Bruins chosen third in NSAA Preseason Poll

BISMARCK, N.D. -- The Bellevue University men's basketball team, coming off a 20-win season and return to the NAIA National Tournament in 2020-21, has been picked to finish second in a survey of North Star Athletic Association coaches, as announced by the NSAA on Monday afternoon.

Valley City State topped the poll with 59 points and took home five of the eight first place votes while Mayville State, last year's NSAA regular-season champion, came in second with 50 points and a pair of first place votes.

Bellevue was picked third with 47 points and the final first place votes after winning last year's NSAA Tournament and reaching the National Tournament for the 20^th time in program history.

Dakota State finished fourth in the conference preseason poll with 38 points. Viterbo and Dickinson State were tied for fifth place with 33 points. Waldorf was picked to finish seventh after collecting 18 points, followed by Presentation eighth with 10 points.

Points were awarded on an 8-1 basis and coaches could vote for their own team.

Each NSAA members will be playing 14 conference games this season, with each team playing home and away games during the conference season.

The NSAA conference season gets underway on Dec. 4 with four games on schedule, with traveling partners playing each other.

The top six teams in the women's basketball team standings will advance to the NSAA postseason conference tournament, with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds receiving an opening round bye. The No. 3 seed will host No. 6 seed, while the No. 4 seed hosts No. 5 seed in the opening round, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 23, 2022.

The two opening round winners will join the top two seeds teams in the NSAA postseason's Final Four at the Watertown Civic Arena in Watertown, S.D. on Feb. 26-27, 2022.

The Champion of the North Star Men's Basketball Postseason Tournament will receive the NSAA's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament's Opening Round scheduled for March 11-12, 2022.  The winner of the Opening Round sites advance to the final site in Kansas City, Mo. from March 17-22, 2022.

Quick Season Preview

BU returns seven letter-winners, including three starters, off last year's team and welcomes nine newcomers for 2021-22.

Returning starters for the Bruins are senior guard Eric Piece (10.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG), junior center Justin Motley (5.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 41 blocked shots), and junior guard Paulo Araujo (4.9 PPG, 37.6 3FG%).

Also back for BU are senior centers Isaiah Bates (5.3, 71.8 FG%) and Vaj Rice (4.4 PPG, 2.6 RPG) along with freshman guard Vinny Belcaster (5.9 PPG, 1.6 A/TO).

New to the team are three junior transfers and four sophomore transfers. Comprising the junior class is are 6-4, forward Somtochukwu Boardman (Antioch, Calif./Los Medanos College); 6-0, guard, Jerome Bynum (Chicago, Ill./Southern Arkansas Tech); 5-11, and guard Cole Jones (Pond Creek, Okla./Northwestern Oklahoma State).

Making up the sophomore class are 5-1, guard Barrett Harms (Flower Mound, Texas/Brookhaven College); 6-5, forward Makeem Loudermill (Falcon, Ark/Southern Arkansas Tech); 6-5, forward Hunter Mengel (Bellevue, Neb./Midland University); and 6-3, guard, Taylor Pomeroy (Portland, Ore./Lower Columbia College).

A pair of 6-1 freshman guards round out the newcomers in Darryl Bennett (Omaha, Neb./Omaha North HS) and Christian Carter (Concord, Calif./De La Salle HS).

Bellevue, already a game into the 2021-22 season, continues play this week at the Jeff Uphaus Memorial Tournament, hosted by MidAmerica Nazarene. The Bruins face Sterling College (0-1) to kick off the event at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27.