3MW’s All Conference Team:
Player of the Year: DeVante Jones, R Jr., Coastal Carolina
Coach of the Year: Terrance Johnson, Texas State
Newcomer of the Year: Michael Flowers, Sr., South Alabama
Freshman of the Year: Norchad Omier, Fr., Arkansas State
Season Storylines:
The Sun Belt was an utter crapshoot this season. First, COVID forced the league to split into divisions, which led to uneven scheduling and boring 4-game series across the conference. This led to some interesting and misleading results.
Second, what in the hell was Little Rock this year? The defending champions brought back everyone except Kamani Johnson and proceeded to finish just 7-11 in the “weaker” division. Locker room issues abounded culminating in the departure of Markquis Nowell, one of the favorites to take home Sun Belt POY hardware in the preseason.
Texas State finished with the best record in the Sun Belt despite former head coach Danny Kaspar leaving in the fall and the graduation of Nijal Pearson and Eric Terry, arguably the Bobcats’ two best players in 2019-20. Credit interim head coach Terrance Johnson for keeping the program together and carrying on Kaspar’s gritty defensive reputation.
UT Arlington dealt with a handful of injuries, none more impactful than the loss of David Azore, arguably the Mavs’ best player. With Azore back in the fold plus PG Shahada Wells playing at an All-Conference level, UTA is the dark horse pick to make noise in the Tourney. Injuries also affected Louisiana and Coastal Carolina, two teams more than capable of making runs in the conference dance. The Cajuns will likely still be missing Brayan Au , while Coastal might be without Tyrik Dixon.
Thankfully the NCAA gods came to their senses on the eligibility of Michael Flowers, the leader of South Alabama and one of the best scorers in the Sun Belt. Flowers has “game breaking” ability — he can carry his Jaguars to an auto-bid.
The GSU schools performed more or less to preseason expectations. Georgia State is still the best team in the league for my money, and I fully expect them to cut down the nets in Pensacola on March 8th behind their terrific guard triumvirate. Georgia Southern clearly missed head coach Mark Byington, who took his talents to James Madison in the offseason.
Tournament Preview
Tournament Predictions
(4W) Arkansas State over (5E) Georgia Southern
(3E) South Alabama over (6W) Louisiana Monroe
(3W) UT Arlington over (6E) Troy
(4E) Appalachian State over (5W) Little Rock
(1E) Georgia State over (4W) Arkansas State
(3E) South Alabama over (2W) Louisiana
(3W) UT Arlington over (2E) Coastal Carolina
(1W) Texas State over (4E) Appalachian State
(1E) Georgia State over (3E) South Alabama
(3W) UT Arlington over (1W) Texas State
(1E) Georgia State over (3W) UT Arlington