The Sun Belt lost a lot of talented teams during the realignments of a few years ago. They made up some of that ground by picking up teams from lesser conferences and have stabilized at 12 teams. As for the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Belt landed Arkansas-Little Rock in the Big Dance last year who promptly upstaged #5 Purdue in the Round of 64. The year before that, Georgia Southern downed #3 Baylor in the Round of 64.
This year's champion UT-Arlington is projected at a 12 seed as well, though as mentioned in other primers, they would have to win the conference tournament to make the tournament in the first place. No other teams are going to get to go to the NCAA Tournament; whoever wins this tournament goes dancing.
All twelve teams will take part in the tournament. The top four teams received a bye to the quarterfinals. The tournament will take place at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 8th, and March 10th-12th.
First Round-Wednesday, March 8th
#9 South Alabama vs. #8 Coastal Carolina
#12 Louisiana-Monroe vs. #5 Arkansas State
#10 Little Rock vs. #7 Louisiana-Lafayette
#11 Appalachian State vs. #6 Troy
Quarterfinals-Friday, March 10th
#8 Coastal Carolina vs. #1 UT-Arlington
#5 Arkansas State vs. #4 Texas State
#7 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. #2 Georgia State
#6 Troy vs. #3 Georgia Southern
Semifinals-Saturday, March 11th
#5 Arkansas State vs. #1 UT-Arlington
#6 Troy vs. #2 Georgia State
Championship-Sunday, March 12th
In the only matchup this year that Arlington and Georgia State played, the top seeded Mavericks won by a point at Georgia State. It stands to reason that they can do it again on a neutral court and earn a trip to the Big Dance where they will try to keep the Sun Belt's winning streak going.
Georgia State 72, UT Arlington 78
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