In January, Western Kentucky fired head coach Ken McDonald and replaced him with Ray Harper. No, the Hilltoppers didn’t top the .500 mark, but when given a chance to play their way into the NCAA Tournament, they pulled off the minor miracle. As the No. 7 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Western Kentucky beat Florida International in the first round, second-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock in the quarterfinals, third-seeded Denver in the semifinals, and the fifth-seeded North Texas Mean Green in the championship game to reach the NCAAs. The four-game winning streak at the Sun Belt Tournament was improbable enough, but what makes this run even more amazing is the fact that Western Kentucky looked to be dead and buried midway through the second half.

This contest was tight through the first half, as North Texas took a slim and insubstantial 32-30 lead to the locker room at halftime. With just under 15 minutes left in regulation, UNT held a one-point lead at 43-42. This game seemed likely to go down to the wire, but just when such an assumption appeared safe, the Mean Green uncorked a quick 12-0 run to gain a 13-point lead at 55-42. Western Kentucky had to play a first-round game at this tournament, whereas North Texas received a bye into the quarterfinals. UNT had fresher legs, and so it was quite reasonable to conclude that the Hilltoppers had hit the proverbial wall, their tank exhausted.

Just then, they managed to get off the deck one last time and make a push… a push that will remembered for lifetimes in the minds of the players and coaches who experienced this joyride.

Western Kentucky reeled off nine straight points to trim its deficit to 55-51 and create the high-wire act in the final minutes that everyone initially anticipated. In the stretch run, Kahlil McDonald hit a long three-pointer from the top of the key after the Hilltoppers nearly turned the ball over. North Texas saw a few jump shots trickle off the rim, and Western Kentucky sealed the deal at the foul line to punch its ticket to the Big Dance.

Western Kentucky will carry a 15-18 record into the NCAAs. Western Kentucky is a lock to play in one of the “First Four” play-in games against another team that will be seeded near the bottom of the 68 teams in the field. If the Hilltoppers win their play-in game, they will be a No. 16 seed in a given region.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Arkansas State led this game, 65-62, with 5:25 left, poised to add to the Sun Belt’s recent history of torturing higher-seeded teams. Last year’s tournament final between North Texas and Arkansas-Little Rock was a matchup of teams seeded no higher than fourth in their respective divisions, making them no better than eighth in the league. If North Texas wanted to win as a higher seed (only one higher seed won in the quarterfinals, mind you), it needed to do something to change the narrative arc of this contest.

Defense was just the thing the Mean Green were ready to offer.

In the quarterfinals against Louisiana-Lafayette, North Texas shut down the Ragin’ Cajuns over the final two minutes to pull through. In this game against Arkansas State, UNT – after falling behind by three at the 5:25 mark – allowed just one basket in the next four minutes and 40 seconds. As a result, the Mean Green were able to take a 70-67 lead with 45 seconds left. Arkansas State had to foul, and the boys from Denton, Texas, were straight and true from the free-throw line. UNT’s win in this game has set up a final throwdown between the fifth-seeded Mean Green and seventh-seeded Western Kentucky, which knocked off third-seeded Denver in Monday’s second semifinal. It’s just another wacky Sun Belt Tournament. The Mean Green clearly know how to navigate it.

(7) Western Kentucky 67 (3) Denver 63

It seems that almost every Sun Belt Tournament game ends up being decided by no more than four or five points while being played in the mid-60s. This game was no exception. The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, one day after beating the No. 2 seed in the tournament by a 68-63 score, defeated the No. 3 seed by a 67-63 count. The Hilltoppers outlasted the Denver Pioneers to meet fifth-seeded North Texas in the tournament championship game on Tuesday. Denver lost its last, best chance to win the Sun Belt Tournament before moving to the Western Athletic Conference.

The game came down to a final few possessions. Denver missed some easy shots close to the basket, and WKU was much more opportunistic. The Hilltoppers led the Pioneers by two with six seconds left, but Denver gained two final shots. A three-pointer, however, missed the mark, and a subsequent putback attempt was denied near the rim with three seconds to go. Western Kentucky secured the loose ball and pumped in two free throws after being fouled. The Hilltoppers, who fired their previous coach, Ken McDonald, in January, are now one win from the NCAA Tournament.

It must be March.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Not so.

