Sun Belt
The Sun Belt had a big moment in college basketball last season. James Madison became a prominent team on the national landscape, including a win in the NCAA Tournament over Wisconsin. Appalachian State actually won the regular season title with two wins over the Dukes and a 16-2 record overall, as they finished their season with a loss in the NIT.
It is unlikely that we have a James Madison this season in the conference, but it is a conference that has improved across the board. The Dukes are also unlikely to repeat last season’s run, as head coach Mark Byington is now at Vanderbilt. JMU does have a strong replacement in Preston Spradlin, but there is virtually no returning production on the roster.
Old Dominion has a new bench boss in Mike K. Jones and Marshall could look a little different under promoted assistant Cornelius Jackson. That’s it for the coaching changes, as several Sun Belt programs made a change last season or within the last couple. It is a huge conference with 14 teams, so you get some big talent disparities and a wide range of styles.
This was the third-fastest conference on average by adjusted tempo per Bart Torvik, trailing America East and the SEC, but teams don’t chuck as many 3s as you would expect. The Sun Belt was 22nd in 3P Rate, so it’s not run and gun, but there is a lot of slashing to the basket and also a conference that gets a possession bump by having a lot of offensive rebounds.
The most exciting transfer group to me is at Georgia State, where third-year head coach Jonas Hayes had a four-win improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 and brought in some good scorers in Justin Archer, Zarique Nutter, Nick McMullen, and Cesare Edwards. Southern Miss also added an impact player in DeAntoni Gordon from Little Rock. Those are my dark horses in a league where Arkansas State and Troy will be highly rated and James Madison and App State will live early on reputation.
