During his sophomore year, Belmont guard Justin Hare started all but two games for the Bruins. Hare averaged 15.6 points per contest, earned second-team all-Atlantic Sun honors, was the conference tournament MVP and led Belmont to the NCAA tournament. One year later, he is arguably the best bench player in the field of 65.

The junior was removed from the starting lineup during the middle of the season, but that hasn’t quelled his production. He leads the team with 14.6 points per game and was named Atlantic Sun tournament MVP for a second straight year after the Bruins beat East Tennessee State in the conference championship game last week. He also earned first-team all-conference honors this season.

It’s not much of a surprise that Hare didn’t have a problem moving to the bench for the good of his team – he was raised as a team player. When he was 10-years-old, Hare’s parents Lidelle and Jolene began running a foster home out of their house in Cleveland, Tennessee. With between eight and 10 foster siblings in the house at any given time, Hare learned how to share with the best of them.

He also learned how to study. Hare currently sports a 3.85 GPA in his major of exercise science and health promotion. Two weeks ago, the junior was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Second Team.

Hare and the Bruins are the No. 15 seed in the East region and play second-seeded Georgetown on Thursday afternoon.