Florida Atlantic got bounced out of the Belt in last year’s quarterfinal, and this year, Middle Tennessee felt the exquisite sting of an early exit from its conference tournament, falling to ninth-seeded Arkansas State. During the regular season, Middle Tennessee went 14-2 in the Belt while Arkansas State mustered a meager 6-10 record. Yet, ASU is now alive in its quest for an NCAA Tournament bid, while MTSU – though perhaps somewhat alive for an at-large berth – is very likely headed to the NIT at this point. The Blue Raiders felt the pressure of the moment and failed to execute at a level matching their standards. MTSU had been averaging just over 72 points per game entering this contest, but it got shut down by the Red Wolves, who limited the Blue Raiders to 43 percent shooting. ASU didn’t shoot that much better – 44 percent from the floor – but the ninth seed had just enough to pull through in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

The difference? Middle Tennessee made just 11 of 22 free throws. March Madness success requires a steady hand at the line, and the Blue Raiders weren’t up to the challenge. Arkansas State played well enough to make foul shots an issue, and when the Blue Raiders bricked half of their charity pitches, the upset demon reared its ugly head. That’s how it can be in March. Middle Tennessee is confronting the pain associated with the experience.

(5) North Texas 65 (4) Louisiana-Lafayette 62

North Texas came from nowhere to reach the Sun Belt final last season, and the Mean Green – fifth in the conference during the regular season – are now one win from making another surprise appearance in the tournament’s championship game after fending off the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns. This was a nip-and-tuck game the whole way, with neither team gaining much of any separation on the scoreboard. The Mean Green simply played better in the final two minutes. Louisiana-Lafayette missed three layups in the final 90 seconds, while UNT’s Brandan Walton broke a 62-62 tie on a ballsy three-pointer with just eight seconds left. ULL missed a tying three-point try on its ensuing possession, and now North Texas – thanks to Middle Tennessee’s shocking loss in the quarterfinals – will be the slight favorite in its Sun Belt semifinal matchup against Arkansas State on Monday.

(7) Western Kentucky 68 (2) Arkansas-Little Rock 63

The top two seeds in the Sun Belt failed to make last year’s tournament final, and that scenario has unfolded once again in 2012. The Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans led by 11 points, 56-45, with 5:30 left in regulation, but they shockingly collapsed down the stretch. The second-seeded Trojans didn’t score for the next four minutes and 55 seconds, while the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers scored on 12 straight possessions to score 23 points in the final 5:30 and pull off the upset. Western Kentucky looked dead in the water when it trailed by 11, but the Hilltoppers – who endured a very difficult regular season – never stopped competing. UALR hoisted some bad jumpers and gave WKU the sense that it could win if it stayed the course, and that’s exactly what happened. The Hilltoppers’ comeback was surprising enough in its own right, but what’s even more amazing is that this game felt well in hand for the seventh seed in the final minute; this wasn’t even a game that went down to the final few possessions. Western Kentucky gained a five-point lead with 32 seconds left and was never threatened after that point.

(3) Denver 61 (6) South Alabama 50

Only one higher seed won on Sunday in the Sun Belt quarterfinals, and it was the Denver Pioneers, who stopped the South Alabama Jaguars to gain a very good shot at the tournament title. This was an 11-point game, but it was much closer than the score indicated. Denver held a tenuous and uncertain 52-50 lead with five minutes left, only to shut out South Alabama over the final five minutes of regulation.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

(6) South Alabama 87 (11) Troy 81

The No. 11 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament put up a very good fight, but the Troy Trojans did not have enough of a finishing kick to topple the sixth-seeded South Alabama Jaguars. South Alabama withstood a 47-point second half from Troy to hang on for a six-point win in the first round, moving into a Sunday quarterfinal against third-seeded Denver.

South Alabama committed 13 turnovers to just four for Troy, so one might wonder why USA was able to win. The answer was two-pronged. First, the Jaguars forged a plus-12 scoring margin at the free throw line, 24 to 12. Second, they produced very few empty possessions when they didn’t turn the ball over. South Florida hit just over 50 percent of its field goal attempts, and it crashed the offensive glass when it missed. South Florida hit 27 of 53 shots; in other words, USA missed 26 shots. The Jaguars rebounded 16 of those 26 misses, posting an offensive rebounding percentage just north of 60, an unbeatable rate. That was too much for Troy to overcome. Freddie Goldstein led South Alabama with 25 points.

