This was the smartest turnover you will ever see.
The Bellarmine Knights officially made the jump from DII to DI in the 2020-21 school year, but they are already comfortable in their new digs in the Atlantic Sun. Bellarmine won the A-Sun men’s basketball conference tournament last season, but didn’t get the auto-bid to the NCAA tournament because they were ineligible as a program transitioning up a level. Instead, the biggest game on Bellarmine’s calendar is against crosstown big brother Louisville. On Wednesday night, they stunned the mighty Cardinals in the first game of the Kenny Payne era.
Bellarmine beat Louisville, 67-66, for a massive victory for the program. The Knights led the game most of the way, but it was still contested down to the final seconds. After Louisville missed a couple chances late to pull ahead, Knights guard Juston Betz got the rebound and decided to ice the game in a totally unique but brilliant way. He tossed the ball out of bounds at the other end of the court, ensuring Louisville would have to go the length of the floor after an inbounds pass with less than a second remaining.
Watch the play here:
That’s a basketball punt, and it’s beautiful. I’m old enough to remember when Michael Ruffin tried something similar for the Washington Wizards back in 2007, but the Raptors caught the ball and hit the game-winner. Ballarmine pulled it off so much better.
This might be a long year for Louisville. The Cards already lost to D2 Lenoir-Rhyne in the preseason, and getting beat by your little brother to start the year is a rough look. As the great Mike Rutherford wrote in his recap at our Louisville community Card Chronicle:
Louisville fans have to hope that one day it will simply serve as a curious anecdote: Did you know the first game Kenny Payne coached was actually a home loss to Bellarmine?
Payne may turn around the program eventually, but he’s already starting at rock bottom. What a win for Ballarmine.
