Belmont Bruins

The Belmont Bruins play their home games at the Curb Event Center in Nashville, representing a university that has turned itself into one of the most consistent mid-major basketball programs in the country. Long a fixture of the Ohio Valley and Atlantic Sun conferences, Belmont moved to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2022 and kept right on winning. Known for crisp, well-drilled execution under a run of successful coaches, the Bruins have become a perennial threat to crash the NCAA Tournament as a mid-major bracket-buster.

Belmont's basketball program was founded in 1953, but its modern rise began with a 2006 Atlantic Sun championship that delivered the Bruins their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth, an overtime win against Lipscomb. Belmont has since made eight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a memorable First Four win over Temple in 2019 after earning an at-large bid. The Bruins spent a decade in the Ohio Valley Conference before joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 2022, continuing their run as one of Nashville's proudest athletic programs.