WKU Basketball: Lamonte Bearden Ineligible For First Semester of 2018/19 Season
On Friday, WKU head coach Rick Stansbury confirmed a rumor that had long been circling around: Hilltopper point guard Lamonte Bearden will…
On Friday, WKU head coach Rick Stansbury confirmed a rumor that had long been circling around: Hilltopper point guard Lamonte Bearden will have to sit out the first semester due to academic reasons.
Stansbury also said, in Bearden’s absence, it’ll be point guard by committee between Josh Anderson, Dalano Banton and Taveion Hollingsworth.
Bearden averaged 11.8 points, 3.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds last year in his first season with WKU after transferring from Buffalo. He also is the second-most productive returning player for WKU per 40 minutes, having averaged 17.0 points, five assists and 3.3 rebounds. Josh Anderson leads all returning players in points per 40 (17.4).
Bearden’s absence will really be felt in the tough non-conference schedule the Tops face. The season opener against Washington instantly gets more interesting, as the Tops will have to be on-the-fly reworking the guard rotation.
The Tops will be without Bearden for UDub, the Myrtle Beach Invitational (probably West Virginia in second round), and Arkansas, just to name a few of the key early-season dates. He should be back for second semester tests against Belmont, St Marys and Wisconsin.
As for point guard by committee, I’m not too worried about it (although, as said previously, it may cost WKU a couple of key non-con wins with the inexperience and early season insecurity [for lack of a better word] at the position in the early going). Best-case scenario for the Tops is someone wins out the committee early in the year (think of the 2012 football season when after three games, we knew Antonio Andrews was the man in the backfield). Anderson and Hollingsworth getting more minutes will only benefit them and the Tops, and we’re going to find out real soon if Banton is the real deal.
To read more about what Banton will bring the the floor for the Toppers, click here.