Busting Brackets
Fansided

Western Kentucky Basketball: Lamonte Bearden ineligible for 1st semester

By Brad Cavallaro

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: Head coach Rick Stansbury of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers has a conversation with Lamonte Bearden #1 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the second quarter during their 2018 National Invitation Tournament Championship semifinals game at Madison Square Garden on March 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 27: Head coach Rick Stansbury of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers has a conversation with Lamonte Bearden #1 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the second quarter during their 2018 National Invitation Tournament Championship semifinals game at Madison Square Garden on March 27, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Western Kentucky PG Lamonte Bearden is ineligible for the 1st semester and this temporary loss is bigger than you may realize. How will the Hilltoppers fare without Bearden?

Western Kentucky fans received some bad news this past week when Lamonte Bearden was ruled ineligible for the first semester. It’s never good to lose a key player for any amount of time and the fact that Bearden is the team’s starting PG only compounds the issue. The talented senior averaged 11.8 ppg and 3.4 apg in his first season with the Hilltoppers.

On the surface, it does not seem like too big of a deal. Bearden is only being held out of games temporarily and he is only missing roughly 30% of the season. He will return for the last few non-conference games, league play, and any postseason tournaments Western Kentucky participates in. Given their roster and their huge talent advantage over the rest of Conference USA, the expectation and the goal should be to make the NCAA Tournament.

This is why Bearden’s ineligiblity is more of a hindrance than most people realize. For a vast majority of at-large caliber teams, their resume building opportunities come towards the end of the season. Bubble teams in the Power 6 leagues often have opportunities every week to bolster their resume while bubble teams in mid-major leagues need to get their best wins early in the season or win their conference’s automatic bid. Bearden is going to miss most of this crucial early season period.

Western Kentucky is too good this season to solely rely on the auto-bid. That would be a huge disappointment given the admirable non-conference schedule that they assembled and the talented players they brought in for this season. DeSean Murray is a senior and Charles Bassey could easily be a one and done prospect.

Related Story. Western Kentucky adds two impact transfers. light

Freshman guard Dalano Blanton will likely move into the starting lineup and be tasked with filling in for Bearden. Blanton has great size at 6’7” and is a top 100 recruit, but he will be thrown into the fire against multiple talented veteran teams.

The first big game that Bearden is missing comes on opening night when the Hilltoppers play at Washington. At full strength, this is a game between two evenly matched teams, but Washington has the edge given the circumstances. The Huskies return all five starters and their top seven scorers from last year and should easily make the NCAA Tournament.

Western Kentucky should be heavy favorites over Valparaiso, but this game is an ABSOLUTE must win because it will lead to a second round matchup against West Virginia (not ideal for a freshman PG). This is another resume building opportunity and, fortunately, it comes on neutral court which gives the Hilltoppers a better chance to win. If they defeat West Virginia, there could be another quality win at their fingertips, if they face AAC favorite UCF in the championship.

The last tests without Bearden come on the road, which is always dangerous when Western Kentucky plays at Indiana State, Missouri State, and Arkansas in a two-week span. The talented 6’3” guard should be back for their final chance at a quality win, at home versus Wisconsin, but the damage could already be done by this point.

We saw with Middle Tennessee last season, the margin for error is razor thin. Mid Major teams with legitimate NCAA Tournament aspirations can only afford one or two (at most) losses to inferior teams. To make matters worse, Conference USA has multiple dangerous teams who aren’t good enough to be considered a marquee win but could easily knock off Western Kentucky. Marshall should be especially dangerous this season with Jon Elmore who is one of the best lead guards and shooters in the country.

Next. Top Ten 2018 Mid-Major Recruits. dark

Ultimately, I think Western Kentucky should be fine and end up weathering Bearden’s temporary ineligibility. The Hilltoppers should make the NCAA Tournament and I have them as a 9 seed in my preseason predictions. However, it would not hurt to grab at least one quality win without Bearden, to set them up well when conference play rolls around.