Chaos ensued in last year’s Sun Belt basketball tournament Appalachian State won four games in four days to stun the field. To avoid a headache, we won’t even try to rehash the wild divisional seeding of last year’s Sun Belt Tournament bracket. Luckily, the conference has gone back to seeding its member college basketball schools 1-12 for the 2022 tournament. This time, the Mountaineers join each of last season’s division winners, Texas State and Georgia State, in occupying the top-3 seed lines. Will a new Cinderella story be written in Pensacola over the coming days? The following contains the Sun Belt Tournament bracket and schedule, as well as a preview of what we can expect to see.
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Sun Belt Basketball Standings
| Team | Conf. Record | Overall Record | Seed |
| Texas State | 12-3 | 21-6 | 1 seed |
| Appalachian State | 12-6 | 18-13 | 2 seed |
| Georgia State | 9-5 | 15-10 | 3 seed |
| Troy | 10-6 | 19-10 | 4 seed |
| South Alabama | 9-7 | 19-10 | 5 seed |
| Arkansas State | 8-7 | 17-10 | 6 seed |
| Coastal Carolina | 8-8 | 16-12 | 7 seed |
| Louisiana | 8-9 | 13-14 | 8 seed |
| UT Arlington | 7-10 | 11-17 | 9 seed |
| Georgia Southern | 5-11 | 12-15 | 10 seed |
| Louisiana-Monroe | 5-13 | 13-17 | 11 seed |
| Little Rock | 3-11 | 8-18 | 12 seed |
Sun Belt Tournament Schedule
Dates: March 3-6
TV Schedule: ESPN+ (First Round, Quarterfinals, Semifinals); ESPN2 (Championship)
Venue: Pensacola Bay Center — Pensacola, FL
Byes: Top 4 teams get single bye
Defending Champion: Appalachian State
Sun Belt Tournament Bracket
First Round
- (12) Little Rock 75, (5) South Alabama 71
- (6) Arkansas State 81, (11) Louisiana-Monroe 77
- (10) Georgia Southern 70, (7) Coastal Carolina 64
- (8) Louisiana 67, (9) UT Arlington 64
Quarterfinals
- (8) Louisiana 79, (1) Texas State 72
- (2) Appalachian State 73, (10) Georgia Southern 60
- (3) Georgia State 65, (6) Arkansas State 62
- (4) Troy 69, (12) Little Rock 62
Semifinals
- (3) Georgia State 71, (2) Appalachian State 66
- (8) Louisiana 66, (4) Troy 57
Championship Game
- (3) Georgia State 80, (8) Louisiana 71
Georgia State advances to NCAA Tournament
Sun Belt Conference Breakdown
While Appalachian State was the surprise story of last year’s Sun Belt basketball tournament, the team they beat in the championship game has been the perennial frontrunner in the conference. That would be Georgia State, which again occupies a top-3 seed in this year’s Sun Belt Tournament bracket. The Panthers won back-to-back titles in 2018-19 and three of the last six overall. Interestingly enough, the 1-seed in this year’s bracket, Texas State, has yet to win a Sun Belt basketball championship. The closest the Bobcats came was in 2017 when they fell in the title game to Troy.
Although the Sun Belt is almost always a one-bid league, the vast majority of teams in the conference finished the regular season ranked inside the top-200 of the College Basketball NET. Texas State predictably led the way at No. 119 in the rankings. The rest of the net rankings actually differ greatly from the actual Sun Belt basketball tournament seeding. 5-seed South Alabama is actually the second-highest-rated team in the NET at No. 132. 7-seed Coastal Carolina follows them at No. 146. In fact, 3-seed Georgia State is only the seventh-best team in the league this season going solely off of the NET rankings!
Preseason favorite Georgia State did not underachieve greatly in the final Sun Belt basketball standings. However, their NET ranking compared to other teams in the conference suggests that they fell well short of expectations. Overall, the Panthers flipped spots with Texas State relative to the preseason media poll as the Bobcats were picked to finish third. The overachiever that stands out is Troy, who goes into the Sun Belt Tournament seeded fourth after being picked to finish ninth. On the other side of the spectrum, Louisiana was picked to finish runner-up but heads to Pensacola as the 8-seed.
Team Stats | 2022 Sun Belt Basketball Tournament
(1) Texas State Bobcats
NET Ranking: 119 (No. 1 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 129 (No. 2 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 106.8 (No. 116)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 103.2 (No. 160)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -3.09 (No. 232)
(2) Appalachian State Mountaineers
NET Ranking: 158 (No. 4 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 153 (No. 4 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 102.1 (No. 207)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 101.0 (No. 123)
Strength of Schedule Rating: +0.37 (No. 143)
(3) Georgia State Panthers
NET Ranking: 177 (No. 7 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 155 (No. 5 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 100.6 (No. 239)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 99.7 (No. 97)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.05 (No. 177)
(4) Troy Trojans
NET Ranking: 175 (No. 6 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 171 (No. 6 in MVC)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 100.2 (No. 249)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 100.3 (No. 110)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.79 (No. 197)
(5) South Alabama Jaguars
NET Ranking: 132 (No. 2 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 125 (No. 1 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 104.4 (No. 167)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 100.5 (No. 113)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.82 (No. 198)
(6) Arkansas State Red Wolves
NET Ranking: 171 (No. 5 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 178 (No. 7 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 100.9 (No. 231)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 101.5 (No. 132)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -2.35 (No. 213)
(7) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
NET Ranking: 146 (No. 3 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 148 (No. 3 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 104.1 (No. 170)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 102.5 (No. 146)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.74 (No. 194)
(8) Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
NET Ranking: 195 (No. 8 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 190 (No. 8 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 101.9 (No. 211)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 103.6 (No. 168)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -2.07 (No. 207)
(9) UT Arlington Mavericks
NET Ranking: 233 (No. 9 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 220 (No. 9 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 99.3 (No. 266)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 103.2 (No. 161)
Strength of Schedule Rating: +1.68 (No. 120)
(10) Georgia Southern Eagles
NET Ranking: 248 (No. 10 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 253 (No. 10 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 96.7 (No. 303)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 104.1 (No. 182)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.22 (No. 182)
(11) Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks
NET Ranking: 278 (No. 11 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 263 (No. 11 in MVC)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 101.7 (No. 217)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 109.9 (No. 295)
Strength of Schedule Rating: -1.35 (No. 186)
(12) Little Rock Trojans
NET Ranking: 325 (No. 12 in Sun Belt)
KenPom Overall Efficiency Ranking: 332 (No. 12 in Sun Belt)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ranking: 96.0 (No. 310)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency Ranking: 112.0 (No. 323)
Strength of Schedule Rating: +0.86 (No. 132)
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