(7) Western Kentucky 67 (10) Florida International 63

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers used to rule the Sun Belt. Now, they’re in the middle of the pack, but they will at least get a chance to pull one shocker in the league tournament. By beating the Florida International Panthers in the first round, the Hilltoppers earned a date with second-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock in the quarterfinals. They also sent Florida International coach Isiah Thomas into another offseason filled with doubt and uncertainty.

Thomas was a splashy, big-name hire for FIU, given his standing in the history of basketball, but Thomas – following his ugly and controversy-ridden career with the New York Knicks as both a coach and executive – has not been able to do much of anything with the Panthers, whose season came to a quick end on Saturday.

Western Kentucky killed Florida International on the offensive glass, racking up 17 offensive rebounds to just six for FIU. The Hilltoppers also banged in 10 of 23 triples, compared to FIU’s 5-of-17 clip behind the arc.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Thursday, February 23

South Alabama 79 Florida Atlantic 76 (OT)

Troy 75 Florida International 70 (OT)

Western Kentucky 79 Arkansas State 76

North Texas 75 Arkansas-Little Rock 67 (OT)

Middle Tennessee 94 Louisiana-Monroe 61

Saturday, February 25

Western Kentucky 73 Middle Tennessee 67

Troy 83 Florida Atlantic 82

Florida International 81 South Alabama 74

Arkansas-Little Rock 62 Arkansas State 60

Louisiana-Monroe 78 Louisiana-Lafayette 60

Sunday, February 26

Denver 64 North Texas 52

It’s not a happy time for Sun Belt Conference executives as the regular season ends and the stage is set for the league tournament, which begins on Saturday, March 3, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Sun Belt has been holding out hopes that if its regular-season champion, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, could reach the tournament final and then lose to an upstart, the league would be in position to get two NCAA Tournament bids. That dream has likely been dashed because of what transpired this past week. Middle Tennessee was viewed to be a team that needed to finish 15-1 in the Sun Belt and then make the tournament final in order to have a good chance for an at-large bid. The Sun Belt’s ratings are simply not strong enough to hold up under scrutiny, and Middle Tennessee does not have any big wins to its credit. The Blue Raiders simply could not have afforded to lose to a Sun Belt foe before the league tournament championship game, especially not a 10-18 team such as Western Kentucky.

Well, guess what? That’s exactly what MTSU did on Saturday against the hyped-up Hilltoppers, who wanted to make their season with an upset of the big dog in their conference. WKU used to be the standard bearer in the Sun Belt, having made the Sweet 16 not too long ago, in 2008. A proud program, Western Kentucky recalled past glories with a spirited effort that a sluggish Blue Raider ballclub simply couldn’t handle on the road. Middle Tennessee is still the outright Sun Belt regular season champion in 2012, meaning that if MTSU fails to win the conference tournament, it is assured of a bid to the NIT, but the larger story is that if the Blue Raiders don’t win the Sun Belt tourney, they are almost certain to miss the NCAAs, leaving the Sun Belt as a one-bid league when March Madness rolls around.

Sun Belt Conference Tournament Matchups (Louisiana-Monroe not eligible for tournament):

First Round:

(9) Arkansas State vs. (8) Florida Atlantic

(10) Florida International vs. (7) Western Kentucky

(11) Troy vs. (6) South Alabama

Quarterfinals:

Top Half of Bracket

9/8 winner vs. (1) Middle Tennessee

(5) North Texas vs. (4) Louisiana-Lafayette

Bottom Half of Bracket

10/7 winner vs. (2) Arkansas-Little Rock

11/6 winner vs. (3) Denver

Semifinals

Game 1: Top half winners

Game 2: Bottom half winners

Final

Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Thursday, February 16

Arkansas-Little Rock 78 Florida International 64

Denver 77 Louisiana-Lafayette 52

Western Kentucky 64 Florida Atlantic 57

North Texas 86 Louisiana-Monroe 51

Arkansas State 83 Troy 59

Saturday, February 18

Louisiana-Lafayette 57 North Texas 53

Denver 76 Louisiana-Monroe 57

South Alabama 66 Western Kentucky 61

Middle Tennessee 72 Florida Atlantic 59

Arkansas-Little Rock 74 Troy 62 (OT)

Arkansas State 77 Florida International 67

It’s now close enough to the finish line in the Sun Belt Conference regular season that we can begin to talk about the jousting for positioning in the upcoming conference tournament, which will tell us whether the league has a chance of putting two teams into the NCAA Tournament or not. For now, the Sun Belt – which just gained a new commissioner, Karl Benson, from the Western Athletic Conference this past week – at least has reason to hope that if its best team does not win the league tournament, it could get two tickets to the Big Dance, not just one.

