Former Russellville High basketball star Pedro Bradshaw has been named First Team All District by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). He is in his second season playing for Bellarmine University, which is in its first year as an NCAA Division I school after being one of the nation’s top Division II teams perennially.
He had earlier been named First Team All-Atlantic Sun Conference while leading the Knights to a berth to second place in the conference. Liberty University won the tournament and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Even if Bellarmine had won the game, the Knights couldn’t have playing in the “Big Dance” because it is their first year in Division I.
The Louisville school is playing in a tournament, however. Pedro and the Knights will take on Army in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). The CBI will be a three-day, three-game tournament that'll take place in Daytona Beach, Fla.
"It's a huge opportunity for us," Bradshaw told WLKY-TV. "I was talking to one of the guys earlier and we didn't even think we were going to have a season. So, just for us to be able to make it to postseason play -- and have a chance to build our story -- it's amazing."
Bellarmine’s highly respected coach, Scott Davenport, told the television station: "The process this year has been a lot of firsts," Davenport said. "The first win, the first all-conference player (Bradshaw), we were in first place and this tournament is another opportunity to achieve a first." The Knights also had a 10-game winning streak at one point in the season.
Bradshaw, whose last game in a Panther uniform was in the 2017 regional finals against a Bowling Green team which won the state championship the next week, redshirted one semester at Belmont University and then transferred to Eastern Kentucky University where he was a reserve for a season.
This is his second year at Bellarmine, which is located in Louisville. He is listed as a junior. He would have been able to play another year even if he were listed as a senior because of a waiver granted in this pandemic era.
Pedro Bradshaw is in the top three in most statistical categories for the 13-7 Knights. His rankings:
Firsts: Scoring Average 15.4, Rebounding Average 6.9, Games Started 20 (Tie), Free Throws Made 76, Free Throws Attempted 92, Offensive Rebounds 34, Defensive Rebounds 138, Total Rebounds 172, Steals 32, Total Points 307
Seconds: Field Goals Made 109, Blocks 7 (tie)
Thirds: Three-Pointers 15, Free Throw Percentage 82.6, Assists 52
He is one of seven players in Kentucky colleges and universities named to All District teams. The other first teamers are Charles Bassey of Western Kentucky University and Carlik Jones of Louisville. Taveion Hollingsworth of WKU is a second teamer as are Tevin Brown of Murray State and Tre King and Wendell Green Jr., both of Eastern Kentucky.
Pedro was one of three Fourth Region players in 2017 who were finalists for Mr. Kentucky Basketball. One of the others, Terry Taylor of Austin Peay, was named a first teamer after being named OVC Player of the Year for the second straight season. He also passed Russellville’s Bubba Wells as APSU’s all-time leading scorer. The other, Franklin-Simpson’s Tavin Lovan, is a second teamer while playing for UAB. Taylor has been named first team all-district by both coaches and journalists.
The guy who was named Mr. Kentucky in that special 2017 season was Hollingsworth, who joined Bassey in leading WKU to a win over Saint Mary’s Wednesday in the NIT. The Toppers are among the eight teams left in that legendary tournament.
Bassey was named third team All-American this week. He's been named to the Wooden Award National Ballot for National Player of the Year and All-American consideration. He's also a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist and one of five Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center of the Year finalists.
OVC champion Morehead is the only Kentucky school in the men’s NCAA Tournament, WKU the only one in the NIT, and Bellarmine the only one in the CBI.
Second-seeded Louisville and fourth-seeded Kentucky are in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Their star players—Louisville senior Dana Evans and Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard—are among the five finalists for national Player of the Year.