Sun Belt Conference (conference rank: 15th)
March 8-11
All games at New Orleans.
kPOY: Kevin Hervey, UT Arlington.
Regular season champ: UT Arlington (preseason #67 / 1st Sun Belt, current #72)
Overachiever: Arkansas State (preseason #281, current #119)
Underachiever: Little Rock (preseason #139, current #241)

Last season, UT Arlington was flirting with the top 50, having beaten Memphis and Ohio State on the road and pushing Texas to overtime in Austin. But the Mavericks couldn’t overcome a season-ending injury to Kevin Hervey in mid-January and tumbled out of the top 100 by season’s end.

This year, Hervey made it though the entire season and UTA finished atop the Sun Belt standings by two games. The Mavericks were one of just two teams to beat Saint Mary’s and also have a win at Texas.

UT Arlington is the obvious favorite but it has some worthy competition to deal with. Fifth-seeded Arkansas State was on the wrong end of a three-way tiebreaker and is forced to play an extra game to set up a tight matchup with UTA in the semis. The Red Wolves exceeded their preseason AdjEM more than any team in the country besides Gonzaga.

Georgia State would be lurking in the title and the Panthers have bounced back after a down year figuring out what to do without R.J. Hunter.

                        Qtrs Semis Final Champ
 1 UT Arlington          100  82.4  60.1  43.0
 2 Georgia St.           100  59.4  35.2  15.1
 5 Arkansas St.         76.4  47.8  19.0  10.6
 3 Georgia Southern      100  58.1  26.8   9.8
 7 Louisiana Lafayette  70.4  32.4  18.2   7.1
 4 Texas St.             100  43.7  12.5   5.2
 6 Troy                 70.7  34.0  15.0   5.1
 8 Coastal Carolina     58.1  11.7   5.0   2.0
10 Little Rock          29.6   8.2   2.9   0.7
 9 South Alabama        41.9   5.9   2.1   0.6
12 Louisiana Monroe     23.6   8.5   1.4   0.4
11 Appalachian St.      29.3   8.0   2.0   0.4