This was a week in which most bubble teams failed to make convincing cases for at-large bids, so with Middle Tennessee winning on Saturday to run its Sun Belt record to 13-1, the Blue Raiders slightly increased their at-large prospects. In all likelihood, they’ll need to win out through the Sun Belt Tournament semifinals to have a really good chance; any prior losses will leave them smack on the middle of the bubble on Selection Sunday. However, MTSU has certainly given itself a legitimate shot at an at-large bid if it fails to win the Sun Belt tourney; that’s more than most Sun Belt teams have been able to say over the past decade.

The other particularly relevant story for the Sun Belt as it approaches the final week of regular-season play is the pursuit of seedings and slots for the league tournament. Due to its failure to meet the NCAA’s established requirements for Academic Progress Report (APR) scores, the Louisiana-Monroe men’s basketball team will not be eligible to participate in the Sun Belt Tournament. This will have a profound effect on the way the tournament is seeded and bracketed. Under the long-prevailing format, the two six-team divisions were cross-matched in the tournament. In the first round, the third-place teams from each divisions would play the sixth-place teams from the opposite divisions. The same cross-matching would occur with the fourth- and fifth-place teams as well. In the quarterfinals, the top two teams in each divisions – after first-round byes – would play the winners of the first round games. The top seed in the East Division would play the winner of the first round game between the fourth seed in the West and the fifth seed in the East. The top seed in the West would play the winner of the “fourth-East/fifth-West” game. The second seed in the East would play the winner of “third-West/sixth-East,” and the second seed in the West would play the winner of “third-East/sixth-West.” The cross-matched format created specific advantages and disadvantages for teams from the stronger division. For instance, being able to play the stronger seed from the weaker division in the quarterfinals would be a big benefit to a fourth-place team.

However, Louisiana-Monroe’s absence has changed all that.

With ULM gone, an 11-team tournament will not involve cross-divisional bracketing. This will be an 11-team tournament, much like the Big Ten’s previous format (that league now has 12 teams, ironically enough). Teams will be seeded 1 through 11 without divisional affiliation. This means that being a top-5 seed guarantees a first-round bye. So far, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas-Little Rock, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Denver have sewn up byes. North Texas leads South Alabama by one game in the race for the fifth bye. Middle Tennessee needs just one win to clinch the top seed in the tournament, and Arkansas-Little Rock needs just one win to clinch the second seed. Denver and Louisiana-Lafayette are tied for third, and both teams will want to get that third spot in order to avoid playing Middle Tennessee until the Sun Belt Tournament final. There’s a lot at stake as the Sun Belt season comes to a close.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Thursday, February 9

Florida Atlantic 72 Denver 71

North Texas 68 Florida International 61

South Alabama 74 Arkansas State 57

Middle Tennessee 72 Western Kentucky 64

Arkansas-Little Rock 72, Louisiana-Lafayette 70 (OT)

Saturday, February 11

Middle Tennessee 68, Arkansas-Little Rock 60

Troy 83 Western Kentucky 77

South Alabama 88 Louisiana-Monroe 86

Florida Atlantic 86 North Texas 81 (2OT)

Denver 77 Florida International 63

Louisiana-Lafayette 68 Arkansas State 65 (OT)

The Sun Belt Conference encountered its game of the year – at least within the confines of the regular season – this past week, and when the smoke had cleared, the top team in the league had reasserted its place as the big dog on the block.

The 11-1 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders hosted the 9-2 Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans this past Saturday on national television. The game was worthy of publicity and prominence because it featured the top two teams in the league, the teams that are leading the Belt’s two divisions. Arkansas-Little Rock had, in fact, tightened its grip on the Sun Belt West Division on Thursday night by fending off Louisiana-Lafayette in overtime. UALR has won several league contests by single-digit margins this season, many of them by single possessions. The Trojans had established a consistent track record of being able to dig out razor-close contests, so when Middle Tennessee welcomed UALR to its home building in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Blue Raiders knew that they’d have to display an extra measure of resolve. The crowd tried to motivate the Blue Raiders by engaging in a “blue-out” accompanied by blue road uniforms for the home team, but gimmicks can only go so far. Every player in a blue MTSU jersey had to exert at a high level to tuck away this particular win.

