Sunbelt 2023 or 2022 expansion reverberates

 Ark-Little Rock, a non-football member of the Sun Belt since 1991, is going to the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1st, 2022.

 UT Arlington, another non-football member is is a candidate to join the Missouri Valley Conference.

James Madison HC Curt Cignetti announced the hire of Matt Transue as the new Senior Director of Football Operations.

 Transue joins the Dukes with five-plus years of experience at the FBS level as it relates to the day-to-day operations of a football program. He spent five years in various positions at Va Tech from 2017-21 then was the DFO at Ga Southern last season. I'm sure Helton, the HC at Georgia Southern, ain't digging losing him to a future SBC opponent.

Division travel shouldn't be bad in the Sunbelt East: Coastal Carolina, Appalachian State, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Marshall, Old Dominion and James Madison.

Jan 15, 2022

Sunbelt will let #herd, USM, and ODU, know on Jan 26 if they can join for 2022 instead of 2023.

Jan 22, 2022

UTA is set to join the WAC, not the MVC, on July 1, in time for the 2022-23 athletic season. The WAC is getting Texas-heavy. 

Feb 2, 2022

Various news outlets reports that JMU will be joining the Sunbelt in all sports starting in the fall of 2022, and the Dukes are slated to open their football season against MTSU on September 3.

Feb 5, 2022

America East bans Stony Brook Seawolves from conference tournaments because it's moving to the CAA, who did the same thing to James Madison for their move to the Sunbelt. Both schools will need to get at large bids to NCAA tournaments.

Feb 23, 2022

Marshall is suing C-USA in Cabell County, WV in a bid to exit early for Sun Belt and are claiming that the current bylaws on arbitration were not in effect when they joined the conference in 2003.

CUSA may want to move Liberty(Independent in football) in earlier than the planned 2023 date.

March 30, 2022

#herd, USM, and ODU got their wish and will join the SunBelt for 2022 football season. Conference USA will play with 11 members next season and has petitioned the NCAA for health and safety reasons, a lack of bye weeks, to play two football games in Week 0 in 2022.

April 23, 2022

Well, if the Sunbelt schedules more games against division opponents than travel should be reduced.

May 4, 2022

Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF are negotiating a settlement with the AAC to leave the league early and make their Big 12 membership official on July 1, 2023 . And watch the AAC try to speed up bringing in these CUSA teams: Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB.

May 21, 2022

Sad news for Jax St , who's transitioning to 1A while it on its way to the CUSA in 2023. Assistant head football coach Calvin Magee(59) died after suffering a heart attack. He was an assistant to HC Rich Rod at several schools over the years and played four seasons at TE for TBay Buccaneers.

May 31, 2022

Georgia Southern (40-18) of the Sun Belt Conference will host a Baseball regional for the first time. East Carolina(AAC) and S.Miss (CUSA) are also hosting. BTW, ECU opens against Coppin St (MEAC), a small inner-city schooi in Baltimore, my home town.

June 10, 2022

It's official on July 1, 2023 :Cincinnati, Houston, UCF will join the Big 12 The Big 12 will field 14 teams in 2023 . The three schools will each pay the AAC $18 million over a 14-year period to leave the conference early. As an FBS independent, BYU will only have to pay $500,000 to leave the WCC for other sports, Six CUSA schools six schools will now officially join the AAC :Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB. and UTSA CUSA will also add four schools: Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State. and Sam Houston State.

July 21, 2022

I took a nap on the Sunbelt. JMU's Homecoming Weekend October 22: The Dukes will face Marshall, a team they’ve only played to twice in the 1990s. Marshall won both matchups.

July 29, 2022

Coastal Carolina QB Grayson McCall signed an NIL deal with Darlington Raceway( “Too Tough To Tame”). I can see this one working out well.

When I went to a few Nascar races at Dover around from 1998-2000, a lot of the long- time fans told me that Darlington was a track I should visit.

