The Sun Belt basketball tournament is unique from most other conference tournaments in that the seeding and matchups are determined based on divisional standings. Can top overall seed Texas State represent the league in the NCAA Tournament? The following contains the Sun Belt Tournament bracket and schedule, as well as a preview of what we can expect to see.
Sun Belt Conference Standings
| Team | Conference Record | Overall Record | Tournament Outlook |
| East Division | |||
| Georgia State | 8-4 | 14-5 | East 1 seed |
| Coastal Carolina | 9-5 | 15-6 | East 2 seed |
| South Alabama | 10-7 | 16-10 | East 3 seed |
| Appalachian State | 7-8 | 13-11 | East 4 seed |
| Georgia Southern | 7-9 | 13-12 | East 5 seed |
| Troy | 4-12 | 10-16 | East 6 seed |
| West Division | |||
| Texas State | 12-3 | 18-6 | West 1 seed |
| Louisiana | 10-7 | 16-8 | West 2 seed |
| UT Arlington | 9-8 | 13-12 | West 3 seed |
| Arkansas State | 7-8 | 10-12 | West 4 seed |
| Little Rock | 7-11 | 11-14 | West 5 seed |
| Louisiana-Monroe | 5-13 | 7-18 | West 6 seed |
Sun Belt Tournament Schedule
Dates: March 5-9
TV: ESPN2, ESPN+
Site: Pensacola, FL
Byes: Top 2 from each division get single
Most Recent Champion: Georgia State
Sun Belt Tournament Bracket
First Round
- (East 3) South Alabama 80, (West 6) Louisiana-Monroe 72
- (East 6) Troy 91, (West 3) UT Arlington 86
- (East 4) Appalachian State 67, (West 5) Little Rock 60
- (West 4) Arkansas State 62, (East 5) Georgia Southern 58
Quarterfinals
- (East 4) Appalachian State 76, (West 1) Texas State 73 (OT)
- (East 1) Georgia State 71, (West 4) Arkansas State 68
- (West 2) Louisiana 79, (East 3) South Alabama 68
- (East 2) Coastal Carolina 86, (East 6) Troy 68
Semifinals
- (East 1) Georgia State 84, (West 2) Louisiana 73
- (East 4) Appalachian State 64, (East 2) Coastal Carolina 61 (OT)
Championship
- (East 4) Appalachian State 80, (East 1) Georgia State 73
Appalachian State advances to NCAA Tournament
Sun Belt Conference Breakdown
Georgia State will be playing to win their third consecutive Sun Belt basketball championship this year. The Panthers took home the trophy and NCAA Tournament bid in both 2018 and 2019. Last year’s Sun Belt Tournament was canceled. Add in a 2015 championship and Georgia State has won three of the last five Sun Belt Tournaments. Little Rock (2016) and Troy (2017) are the only other teams to win in that timeframe. 2021 regular-season champion Texas State has never won a Sun Belt Tournament.
In looking at the winners of the East and West Divisions, we see the two teams who also sit atop the offense and defense categories. 1-seed Texas State had the best scoring defense in Sun Belt basketball this season, surrendering just 61.1 points per contest. Meanwhile, 2-seed Georgia State topped the conference in scoring offense with an average of 81.0 points per game. Curiously enough, both Texas State (10th in scoring offense) and Georgia State (12th in scoring defense) ranked in the bottom three in the other scoring metric. Coastal Carolina was the only Sun Belt basketball team to finish top three in both scoring offense and defense.
Four Sun Belt basketball teams finished the season in the top 200 of the college basketball net rankings. In descending order, they are Georgia State (138), Texas State (147), Coastal Carolina (165) and Louisiana (184). After being picked to finish fifth in the West Division, Texas State is undoubtedly the Sun Belt’s greatest overachiever this season relative to the preseason poll. The biggest underachiever was Little Rock, who finished fifth in the West Division after being picked to win it.
