March 16, 2006
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.
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