Belmont’s Foundation Building

Alexander Building Consistently

(St. Louis, MO) – Belmont’s Casey Alexander has been around the Bruin program a long time and is committed to continuing Belmont’s foundation building. After one Missouri Valley Conference season, he better understands what it takes to win in the 117-year-old conference and he knows how he wants to build his basketball program.

While losing all-Valley guard Ben Sheppard to the NBA, Belmont (21-11) is predicted to finish fifth in the league race in the Valley’s recent official poll. Belmont returns ‘Freshman of the Year’ Cade Tyson and a backcourt consisting of veteran Keishawn Davidson and Tyson’s fellow sophomore Ja’Kobi Gillespie.

Alexander’s blue-print involves recruiting and developing high school players, while adding a limited number of specifically selected transfers. He and Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson are the Valley’s two coaches most bent on building in that traditional way.

Belmont’s foundation building includes eleven players that came straight from high school to Nashville and none are beyond their sophomore season.

While joining a new league and learning how to win the Valley, Alexander says he continues to value the same system he played in and coached in with legendary Rick Byrd. During his four years at Belmont’s helm, Alexander has won 98 games.

Tyson was named the Valley’s preseason all-conference team and Alexander says the 6’7 sophomore who averaged 13.6 points per game last season, has taken big steps to improve in every way possible. Alexander brags about Tyson’s work ethic. He says his team will be more prepared for the rigors of MVC play than they were last year.

The Players Speak

Keishawn Davidson and grad transfer Jayce Willingham are the only non freshmen and sophomores on this year’s team. Both of those players have tallied over 1,100 career points. Willingham’s have been scored at the Division 2 level, but he has impressed his new teammates. Davidson originally played at Tennessee Tech and fought through a shoulder injury all last season.

After those two veterans, Tyson and Gillespie are by far, the most experienced Belmont players in terms of minutes played. Gillespie says Davidson is a great mentor and that his fellow sophomore Tyson is the hardest working player on the team.

According to Barttorvic.com the Bruins are the MVC’s least experienced team.

Tradition matters at Belmont. While the 6’7 Tyson says the young players are ready to prove they belong, he’s grateful for the two veterans on the team. Alexander’s relational style of coaching and the example left behind by Sheppard are big advantages for this team.

The Rest of the Crew

Belmont’s foundation building from the bottom up doesn’t mean Alexander won’t find and add players from the portal. Drew Friberg was a big help to last year’s team and Vanderbilt transfer Malik Dia will be an important part of this year’s successes.

The 6’9 Dia appeared in 20 Commodore contests last season. According to Alexander, the Murfreesboro, Tennessee native is one of the most skilled big men he has ever coached. Dia is big enough (245 pounds) to bang inside with MVC big men, but also made 35% of his long distance attempts at Vanderbilt.

Willingham helped lead his Lee College team to the D2 NCAA Tournament and is an 87% free throw shooter.

(Read – Is Tyson the Valley’s Next Big Star?)

What about those other freshmen and sophomores? Redshirt sophomore Isaiah Walker had a highly productive foreign trip and looks poised to become a big contributor. Alexander calls him a steady player that contributes in a lot of different ways.

Freshmen Sam Orme, Win Miller, Drew Scharnowski and Brigham Rogers all arrived in Nashville with suitcases full of prep press clippings. All were all-state and highly rated within their state recruiting services. Miller was an Alabama ‘Mr. Basketball’ finalist and led that state’s top ranked team.

Orme is a 6’8 forward with solid offensive skills and played in the prestigious Indiana-Kentucky All-Star game. Rogers averaged a double-double during his final two season at Georgia’s Blessed Trinity Catholic High School.

Redshirt freshman Keith Robbins, and other sophomores Kyler Vanderjagt and Aidan Braccia are talented players waiting in the wings.

Can The Bruins Compete for a Title?

This is a talented Belmont team. Can Belmont’s foundation building result in an upper tier finish in this year’s Missouri Valley Conference race? If these talented offensive players can produce good defensive results, the sky is the limit for Alexander’s Bruins.

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