March 17, 2006
A Moment to Remember
By Amanda Wheeler
Circle editor
A contingent of Belmont University administration, students, staff, alumni and trustees boarded a plane to San Diego on Wednesday morning to cheer on their beloved Bruins in their first ever trip to the NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament. The trip may have been short-lived after Belmont's loss to No. 2 powerhouse UCLA, but no one is hanging his or her head for making the trip. Everyone was in agreement: win or lose, this experience was a stellar victory for Belmont's basketball program...
Posted March 17, 2006. LINK. | Comments (16)
Media Coverage
Belmont ripped, historic NCAA trip over quickly; Hang tough with UCLA early before fading - The Tennessean
"Being a senior and this being my last game and playing it in the NCAA Tournament for the first time on a history-making team, there is nothing that can take away from that,'' said Belmont's Brian Collins, a product of Whites Creek. "I would love to go back and play this game again and do some different things. I know Coach (Rick) Byrd's not satisfied with just being in the first round and with the way we went out, and we did want to show people Belmont's a great team.''
Defeated Belmont captures hearts; Students see no shame in losing to UCLA - The Tennessean
The crowd at Belmont's Beaman Student Life Center crammed into the main lounge to watch on a big screen. They were energized, reacting to every shot as if it could been the game winner. The Nashville team kept up for much of the first half against the No. 2-seeded UCLA Bruins. Even when it started to get ugly and the game appeared out of reach, the local crowd's energy kept up.
"You all keep your eyes on Belmont."
Nashville City Paper has an interesting photo from "Selection Sunday" last week, just before it was announced that Belmont would play UCLA.
Posted March 17, 2006. LINK.
Belmont's Dream Season Ends Against UCLA
Bruins Online recaps the Bruins' 78-44 loss to UCLA in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and also has postgame comments from Rick Byrd and several players.
Posted March 17, 2006. LINK.
March 16, 2006
78-44
The most successful men's basketball team in Belmont University history concluded its season with a disappointing loss to UCLA in the NCAA tournament. CBS Sports: "Belmont didn't flinch in the early going of its first NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bruins of Nashville raced out to their largest lead of the game, 18-12, while UCLA missed 10 of its first 15 shots."
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Halftime
At halftime, UCLA lead Belmont 35-23.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Jump Ball
The game is under way. UCLA won the opening tip-off, but the Belmont Bruins scored first. Here's how it looked on CBS:
Click images to enlarge.
From Paul Chenoweth here is video of a pre-game pep rally at the team hotel just before the Bruins headed to the arena, viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Also from Paul Chenoweth, a great shot of the Cox Arena scoreboard when Belmont was leading UCLA early in the first half:
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
ESPN Photo Gallery
ESPN.com has a great photo of Belmont Bruins sophomore guard Justin Hare practicing at Cox Arena, and more Belmont pictures here.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Game Delayed
The start of the Belmont-UCLA game at Cox Arena in San Diego, originally set for 3:55 p.m. central time, has been delayed to 5:35 p.m., due to a morning bomb scare at the arena, which is located on the campus of San Diego State University. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that, after a security sweep found a suspicious package, Fire Department bomb technicians using a robot determined the package to be harmless, but the delay left an estimated 2,000 people waiting outside the gates until the “all clear” was sounded about 11:15 a.m. Fans were allowed into the area about 45 minutes later.
Amanda Wheeler of the University Marketing & Communications office and editor of Belmont's Circle magazine, traveling with the Belmont contingent in San Diego, reports, "Everyone from Belmont (team included) is fine, we're all just waiting at the hotel. I'll call as soon as we get another report. ... The team's just ready to play! But obviously they are going to delay everything until it's safe."
While you're waiting, here is a video clip from Belmont coach Rick Byrd's press conference yesterday, viewable via Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Fired Up
Paul Chenoweth is capturing video of some of the Belmont students, faculty and staff who traveled with the Bruins to San Diego, including video of a couple of Belmont students doing what Belmont students do when they're at the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Video viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Dr. Jeff Cornwall, director of Belmont's Center for Entrepreneurship, offers some lessons you can learn about public relations from the impact of the success of the Belmont Bruins men's basketball team. Dr. Cornwall is proud to note that the Bruin's senior forward Dan Oliver, shown here holding up the Atlantic-Sun Conference Championship trophy, is an entrepreneurship major.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Moving Forward
Belmont University Board of Trustees member Stephen O. Hewlett comments on what it means for Belmont to be in the NCAA men's basketball team, in video from San Diego, viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Vision Providing Frequent Updates
The Belmont Vision website has frequently updated multimedia coverage of the Belmont Bruins' trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament, including stories, photos and audio/video clips such as one showing scenes from the trip to San Diego. The Vision also has posted the PDF file of its current edition, with several stories on the Bruins going to the NCAA tournament. You can download it here.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Video Clips
Paul Chenoweth has posted some video clips of Belmont Bruins players Boomer Herndon, Justin Hare and Josh Goodwin speaking at Wednesday's press conference in San Diego, and also a short locker-room interview with Dan Oliver.
