The Jags are hot at the right time, defend the 3-point line well and can upset Southern Miss again in the quarterfinal. There are a few things to love about South Alabama. But including that season-saving win, South Alabama won eight of the final 10 games, including a 31-point thrashing of Southern Miss. That game snapped a four-game losing streak and moved the Jaguars’ league record to 3-7. But the Jags hosted the Trojans and shot a whopping 24-for-44 from the interior in a 17-point win. Troy is a solid defensive team, even leading the Sun Belt in 2-point percentage allowed this season. The Jags figured it all out on one night in late January. Second, the +210 odds are short for a team with no depth or size on the wings.īut Marshall is still the best team in the conference and probably should be the conference representative in the NCAA tournament. However, I am higher on James Madison than Marshall for two reasons.įirst, the Herd have very little depth, specifically lacking size on the wings. I’m willing to bet on that motivational angle. The Herd likely will have Old Dominion in the quarterfinal game, which will be a monster revenge spot, given ODU spoiled Marshall’s regular season-title run. But Marshall’s spread offense is more deliberate, up-tempo and shot-happy, and the Andrew Taylor-Taevion Kinsey duo is better than the Morse-Molson one.Īdditionally, I bet you can pencil Marshall into the semifinal. Like JMU, the Herd pair a chaotic defense with a transition-reliant, middle pick-and-roll offense. The Herd finished tops in the Sun Belt in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric by a good margin, playing solid two-way basketball.
SUNBELT CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS FULL
Marshall is the best team in the Sun Belt, full stop.
If I was going to pick one of the four favorites, I’d take the Dukes at close to 4-to-1. So, I quite like JMU’s path to the championship game. Also, the Golden Eagles’ pick-and-roll defense is trash, which bodes poorly against JMU. However, as you’ll read later, I have Southern Miss on upset watch. JMU would likely have Southern Miss on deck. The worst-case scenario is JMU catches Troy in its first tournament game, and while Troy’s defense matches up well with JMU, the Trojans can’t score. Plus, the offense should be able to mask the Dukes’ defensive issues. And when Morse and Molson are dicing up defenses, the Dukes can overwhelm any opponent in this bracket. Simply put, great guard play is huge in March. However, both guards are vital to the JMU offense, and these guys are why I’m betting on James Madison to be Sun Belt champs. Morse missed some time in the middle of the season, although the Dukes largely survived without him. NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners February 5, 2022 Vado Morse ( gets the Game Tying Layup for James Madison with 8.9 seconds left to tie 71-71 with Hofstra to force OT /e73xpUiTp6 Instead, Blue Ribbon forecasted the Golden Eagles would finish last in the Sun Belt, and our own Jim Root cashed a 200-to-1 ticket because of it. True to its name, the “Fun Belt” was electric this year, and the realignment was a big reason why.įor example, the season’s final week saw Southern Miss steal the title away from Marshall after Old Dominion upset the Herd at home.Įven better, nobody expected the Golden Eagles to be competitive this season, much less to surface as league champs. Moreover, the Sun Belt went from 17th in KenPom’s conference rankings last season to 13th this year. All four additions finished in the top six of the standings, with Southern Miss and Marshall finishing atop the league standings. While most of the Sun Belt’s realignment was football-focused, the results significantly upped the ceiling of the basketball league. The league added Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss from Conference USA, alongside James Madison from the Colonial Athletic.Īdditionally, UT Arlington left for the WAC and Little Rock went to the Ohio Valley. At the beginning of this season, the Sun Belt embarked on an adventurous quest.
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