Nothing "Fun" about the One-Bid Belt

You may be familiar with the term "Fun Belt." It is derived from insane finishes in college football and some downright fun college football offenses showcasing themselves in the mid-week to grab our national attention.

Update: Appalachian State storms the field as I write this. Massive upset over James Madison in JMU's first game since announcing it was leaving for the American Conference. That is pure FUN BELT!

In college baseball, the very fun Chanticleers, who have multiple recent Omaha appearances and a National Championship, are on our TV's in May. Troy had a phenomenal run to Omaha last season. Southern Miss seems to be in the Super Regionals nearly every year.

So, what about our much-needed hardwood "Fun?"

It attempts to arrive in early March with the most flabbergasting step-ladder bracket known to mankind. Better known as the "Stairway to Seven." Here is a refresher from last season:

For the bottom four teams in the conference, a seven-day feast of wins is required to cut down the nets in Pensacola. It has yet to happen, but seeing 10-seeded Georgia Southern rip off five wins in a row with excellent shooting to reach the Title Game may just give teams hope for the future. The Eagles are the first team I can remember playing SIX conference tournament games! GSU went from a 16-win season to a 21-win season, thanks to its Pensacola prance.

In our 2026 example above, six squads tied for 2nd Place at 11-7 in league play. This meant Marshall got a bye all the way to the semifinals and Arkansas State had to win three extra games just to reach the semifinals, despite both teams going 11-7!

Pure chaos. Maybe fun for some, certainly attention-grabbing, but brutal for some of these head coaches.

Perhaps this is what the Sun Belt is aiming for? A different cup of tea for every type of college basketball enjoyer.

That begins one of the central themes at 2026-27 Sun Belt Media Day: "toughest one-bid conference out there." We heard it from several coaches.

In the era of revenue generation, social media engagement, and overall conference buzz, precedent over a "fair and equitable" tournament bracket is not just acknowledged, but embraced in the land of the Belt.

So off we go into the 2026-27 journey. The coaches know what it is at stake on the Pensacola quest. The league can confidently say it has 14 quality programs with Ryan Cross's rebuild coming at UL Monroe, likely only one going to NCAA March Madness, and that one very well may be playing in an opening round game.

If you missed the official Sun Belt Preview for Basket Under Review, my colleague Will Warren did a wonderful job except for picking UL Monroe last, which I am in firm disagreement with. All kidding aside, Will's deep dives set the stage for some fun questions with the coaches. If you have a couple of hours to kill, here is the full set of interviews with all 14 coaches:

The Sun Belt has several capable teams, so let's dive in.

All offseason long, the dollar amounts for the roster and the scheduling patterns discovered at James Madison have led me to believe that JMU is the favorite this season. HC Preston Spradlin is a great leader of guard play and reached the mountain top while at Morehead State with great guards. Now that this is the final year in the conference for JMU, Spradlin has the chance to take the Dukes dancing and has a built-in promotion waiting for him when they join the American. Three power-five transfers led by KJ Windham seem to be terrific fits here. Despite being the favorites, JMU has a lot to prove. Year one under Spradlin was a 13-5 success, but they lost to Troy in the SBC Tournament. Last season was a rocky 9-9 journey riddled with a turnover and free-throw problem. Impressively, Spradlin and staff were able to take a disastrous non-conference defense and mold it into the best defense in the Sun Belt. How will the Dukes be handled this season with the looming conference exit? That's my biggest question. Don't forget, I am the guy who was in the Cajundome for absolute scenes between JMU and the Cajuns during the 2024 ride. I will miss seeing a school like JMU have to travel through the true Sun Belt region. Back in January 2024, JMU's Noah Freidel told me at the team hotel he had never been to Lafayette or in the region at all, and he couldn't wait for tip-off. JMU advanced to a 14-0 start that night, but it wasn't without a ton of Cajun intensity:

Arkansas State seems to be the other default top two preseason choice. I am mostly okay with that. The Red Wolves are fairly invested and have the highly respected Ryan Pannone back for season two. Both Layne Taylor and Jordan Pyke are established all-conference-level players at this level. Pannone liked what he saw in Royal Blue Smith last year, and he is the lone returner of any kind. Such is life in mid-major ball. I am excited to see how this offense continues to light up the league, but the more critical question is how much can the below-average defense improve? Pannone interestingly said during the Media session that "issues in recruiting last year have been addressed." One other note is the presence of Corey Brewer on staff after six seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans. The player development in Jonesboro should also be worth tracking over the next five months.

