Throughout the 2018-19 academic year, the Great Lakes Valley Conference will celebrate its 40th anniversary by recognizing 40 teams that made a significant impact both on campus and at the Conference level. This week’s featured team is the 2011 Bellarmine men’s basketball squad.
40 TEAMS | 40 YEARS
WEEK 23: 2011 Bellarmine Men’s Basketball
SEASON SUMMARY
The 2010-11 Bellarmine men’s basketball team began its run to the NCAA Championship before the season technically even started. Bellarmine made a bold statement by going into the Cintas Center in Cincinnati and coming away with a 63-61 exhibition victory over the Xavier Musketeers. Although just an exhibition, the victory was significant because the Musketeers were coming off two straight NCAA Division I Sweet 16 appearances and hadn’t lost in Cintas in 24 games, which at the time was the third-longest streak in Division I. Clearly, it was a sign that this team could be special. Bellarmine’s regular season opener also was something of a statement game as the Knights avenged a 2009-10 double overtime loss to Wayne State by breezing past the Warriors by 20 points in their Knights Hall and regular season debut. The Knights then went on the road collecting two victories in West Virginia before getting a rare road sweep of Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Indiana to open GLVC play. Bellarmine returned to Knights Hall and picked up three wins and went into the Christmas break 8-0 and garnered the No. 1 ranking in the national poll. Following the mandatory holiday break, the Knights stumbled against a talented NAIA opponent, dropping a 79-74 decision to St. Catharine in the Bill Joergens Classic at Southern Indiana. Bellarmine rebounded quickly, however, and came right back the next day to beat Harris-Stowe by 24, which started a win streak of a then-school record 16 games. As the calendar hit January, the Knights entered GLVC play exclusively and ran their league record to 17-0 in until falling in their last regular season game to Kentucky Wesleyan as the Panthers’ Cardell McFarland set a Knights Hall record in scoring 47 points. Bellarmine rolled to 20-point victory in its opening GLVC Tournament game against Rockhurst, and then avenged their loss to KWC with an 86-73 victory in the GLVC semifinals. In the championship game, the Knights faced a tough Southern Indiana team and outlasted the Screaming Eagles in overtime. After capturing its second straight GLVC title, Bellarmine won the right to host the NCAA Midwest Regional as the No. 1 seed. The Knights again got a heavy dose of GLVC foes in the regional. In the opener, Bellarmine faced Indianapolis for the third time. In their first meeting, BU’s Justin Benedetti hit a triple in the waning seconds to help the Knights escape 99-97, and in the rematch in Knights Hall, Bellarmine claimed an 80-70 victory. The regional opener for the Knights turned out to be the widest margin between the Knights and Greyhounds this season as Bellarmine claimed an 84-70 victory. In the second round, Bellarmine squared off against Northern Kentucky--also for the third time of the season. Again, the Knights and Norse waged a mighty battle with BU coming out on top, 87-82. In the Midwest Regional final, Bellarmine flipped a two-point halftime deficit into a 19-point victory, 85-66, sending the Knights to the national quarterfinals. After a 70-64 win over Midwestern State in the Elite Eight, the Knights outlasted Minnesota State-Mankato 81-74 in the semifinals. In the NCAA Championship title game against BYU-Hawaii, Bellarmine owned a 47-43 advantage at halftime and would surrender the lead only once early on in the second half. Before nearly 3,000 fans at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts and a national audience watching on CBS, the Knights defeated BYU-Hawaii 71-68 to win the school’s first-ever NCAA Championship, despite seeing BYU sharpshooter Tsung-Hsien (Jet) Chang pouring in 35 points en route to Most Outstanding Player honors.
Jeremy Kendle and
Chris Dowe each scored a team-high 16 points to pace the Knights, while
Luke Sprague notched a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Bellarmine concluded the season 33-2 overall and a 17-1 mark in GLVC play.
IMPRESSIVE INDIVIDUALS
Jeremy Kendle
- GLVC Player of the Year (2011)
- All-GLVC First Team (2011, 2012)
- All-GLVC Second Team (2010)
- NABC & Basketball Times All-America First Team (2011, 2012)
- DII Bulletin All-America Second Team (2011); Honorable Mention (2012)
- Daktronics All-America Third Team (2011)
- Only player in Bellarmine history to rank in top five in both scoring and assists
- Finished three-year playing career at BU with 1,792 career points, ranking fourth in program history
Braydon Hobbs
- NABC & Basketball Times NCAA Division II National Player of the Year (2012)
- GLVC Player of the Year (2012)
- NABC All-America First Team (2012)
- DII Bulletin All-America First Team (2012); Honorable Mention (2011)
- Daktronics All-America Second Team (2012)
- All-GLVC First Team (2011, 2012)
- All-GLVC Third Team (2009, 2010)
- GLVC Freshman of the Year (2009)
- GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year (2011, 2012)
- Capital One Academic All-America Second Team (2012)
- Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award/GLVC Male Athlete of the Year (2012)
Justin Benedetti
- All-GLVC Third Team (2010, 2011)
Chris Dowe
- All-GLVC Third Team (2011)
- All-GLVC Second Team (2012)
- All-GLVC First Team (2013)
Scott Davenport
- NABC & DII Bulletin NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year (2011)
- GLVC Coach of the Year (2011, 2012, 2017, 2018)
- One NCAA Division II National Championship Appearance
- Four NCAA Division II National Semifinal Appearances
- Four NCAA Division II Elite Eight Appearances/Regional Championships
- Currently third among NCAA active coaches with 10 years or more on campus (.777, 334-96, 14 years)
LASTING LEGACY
The 2010-11 Bellarmine men’s basketball program secured its first NCAA Championship in any sport in school history, while giving the GLVC its sixth national title in the sport. The Knights boasted arguably one of the best tandems in league history as Jeremy Kendle and Braydon Hobbs secured GLVC Player of the Year honors in 2011 and 2012, respectively, while also earning multiple All-America distinctions in their final two seasons. Following the 2011-12 season, Hobbs would go on to be named the recipient of the Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award as GLVC Male Athlete of the Year. Since the 2011 title, Bellarmine has remained a consistent contender for league, regional and national titles. Head coach Scott Davenport is currently third among NCAA active coaches with 10 years or more on campus with a 77.7 winning percentage and a 334-96 record spanning 14 seasons. Bellarmine has seen an additional GLVC Player of the Year since its title run in Jake Thelen (2015), while also sweeping every GLVC Defensive Player of the Year award – George Suggs (2016), Al Davis (2017) and Jarek Coles (2018) – since the award was first presented in 2016. This past year, the Knights finished 29-3 and captured their second GLVC Tournament title in a row and fourth overall on Davenport's watch. Bellarmine won an outright GLVC regular-season championship for the second straight season, marking the fifth consecutive year the Knights won at least a share of the regular-season crown. Davenport was voted GLVC Coach of the Year for the fourth time and guided Bellarmine to a 10th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. This season, Bellarmine has opened the year with its best start in program history and is in the midst of its ninth straight week as the nation’s unanimous No. 1 team in the NABC/Division II Top 25 poll.