The Men’s Sun Belt tournament starts on Tuesday in Pensacola, Florida, with a new bracket format. The top two ranked teams, or seeds, only have to play two games to win the championship, with each team below playing more games.
App State is the sixth seed. The Mountaineers have the 12th best offense in the Sun Belt, but are the conference’s top defensive unit, allowing 63.6 points per game.
The Black and Gold are led by redshirt senior Myles Tate at 16.5 points per game, which is tied for third in the conference, and 5.4 assists per game, which is first in the conference. App State also has graduate student forward CJ Huntley who is averaging 15.8 points, sixth in the conference, and 7.9 rebounds, which is also sixth in the conference.
The top overall seed went to South Alabama, the only team App State has not played in the regular season. The Jaguars have allowed the second fewest points in the conference at 64.3 points per game.
The second seed in the tournament is James Madison. The Dukes lost the final game of the regular season to Texas State, but won the 10 conference games before that, with the last loss being on Jan. 18 against App State. The Mountaineers swept James Madison in the regular season by a combined margin of 28 points.
The third seed went to Troy, who has the third best defense in the conference at 65.3 opponent points per game. The Black and Gold played the Trojans on Jan. 2 and lost the game 69-61. Troy is led by guard Tayton Conerway, who was named Sun Belt Player of the Year.
The fourth seed went to Arkansas State. The Red Wolves have the top scoring offense in the Sun Belt at 79.4 points per game and the highest point differential in the conference at 10.1. App State played Arkansas State on Jan. 23 and lost by a score of 65-55. Arkansas State has the only win over a ranked team in the Sun Belt with the Red Wolves win over Memphis on Dec. 8.
The fifth seed went to Marshall. The Thundering Herd played the Mountaineers twice in the final three games of the regular season, winning both games. Marshall has the third best scoring offense in the Sun Belt at 75.7 points per game.
Texas State and Georgia State are two teams that could be considered underdogs in the tournament, lower seeded teams that could pull some upsets against higher seeded teams.
The seventh seed is Texas State. Despite being a lower seed, the Bobcats have potential to be a dangerous team as being the second highest scoring offense in the conference at 75.9 points per game. App State defeated Texas State on Jan. 4, by a score of 72-61. The Bobcats are led by forward Tylan Pope, who averaged 16.5 points per game, which is tied for third in the Sun Belt.
Georgia State is the eighth seed, and is led by forward Caesare Edwards at 16.1 points per game, which is fifth in the Sun Belt. Edwards scored 24 points in the Panthers’ win over App State. The two teams played twice in the regular season, with each team winning its respective home game.
The Sun Belt tournament starts Tuesday, but the Mountaineers’ first game will be on Friday at 8:30 p.m. The opponent has yet to be determined, but the highest seeded team the Black and Gold could play is Texas State. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
