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Conference tournament season is upon us and next up is the Sun Belt, which gets underway on Tuesday, March 4. The 14-team tournament takes place in Pensacola, Fla., and has seven total rounds, culminating in the championship game on Monday, March 10. Four teams clinched a share of the regular season title with 13-5 conference records, and due to tiebreakers, South Alabama holds the No. 1 seed in the tournament and have already clinched a spot in the semifinals, as has No. 2 seed James Madison. Troy and Arkansas State also went 13-5 in conference play and will enjoy byes into the quarterfinals. South Alabama is the only Sun Belt team in Jerry Palm's latest bracketology update on CBS Sports, which means the Sun Belt may have just one representative in this year's NCAA Tournament. That could change, though, depending on what happens in the conference tournament.
Sun Belt Conference Tournament Schedule
First Round
No. 12 Southern Mississippi vs. No. 13 Coastal Carolina
No. 14 ULM vs. No. 11 Louisiana
Second Round
SR1 - No. 9 Georgia Southern vs. Southern Mississippi/Coastal Carolina
SR2 - No. 10 Old Dominion vs. Louisiana/ULM
Third Round
TR1 - No. 8 Georgia State vs. SR1 winner
TR2 - No. 7 Texas State vs. SR2 winner
Fourth Round
FR1 - No. 5 Marshall vs. TR1 winner
FR2 - No. 6 Appalachian State vs. TR2 winner
Quarterfinals
QF1 - No. 4 Arkansas State vs. FR1 winner
QF2 - No. 3 Troy vs. FR2 winner
Semifinals
SF1 - No. 1 Southern Alabama vs. QF1 winner
SF2 - No. 2 James Madison vs QF2 winner
Final
SF1 winner vs. SF2 winner
There are four top seeds are the clear favorites to win this tournament. Despite being the No. 4 seed due to a four-way tiebreaker atop the conference, Arkansas State is the betting favorite (+200 at FanDuel), followed by Southern Alabama (+270), James Madison (+350) and Troy (+400).
Arkansas State is led by guard Taryn Todd, who leads the Red Wolves with 15.0 points per game this season, which is ninth in the Sun Belt this season. Joseph Pinion, Kobe Julien and Izaiyah Nelson all average at least 10.0 points per game, and Nelson leads Arkansas State with a 59.1% shooting percentage as well as 8.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. The Red Wolves lead the Sun Belt with 79.4 points per game. Southern Alabama's top player this year is Barry Dunning Jr., who leads the Jaguars in both points (14.7) and rebounds (7.0) per contest. Southern Alabama ranks second in the conference in points per game allowed at 64.3. Mark Freeman is one of four James Madison players averaging double-digit points per game at 15.2, and the Dukes are fifth in the conference in both points scored and allowed per game. Troy, which has the No. 3 scoring defense in the Sun Belt, has just two players scoring at least 10 points per game, headlined by Tayton Conerway at 13.7.
SportsLine expert Thomas Casale is picking James Madison to win Sun Belt conference tournament. But which teams are SportsLine's experts backing in all the other conference tournaments? You can find best bets for each conference tournament here. You can also find the SportsLine Projection Model's simulations for every game.
If you're searching for more of a longshot team to back, the next-shortest odds are No. 6 Appalachian State at +2000. The Mountaineers have the top scoring defense in the Sun Belt, allowing just 63.6 points per game, and guard Myles Tate is second in the conference in points per game at 16.5.