The other "ASU" is better known as App State. The Mountaineers under Dustin Kerns continue to be elite at transition-denial defense. This frustrates several high-octane Sun Belt offenses, and yields both poor shot selection and decision-making by opposing offenses. The defensive gap integrity and mixing of zone concepts continues to throw off Sun Belt foes on a near-nightly basis. Have a look at last season's Sun Belt play defensive overview for App State:

The lessons and growth from Luke Wilson and Michael Marcus in the post spots now need to transition with a full reset to Chad Moodie, Rrezon Elezaj (Redshirted at UConn last year), Da'Mori Lytch (JUCO), and first-year seven-footer Bryan Chretien. The Mountaineer staff will be seeking out those who want to take on the roles of protecting the rim, rebounding, and leading defensive transition as anchors. Getting teams into the halfcourt is always going to be paramount in Boone. Coach Kerns told us during Media Day that, "there's a lot of new around here and around college basketball." He went on to say, that he does not "See a lot of gap in the Sun Belt from top to bottom," and namely spoke about Lytch being a seven-foot wingspan guy who helped Walters State win 33 games in JUCO last season.

Richie Riley is back for another run at this thing with his South Alabama Jags. Big picture-wise, the USA Jags are 22-12 in the past two combined regular seasons, but were bounced quickly in each of the last two SBC Tournaments. Micro-picture, this is a program famous for its permanent zone and requiring opponents to launch more threes than they are typically comfortable with. picture-wise. Another new band has been recruited from all levels of college basketball, but this time Peyton Law was able to gain another year of medical eligibility, which has the Sun Belt on notice.

Riley told us at Media Day as well, "this group has exceeded where we expected them to be at this point; the challenge begins when we start facing other people." So many exciting newcomers like Aaron Goldstein, Owen Kenney, and Jalen Langsey to pontificate over, but the Law and Stephen Williams returning presence feels like a breath of fresh air in Mobile.

Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe are essentially new entities this season. LA Tech is actually new to the Sun Belt under Talvin Hester, who is relieved to be in a league with much more logical travel. UL Monroe is about to launch the Ryan Cross era, which, of course, I am pretty eager to see. Both teams were severely underappreciated in the preseason poll. LA Tech at 12, with Coach Hester's pedigree as a defensive mastermind, is downright insulting. I am not saying the Bulldogs can match JMU in resources; what I am saying is that they can outrebound you most seasons and have a great system under Hester to be the tougher team.

The Hester Resume in Ruston:

That's a 39-35 CUSA record, not including last season's run to the CUSA finals. The Bulldogs have a man named Deven Bates coming in to help open eye-lids and Jaylen Fenner is ready for his sophomore leap. Kyran Tilley brings a ton of defensive energy, leading D2 Central Missouri in steals while also shooting at a 39% clip from downtown on offense. This team will fight and improve, a staple of Hester teams.

UL Monroe got the bare minimum of unanimous last-place votes. I've got news for you, folks: ULM will not finish in last under Ryan Cross. There are just way too many pieces, led by Phillip Tilman, to keep this initial Cross team in the cellar. The challenge with so many JUCO talents is to keep the continuity strong, but Cross came ready for this and also brought three UAB transfers with him to help steer the player ship.

Georgia State and Troy bring new staffs to the league. With that comes substantial intrigue. My previous experiences working with Jon Cremins on scheduling at Vandy taught me personally how detailed and sharp he is daily. The rest of the youngish staff brought in by Cremins has a high level of detail-oriented elements and focus. The projected starters at last check came from UAB (Jacob Meyer), Vandy (Mason Nicholson), Jacolb Cole (McNeese), Richmond (David Thomas, and Samford (Zion Wilburn). Talk about some terrific programs. I think the potential at GSU is right there, as soon as this season. Cremins told us, "I am pleased with our guys; we are getting better every single week. We have not peaked in October, but we can see where this is going." Cremins also mentioned a few guys are banged up and expect to be fully healthy soon.