As you’d expect of the number one team in the Belt, Middle Tennessee did exactly that. The Blue Raiders dug in their heels on defense and kept Arkansas-Little Rock largely confined to the perimeter. UALR settled for jumpers relatively early in possessions and did not exhibit quite the amount of patience needed to produce solid, cohesive possessions with flow and structure. Middle Tennessee wore down UALR mentally as much as physically, setting a tone at the defensive end of the floor while also locking down on the boards. UALR’s defense kept the game competitive throughout, but the Trojans were never able to string together enough stops to substantially change the fundamental trajectory of the game. The Blue Raiders moved to 12-1 in the league, taking a huge step toward the regular-season Sun Belt championship. Middle Tennessee also shored up its chances for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. UALR fell to 9-3 in the league.

Not bad for a day’s work, Blue Raiders. Not bad at all.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Thursday, February 2

Middle Tennessee 68, North Texas 66

Louisiana-Lafayette 72, Denver 71 (OT)

Arkansas State 72, Louisiana-Monroe 64

South Alabama 65, Florida Atlantic 56

Florida International 63, Troy 50

Saturday, February 4

Denver 75 Middle Tennessee 60

Florida International 76 Florida Atlantic 56

Arkansas-Little Rock 70 Louisiana-Monroe 66

Seattle 75 Arkansas State 69

Louisiana-Lafayette 83 Troy 78

Western Kentucky 75 South Alabama 66

It was going to be hard for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders to go through the entire Sun Belt Conference regular season without a single defeat, and if there was a game that set up poorly for coach Kermit Davis’s club this year, it was this past Saturday’s game in Denver against the homestanding Pioneers. Moreover, the backdrop to the weekend’s main Sun Belt showcase simply didn’t offer new advantages to the one Sun Belt team that could gain an at-large bid to the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

Because of a major snowstorm that hit Denver on Friday, both the Middle Tennessee and Denver teams – having played Thursday night Sun Belt road games – were routed through the same airport and placed on the same flight into the Mile High City. Yes, it’s mind-blowing to conceive of such a reality, but the Blue Raiders and Pioneers shared seats as they made the one commute in the Sun Belt which doesn’t make sense – the journey from… well… the American sun belt region to the Rocky Mountains and the one city that’s geographically out of place in what is already a far-flung conference reaching from Florida to Texas. These teams shouldn’t have had to fly into a snowy Denver International Airport, but they did.

The Pioneers had to love the extent to which Middle Tennessee was inconvenienced. They also had to love the fact that this game received a national television slot on ESPN2, adding a few thousand rowdy students to the cheering section at Magness Arena, the Pioneers’ home court. Middle Tennessee had to travel; it had to share a flight with its opponent; and it had to deal with a juiced-up crowd. Yes, this was the perfect trap for a team that had won its first 10 Sun Belt games of the year.

Denver was good enough to pounce on this opportunity.

The Pioneers ran crisp offensive sets in head coach Joe Scott’s offensive system. They were scattered in the first half but made excellent defensive rotations in the second half. Denver looked a half-step faster and a lot more active than Middle Tennessee for most of the afternoon, and thanks to a few timely three-point baskets in tipping-point moments midway through the second half, the Pioneers were able to pull away down the stretch for a 15-point win that will give them a fresh measure of confidence for the rest of February. This is still Middle Tennessee’s league to win, and with the Sun Belt Tournament being in Arkansas, the clubs from Arkansas-Little Rock and Louisiana-Lafayette will have a say in who wins this league, but now Denver – which had been sliding – can still harbor hopes of claiming this league title. The other key result of this story is that Middle Tennessee can probably lose just one more game (maybe two) if it wants to remain a likely at-large choice for the Big Dance.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 25

Louisiana-Lafayette 64, North Texas 62

Thursday, January 26

Denver 66, Arkansas State 52

Arkansas-Little Rock 75, South Alabama 50

Florida Atlantic 67, Western Kentucky 66

Middle Tennessee 71, Troy 58

Saturday, January 28

Vanderbilt 84, Middle Tennessee 77

Louisiana-Lafayette 67, Louisiana-Monroe 60

North Texas 76, Arkansas State 64

Western Kentucky 61, Florida International 51

Arkansas-Little Rock 64, Denver 57

Sunday, January 29

South Alabama 68 Troy 66

It’s a bumper car competition in the Sun Belt Conference… with the exception of the team that is leading the way. Even in defeat this past week, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders just might have done more than merely affirm their status as the team to beat in the conference. With a good loss on the road against a solid Vanderbilt club, the boys from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just might have gained national respect from savvy college basketball watchers, enough to perhaps – yes – steal an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament if they don’t win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in early March.