Junior center Boomer Herndon (pictured): Viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Sophomore guard Justin Hare and junior guard Josh Goodwin: Viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime.
Senior forward Dan Oliver: Viewable in Windows Media Player or QuickTime
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Media Coverage
Professor roots for other Bruins - The Daily Bruin
Christia Brown, a Belmont alumna (class of '95) and UCLA assistant professor of psychology, will be rooting for her alma mater tomorrow when the two teams meet in the NCAA Tournament.
Hoop hopes high at underdog Belmont - The Tennessean
Whether or not the Belmont Bruins basketball team wins today's game in San Diego, Belmont University students are revved up for a sort of campus holiday to celebrate just how far their team has come.
NCAA debut makes for a battle of the Bruins - The Daily Bruin
Belmont University’s basketball team rallies and adjusts to its new success after a tournament bid
These Country Bears Take On Big-City Bruins - Los Angeles Times
As UCLA is known for college basketball, Belmont is known for country music
UCLA's Edge May Be History - Los Angeles Times
The more-heralded Bruins take on the Belmont variety, but the underdogs say they won't be overwhelmed by first appearance.
Small school shows Dance's big picture - Herald-Review (Decatur, Illinois)
After all the griping by the TV talking heads, all the moaning by coaches and players jaded to the wonderment of this event, and all the carping from media mopes like me who bristle at 12-hour travel days, it remains a privilege to, in any way, be associated with this three-week celebration of college basketball. Too many of us have forgotten that. Too many take for granted a place in an elite event. And it takes a school like tiny Belmont - enrollment 4,319 in Nashville, Tenn. - to remind us it shouldn't be that way.
Howland warns No. 2 UCLA about opponents - Associated Press
UCLA Coach Ben Howland knows what it's like to nearly knock off a No. 2 seed in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. He was coaching lightly regarded Northern Arizona against Cincinnati in 1998, when the Lumberjacks led much of the way only to lose on a late 3-pointer. Now, Howland is on the other side, bringing No. 2 UCLA (27-6) into a first-round game against 15th-seeded Belmont (20-10) on Thursday.
Belmont hopes to have UCLA singing a sad song - Associated Press
:If I'd have known how great this was, I would've really dreamed about it and worried about it and I'd have been crushed if we hadn't gotten here,'' Belmont coach Rick Byrd said Wednesday, "but I wouldn't have known what I'd missed until this happened.''
Belmont coach playing it cool - Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
The last game Belmont coach Rick Byrd saw UCLA play live, he said, was the loss at USC on Feb. 19. Hard to blame him for downgrading UCLA after that one. That last loss is the game UCLA players credit as the final turning point of the season. But now that Byrd has been watching UCLA closely, he's not giving the Pac-10 Bruins any bulletin-board material.
Favorites review history of upsetting early exits - USA Today
UCLA's Bruins, which will play Belmont's Bruins today in San Diego, got all caught up in their No. 2-vs.-No. 15 NCAA history this week, courtesy of their coach, Ben Howland. "He mentioned it a lot to us," UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said. "He gave us a lot of examples." (Story includes photo of Belmont sophomore guard Justin Hare.)
Belmont coach changes his tune - The Daily Breeze
The Belmont Bruins are bright young men who know about UCLA's basketball legacy, about Wooden and about Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. They even talked about Toby Bailey and Tyus Edney. Belmont is a former NAIA power just getting its toes in the water with the big boys. The game against UCLA this afternoon will be its first NCAA Tournament game. This is only the fifth year it has been eligible for the tournament. "We're a little in awe," Byrd said. This from a veteran in his 25th year as a head coach, his 20th at Belmont.
Belmont, known more for its music heritage, faces storied UCLA program - Ventura County Star
Their coach is golfing buddies with country star Vince Gill, bunks on Gill's bus during concert tours and has appeared in two of his music videos. Their players wake up for 6 a.m. preseason swims, bowl together on weekends and relish tee times as much as gym time. They are the Belmont University Bruins - the less-publicized Bruins men's basketball team of the Oakland Regional - and they arrived for their close up in sunny California with eager grins.