At Troy, it is Adam Howard time. He takes over the back-to-back Sun Belt Tournament championship program. Howard comes in after several assistant stints, most recently with the successful Nebrasketball Cornhuskers. Perhaps getting Kerrington Kiel back in the fold was the most important step so far. But you can also argue that Donovan Oday (if eligible), Jacoi Hutchinson, Sam Walters, and other proven high-level transfers will allow Troy to compete for a third straight NCAA Tournament. Howard preached at the Media interviews, "being a solid fundamental basketball team will help minimize losses," and it is worked on daily. On being a new head coach, Howard said, "Learning all the decisions that need to be made, I realized that being an assistant in some cases that I wasn't very good, and I wish I could go back and change some things."

The Louisiana Cajuns bring back Jamyron Keller after a stint in the Big 12 and a sneak preview last season at 17ppg in just two appearances prior to injury. Cajuns looked to build around the 6-3 Keller with some solid frontcourt experience, Josiah Harris (via Cleveland State) and Dani Pounds (via Tennessee Tech). Pounds was specifically called out by HC Quannas White as a guy who may be too good not to start. Pounds built a reputation at TTU as a spark guy off the bench. Look for UL to take another step towards playing like Houston, where Coach White came from. Quannas White told us about offensive rebounding being a major theme for them in portal recruiting and the emphasis on it in practice reps.

Marshall had a heck of a run in conference play to secure the 2-seed after many Sun Belt tiebreakers. The main issue? Georgia Southern! The Herd infamously lost three of the final seven games, including the Sun Belt Semifinals, to the Eagles. With several players gone, we must move on. "Bo" Djigo had massive D2 numbers, averaging over 13 rebounds per game. HC Corny Jackson told us that Djigo had a handful of 20+ rebound performances. Bryce Slay and Erich Harding are the mainstays from last season's squad. The Herd led the Sun Belt in shooting efficiency at all levels last season; it may be difficult to replace that.

Old Dominion and Southern Miss are looking to get things going in a more consistent direction. At ODU, Coach Mike K. Jones opted to go to a Top-90 tempo, but the results were similar, finishing at 7-11 in conference play. The Monarchs have a decent core behind returners Jared Turner, Zacch Wiggins, and Scottie Hubbard. Adante Holliman played two years ago at a high Sun Belt level for Georgia Southern and is now back in the league following a season-ending injury. Coach Jones told us at Media Day that defense was made paramount for all newcomers - both portal guys and freshmen. He added, "we are now a much better team and program defensively."

Jay Ladner and the Golden Eagles hit a home run by gaining another year for all-conference-level slasher Isaac Tavares. Ladner told the Media, "Tavares joined the roster in the middle of the summer, the staff couldn't say yes fast enough." The shuffling impacted the initial roster construction at USM. Ladner calls Tavares, "an elite on-ball defender." Tavares is the preseason POTY in the conference.

Now, for team success in Hattiesburg, some improved shooting and ball security would be welcomed. Southern Miss had near-bottom shooting from deep and turned the ball over regularly. Ladner calls this group "the deepest team he's ever had." That list includes three D2 transfers who all shot 38% and up.

Georgia Southern had the run of all runs last year in Pensacola. Marching through six days of the event, only to fall to Troy in the finals. Charlie Henry went from a 16-win to a 21-win season in one week! Unfortunately, nearly all the key pieces from that run moved on. Coach Henry remains excited entering the year. GSU kept four of its youngest guys. Since our Zoom, we now know that Truman Claytor IV led Georgia Southern’s offense with a high of 39 points, while Dallas Gardner added 17 and Eltramon Smith contributed 16 in the recent exhibition vs. Winthrop. So certainly look for those three to be key scorers in Henry's aerial assault offense. The question is, how do the Eagles get stops this year?

Coastal Carolina under Justin Gray is still evolving entering year three. CCU may be the toughest team here to project for this season, and that is saying a lot in this conference. Ashton Hardaway has been at Memphis twice and Saint Mary's; he has some substantial experience and is interestingly a Chanticleer this season. He could become a player-coach in Gray's system. Gray told us. "Our three returners have set the tone for us; the rest of the group is still really young and coming along, and I am excited about where we are at. This season we are much bigger and want to play faster to generate a couple more possessions in the game. Rebounding will always be important to us on both ends." Coastal was one of six teams that tied for 2nd place last year and ended up as the SBC 3-Seed after tiebreakers. Coach Gray talked often about consistency on a nightly basis to be able to take the next step.

Themes of Media Day

• The "Best" One-Bid League in America
• This league is so even from top to bottom
• Can't be soft in this league
• Everybody has some talent
• Everybody has a lot of turnover at this level
• We don't know what we have until we start playing opponents for real, but I like our group!