Yes, coach Kermit Davis’s club really could be in the mix for an at-large this year, not just because of its own merits – the Blue Raiders are 20-3 this season and 9-0 in the Sun Belt – but because the rest of the bubble is so mediocre. A lot of teams with NIT-level profiles are still in the bubble conversation, making the bubble a sorrier spectacle than ever before, including last year’s race to mediocrity. Middle Tennessee pushed Vandy – the second-place team in the Southeastern Conference – for a full 40 minutes on the road, with the Dores extending a two-point lead to seven in the final 90 seconds of a terrifically tense tilt. MTSU, if it goes unbeaten in the Sun Belt regular season and then loses in the championship game of the Sun Belt tourney, would have only four losses on the season. With that degree of high-level consistency, the Blue Raiders could make a strong case for inclusion in the NCAA field.

After Middle Tennessee, though, the Sun Belt is cluttered.

In the West, it’s good clutter which is on display. The past week’s events featured Arkansas-Little Rock’s win over Denver, giving the Trojans (7-2 Sun Belt) the season sweep of the Pioneers (6-3) and a leg up in the division. However, in addition to Denver, North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette also sit at 6-3, meaning that UALR’s work is far from done. Arkansas-Little Rock still owns the majority of leverage in the West, but not to the point where they can feel particularly comfortable. Too many competitors lurk.

In the East Division, the clutter is generally bad. Florida Atlantic (5-3) has done really well after struggling against non-conference foes. The Owls are 9-12 overall, but they’ve managed to win five of eight conference clashes so far. FAU is therefore on track to get the second seed in the East and – with it – a bye in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. Western Kentucky, South Alabama, Troy, and Florida International are all saddled with six conference losses, so they’ll be jockeying for seeding slots the rest of the way.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Denver 63, Louisiana-Monroe 48

Louisiana-Lafayette 68, Arkansas-Little Rock 49

Florida International 65, South Alabama 62

Middle Tennessee 59, Arkansas State 46

Florida Atlantic 88, Troy 67

Saturday, January 21

Florida Atlantic 66, Florida International 64

North Texas 75, Denver 74 (OT)

Middle Tennessee 68, South Alabama 47

Troy 91, Louisiana-Monroe 63

Western Kentucky 65, Arkansas-Little Rock 53

The Sun Belt Conference is still ruled by one team and one team only, but while the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders remain unbeaten in the league, one of the more important contests occurred in Denton, Texas.

The Denver Pioneers are the geographical outlier in the Sun Belt. While most of the league’s teams play in the Southeastern United States, encompassing Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and even Florida, Denver sits in the Rocky Mountains, having to make long commutes to each and every road game. The continuous battle faced by the Pioneers is the ability to win on the road with the same regularity they demonstrate at home. Denver has to play the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Pioneers are simply at a competitive disadvantage in much the same way that the Hawaii Warriors are when they compete in the Western Athletic Conference. Much as Hawaii always has to travel a long way (much longer than Denver does for the Sun Belt tourney) to play its biggest basketball games of the season, Denver has to go to unfamiliar territory to punch its ticket for the NCAA Tournament. Therefore, Denver’s regular-season forays to other league arenas are chock-full of meaning in ways that don’t apply to other Sun Belt squads. When Denver went to Denton to face 4-2 North Texas this past weekend, the Pios had a chance to make a real statement.

Instead, they walked away with the heartache that has marked their existence in the Sun Belt, an existence that has failed to deliver an NCAA Tournament berth. Denver led by a 74-73 score with just seconds left in overtime, but North Texas’s Alzee Williams tipped in a Roger Franklin miss with two ticks left on the clock to claim the win for the Mean Green. Denver is still located in the upper tier of the Sun Belt with a 5-2 league record, but this loss at North Texas won’t help the Pioneers’ confidence for the road ahead. Many more mountains need to be climbed by coach Joe Scott’s team before it can claim a place of Sun Belt supremacy.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer