Men’s Basketball Notebook (March 11)
Semifinals Stories
UTA is making its second consecutive, and second ever, semifinal appearance. Georgia State is in the semis for the third time in four years. Texas State is making its first-ever semis appearance. Troy is in the semifinals for the first time since 2010 and second in program history.
Together We Rise
The Sun Belt is in a class of its own as a mid-major basketball league. It is the only mid-major conference that had both a first-round pick in the 2014 and 2015 NBA Drafts while also having a team win a game in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments. Below is a list of conferences that accomplished both of those feats: ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-12, SEC, Sun Belt
Cinderella Lives Here
Little Rock’s thrilling 85-83 double-overtime win against No. 5 seed Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year made it a second year in a row a team from the Sun Belt shocked a top-seeded team. After Georgia State topped No. 3 seed Baylor 57-56 in the 2015 tournament, the Sun Belt has now joined an exclusive list of conferences with teams that have won games in the 2015 and 2016 NCAA Tournaments: ACC, American, Atlantic 10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Missouri Valley, PAC-12, SEC, Sun Belt, West Coast
Postseason Success
The Sun Belt has had plenty of success in postseason tournaments outside of the Big Dance. Recently, ULM made a run to the 2015 CBI championship series and Louisiana advanced to the CIT quarterfinals in the 2015 season. Last year a record three teams participated in the CIT where Louisiana and UTA both advanced to the quarterfinals.
#FunBeltToTheNBA
One former student-athlete from the Sun Belt is currently on an NBA roster.
Team |
Student-Athlete (School)
|
|
Orlando Magic
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Elfrid Payton (LA)
|
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Philadelphia 76ers
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Shawn Long (LA)
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In addition there are five former Sun Belt student-athletes playing professionally in the NBA D-League.
Team |
Student-Athlete (School)
|
|
Grand Rapids Drive
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Melvin Johnson (ASU)
|
|
Fort Wayne Mad Ants
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Anthony Walker (UTA)
|
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Long Island Nets
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R.J. Hunter (GSU)
|
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Maine Red Claws
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Josh Hagins (LR)
|
Upset City
UTA’s 65-51 win at #12 Saint Mary’s marked a third consecutive year a Sun Belt team defeated an AP Top 25 team. It was also the first regular-season win vs. an AP Top 25 opponent by a Sun Belt team since 2009. Arkansas State’s 78-72 win at Georgetown marked the second year in a row a Sun Belt team has won a true road game against a Big East school, after Little Rock won 66-44 at DePaul last year. Georgia State’s 64-56 win at Middle Tennessee on Dec. 21 marked the second time in three seasons the Panthers defeated an NCAA RPI Top 10 team. UTA’s victory at Texas was the second time in three seasons a Sun Belt team upset a Big 12 opponent. LR’s 77-62 win vs. Tulsa made it a fourth consecutive season a Sun Belt team has earned at least one win against an American Athletic Conference opponent.
Coaching Pedigree
Current Sun Belt head coaches have combined to win 18 Coach of the Year awards in their careers in six different leagues. Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin is the only coach to have won a Coach of the Decade award (Southland, 2000-10). Cliff Ellis is the only Sun Belt head coach to have ever won a national honor (1999) and, along with Scott Cross, Ron Hunter and Keith Richard, to have previously won Sun Belt Coach of the Year awards:
Scott Cross: Southland, 2012; Sun Belt, 2017
Cliff Ellis: Sun Belt, 1979; ACC, 1987 & 1990; SEC 1995 & 1999; Big South, 2010
Ron Hunter: Summit, 2003 & 2006; Sun Belt, 2014
Danny Kaspar: Southland, 2008 & 2013
Bob Marlin: Southland, 2000, 2003 & 2010
Keith Richard: Sun Belt, 1999 & 2015
Cradle of Coaches
Experience meets opportunity in the Sun Belt with a mix of illustrious coaching careers balanced by first-year head coaches and everything in between. Below is a list of all coaches in the Sun Belt arranged by career Division I wins (through March 4):
|
Coach
|
School
|
Career Wins
|
|
Cliff Ellis
|
Coastal Carolina
|
732
|
|
Bob Marlin
|
Louisiana
|
354
|
|
Ron Hunter
|
Georgia State
|
344
|
|
Danny Kaspar
|
Texas State
|
302
|
|
Keith Richard
|
ULM
|
228
|
|
Scott Cross
|
UTA
|
202
|
|
Mark Byington
|
Georgia Southern
|
76
|
|
Matthew Graves
|
South Alabama
|
52
|
|
Phil Cunningham
|
Troy
|
49
|
|
Jim Fox
|
Appalachian State
|
30
|
|
Grant McCasland
|
Arkansas State
|
19
|
|
Wes Flanigan
|
Little Rock
|
14
|
Golden Era
According to KenPom, the Sun Belt is the No. 15-ranked conference in its rankings. It is the highest ranking for the league since it finished the 2004-05 season ranked No. 14. The Sun Belt has improved each of the past two seasons from No. 20 to end the 2014-15 season to No. 18 in the rankings following the 2015-16 campaign.
Hervey’s Preseason Awards
UTA junior Kevin Hervey was named to two preseason watch lists prior to the 2016-17 season:
|
Award
|
Type
|
|
Julius Erving Award
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Top small forward
|
|
Lou Henson Award
|
Top DI mid-major player
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Hervey High Praise
UTA junior Kevin Hervey was named one of College Basketball Talk’s Top 100 Players. Hailed as “one of mid-major’s best talents” Hervey came in at No. 67 on the list. He averaged 18.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg and 2.9 apg last year before an ACL tear ended his 2015-16 season.
#CoastalRising
The 2016-17 season marks the first that Coastal Carolina will play as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Chanticleers ride a successful run into the league with NCAA Tournament appearances in two of the past three seasons.
National Leadership
Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter was the President of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) for the 2015-16 season and was recently named to the ad-hoc committee on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for selection, seeding and bracketing.
Preseason Buzz
NCAA.com named UTA its favorite entering the 2016-17 season, as well as junior Kevin Hervey the league’s top student-athlete. Georgia Southern was dubbed the “Sleeper Team” in the Sun Belt while Georgia State guard D’Marcus Simonds was named the league’s “Freshman to Watch.”
Mid-Major Rankings
The Sun Belt featured three teams in the Mid-Major Madness Preseason Top 25 with UTA earning the No. 13 ranking with Georgia State and Little Rock receiving votes.