we need to approach those games like we belong."
If Byrd believes managing expectations is difficult now, what happens if Belmont starts 2-0? Sounds like a challenge, but one you can bet the coach would love to face.
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