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
Byrd: "The people who care are so far-reaching that I can’t even describe it."
Bruins Online has remarks from Belmont men's basketball coach Rick Byrd's press conference Wednesday in San Diego, and also remarks from the Bruins players' press conference. Junior guard Josh Goodwin: "We played Ohio State earlier in the year, which is a top-10 team, and it is a big deal for us to be out here in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but we’re not going to be in awe of UCLA. We have great respect for them and understand everything they’ve done, but we’re not going to be scared.”
Posted March 16, 2006. LINK.
March 15, 2006
Festivities Kick Off in San Diego
Thursday morning before the Belmont Bruins basketball team lines up againist the Bruins of UCLA at Cox Arena in San Diego, the team will be sent off by a group of Belmont administration, staff, alumni and students with a brunch and pep rally at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel. Pictures and an account of the festivities will be posted later.
Posted March 15, 2006. LINK.
En Route to San Diego
Paul Chenoweth has posted a series of photos of the Belmont Bruins men's basketball team and assorted members of the Belmont family en route to San Diego for the game against UCLA. And, while you're waiting for that game, you can relieve the Bruin's historic A-Sun Championship victory here.
Posted March 15, 2006. LINK.
Media Coverage
Newspapers and media around the country continue to tell the story of the Belmont Bruins and their first trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Here are the latest...
Bid is music to their ears - Orlando Sentinel
Herndon always had NCAAs in his sight - The Tennessean
'Country Music U.' ready for closeup - Associated Press
Belmont Deals with the Big Time - WKRN
Belmont earns national attention with NCAA bid - WSMV (Video pop-up)
Top Ten Signs You Have March Madness - KFMB San Diego CBS affiliate
This Belmont is a real long shot - Los Angeles Daily News
Odds aren't favorable, but everyone has a chance - ESPN.com senior columnist Gene Wojciechowski.
Posted March 15, 2006. LINK.
March 04, 2006
Dancing With History
In the most historic game yet in an historic rivalry, Belmont's men's basketball team defeated Lipscomb University 74-69 in a seesaw battle that went to overtime, winning the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament championship and earning Belmont's first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament, a/k/a "the Big Dance."
The Bruins (20-10), tied 31-31 with Lipscomb at halftime and 58-58 at the end of regulation, won the game in overtime on the hot shooting of sophomore guard Justin Hare, who scored a career-high 32 points in the contest, including 10 points in the overtime period.
Fittingly, the game ended with the ball in Hare's hands as he got a steal on Lipscomb's final possession and dribbled the ball several times as the clock ran down before tossing it high in the air as the clock ran out. Hare (pictured) won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.
Belmont and Lipscomb, three miles apart on Nashville's Belmont Boulevard, have been basketball rivals for decades. The intense rivalry, called the "Battle of the Boulevard," dates to 1953. Both schools' men's basketball programs were national powers in the NAIA in the 1980s and 1990s, often competing for Tennessee Collegiate Athletic Conference championships. Belmont moved to NCAA Division I in 1997 and Lipscomb followed three years later. Belmont now is the first to advance to the NCAA tournament.
"The fact that it was the two of us just upped the ante big time," Belmont coach Rick Byrd told the Associated Press. "If we'd been playing Gardner-Webb or East Tennessee State we would have wanted to win bad, but we wouldn't have gone home and listened to who won for two weeks and naturally so. And they didn't want to have to do it either."
Belmont Bruins Sports has the game stats here. ESPN recaps the game here and has a game photo gallery here.
To purchase official Belmont Bruins merchandise, visit the Belmont Bookstore online.
Posted March 04, 2006. LINK.
March 02, 2006
Belmont Men To Face Lipscomb For A-Sun Title, NCAA Slot
Winner of A-Sun Tournament Gets Automatic Bid to NCAA Tournament
Belmont's men's basketball team defeated Stetson University 72-59 in the semifinal of the 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., Friday night. The 400th victory for longtime coach Rick Byrd sets up a historic game with long-time rival and Nashville neighbor Lipscomb University in the tournament championship game today. Neither school has won the A-Sun title or gone to the NCAA since moving to Division 1 a few years ago. The winner of the A-Sun tournament gets an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The championship game is at 1:00pm central time and will be televised on ESPN2 (Nashville cable channel 29). You can also listen to it online at Bruins Live.
Posted March 02, 2006. LINK.
