Bruins Receiving Votes in USA Today/WBCA Preseason Coaches Poll

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the second consecutive year, the Belmont University women's basketball team will begin its season receiving votes in the USA Today Sports/Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25. The preseason favorites to win the Missouri Valley Conference in their first year in the league received nine votes in the preseason USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll, which was released midday Wednesday.
 
The Bruins received 14 votes in the preseason Associated Press (AP) Top 25 and are ranked No. 25 in Sports Illustrated's 2022-23 basketball preview edition. Belmont earned four votes in the preseason coaches poll a year ago for the first time in program history. No other MVC program is receiving votes in either preseason national poll.
 
Belmont has either been ranked or received votes in at least one of the two major national polls for eight consecutive seasons, including the upcoming 2022-23 campaign. The Bruins finished last season ranked 45th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET).
 
With one of the most strenuous non-conference schedules in the country, Belmont will face at least four teams who are also receiving votes in the preseason coaches poll, including two top-10 opponents. The Bruins will welcome preseason No. 5 Louisville to the Music City on Sunday, Nov. 13 before heading to Iowa City, Iowa, the following Sunday (Nov. 20) to face Iowa, who is tied for sixth in the preseason USA Today/WBCA Top 25. At the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida, Friday-Sunday, Nov. 25-27, Belmont will take on Villanova, who is also receiving nine votes in the coaches poll, and may also see No. 17 Baylor. Both 23rd-ranked Michigan and receiving-votes South Florida are also in the tournament's bracket. On Saturday, Dec. 17, the Bruins travel to receiving-votes Georgia.
 
Belmont received votes in each of the last six USA Today/WBCA Coaches Polls of the 2017-18 season, reaching a program-high No. 25 ranking back-to-back weeks in March of 2018. Last season, the Bruins received a vote in the first USA Today/WBCA Top 25 poll of the regular season after defeating receiving-votes Ole Miss during the opening week.
 
Returning three first-team all-conference performers and welcoming five talented newcomers, including transfers Kendal Cheesman (Vanderbilt) and Sydni Harvey (South Florida), Belmont received 32 of 44 possible first-place votes in the MVC preseason poll. The Bruins have seven of their top nine scorers from 2021-22 back, including standout junior guards Tuti Jones and Destinee Wells and 2022 All-Ohio Valley Conference First Team selection junior forward Madison Bartley.
 
Wells, the 2022-23 MVC Preseason Player of the Year, has been named to both the 2023 Nancy Lieberman Award and 2023 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award watch lists.
 
Within a ball bounce of the program's first Sweet 16 appearance at the 2022 NCAA Tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee, 12th-seeded Belmont knocked off fifth-seeded Oregon 73-70 in a double-overtime first-round thriller to reach its second consecutive NCAA Tournament Round of 32. Going 23-8 overall and 16-2 in league play, the Bruins won their fifth OVC regular season championship in six years before capturing their sixth OVC Tournament title in seven seasons.
 
Just the second program in Division I women's basketball history to win NCAA Tournament games in back-to-back seasons as a No. 12 seed or lower, Belmont is the only non-power conference team to reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 each of the last two seasons.
 
The Bruins have earned a national postseason bid nine of the last 10 years and reached each of the last six NCAA Tournaments. Belmont is one of just 12 programs in the nation and one of only three non-power conference teams (Florida Gulf Coast and South Dakota State) to win 20 or more games for seven-straight seasons.
 
Both single game and season tickets are on sale now. Season tickets are only $199 per seat and include all men's and women's basketball home games. Click here to view available seating and purchase your seats.
 
Flex pack plans for the 2022-23 season are also on sale and can be purchased here. For more information, call 615-460-BALL or visit BelmontBruins.com.
 
Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.