The Sun Belt conference tournament begins on Tuesday, March 5th. All games will be played at Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida. The championship will take place Monday, March 11th at 7 PM
Here are some teams to watch in this tournament:
#2 James Madison : JMU started the season with a shocking win over Michigan State and proceeded to follow that up by going 27-3 the rest of the way, losing 2 games to Appalachian State but otherwise dominating the majority of their schedule. They are a balanced and deep team, and check all the boxes of a serious threat in March. They likely need to win this tournament to make the NCAA tournament, but they are in the mix for an at large bid the way things stand right now. They lost both matchups with #1 seed Appalachian State, and that will be a big storyline should the top 2 teams meet in the championship.
#1 Appalachian State: App State won the Sun Belt regular season title outright, going 16-2 in conference play, including the two big wins over James Madison. They also pulled off an upset against Auburn early in the season. App State plays strong defense and allows no easy buckets while avoiding fouling their opponents. If App State is able to win the tournament, they would likely be a 12 or 13 seed and a matchup no team would want to face in the first round of the NCAA tournament
#3 Troy : Troy handed App State one of its two losses in conference play. The Trojans play sound defense and although they may be a step behind the top 2 seeds, they are certainly capable of winning this tournament
#11 Texas State: Texas State got off to a rough start, losing 8 of their first 9 conference games. Since then, however, they’ve gone 7-3 with wins over both App State and Troy. They are beginning to peak at the right time, and if they can keep up the defensive intensity they have been playing with, they can win 2+ games in this tournament and challenge some of the top seeds.
My Bracket Prediction
Comments