 

Sunbelt Hoops hunches 2019/20

1) Georgia Southern Eagles: Can Trevior Lamar replace #TookieBrown ? Isaiah Crawley is a solid scorer and rebounder
2) South Alabama Josh Ajayi, who averaged 16.4 points per game last season, and fellow double-digit scorer Trhae Mitchell are key players, but look out for Andre Fox who scored 24 points  against Chattanooga last week.
3) Texas State Bobcats:  Nijai Pearson remains a player to watch player to watch for the Bobcats who finished secind in conference play last season.
4) Appalachian State Mountaineers- Justin Forrest returns  but they 'll miss Shabazz.
5) Georgia State Panthers: Coach Hunter runs Tulane now so it might be a year  of adjustment for Coach Lanier who will rely heavily on Kane Williams. Ga St gave Duke a tough game but lost 64-53 last week.
6) UT Arlington Mavericks- Davis and Narcis are solid forwards, but the Mavs will need more.
7) Coastal Carolina Chanticleers: Frater and Jones  return.
8) Troy Trojans: KJ Simon scored a career-high 21 points in a narrow loss to UAB- they'll need more of that.
9) Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns lost Jakeenan Grant (SBC DoY) and Stroman , the SBC assists leader
10) Arkansas State Red Wolves will rely on a few transfers to replace Ty Cockfield
11) UL Monroe Warhawks: Ertel and JD Williams return.
12) Little Rock Trojans- Good luck to Coach Darrell Walker in filling the void of Rayjon Tucker turning pro.

dec 24

I thought the Sunbelt Georgia schools were going to upset bigger conference teams but it didn't occur . I. Smith(25 PTS, 6 REB, 1assist) kept Ga Southern in the game, but Edwards (23 PTS, 3 REB, 4 assists) came through for the Dawgs . GA(SEC) 73 GAS 64.
Georgia St got a big night from K. Williams (22 PTS, 3 REB, 2 assists) but F. Hunt(18 PTS, 7 REB, 2 assists) and the Mustangs took control late. SMU(AAC) 85 GA St 76

jan 3,2020

Keeping a promise to a buddy and reporting good news for South Bama. Josh Ajayi ( SALA - F
13 PTS, 12 REB, 1 AST) in a 60-57 win over ULL.
The Georgia school each remained undefeated in Sunbelt play. Ga St beat App St, and GA Southern beat CCU.

jan 12

 South Bama D: USA 52 Ark LR 43. The second place Jags are one GB of the Georgia schools and ArkLR. #NijalPearson scored 22 points to power Texas State past App St 82-57. GA St beat ULM. CCU beat UTA. GA Southern beat ULL. Ark St beat Troy

Jan 18

Georgia schools and Ark LR sit atop the Sunbelt standings with 6-2 records.   Justin Roberts scored 20 points  in Georgia State's 72-63 victory over  South Bama, who faces Georgia Southern,  a winner over Troy, Thursday night. Ark LR beat CCU and faces App St today.

jan 25

South Bama Jags are 5-5 in SunBelt action. They beat GA Southern last saturday then lost to Ark St Thursday night. Josh Ajayi has solid stats 15.8 PPG 8.1 RBG. ARK LR (8-2) is in first in the SunBelt.

Feb 3

 Trhae Mitchell scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting for South Alabama(6-7) in a 79-69 win Georgia Southern(7-5) on Saturday. Ark LR (11-2) is in first place.

Feb 8

Sunbelt placed a Friday night game on the schedule and South Bama(7-7) moved to .500 in conference play with a 70-66 win over Troy(5-9).  Josh Ajayi scored 20 points the Jags.

feb 14

 Fox and Mitchell each scored 20 for  S Alabama(8-7) in its 78-75 win over UL-Lafayette 78-75. Jags are tied with App St, who lost to GaSt(10-5) and 4GB of Ark LR(12-3) who lost to TXST(9-6)

feb 21

 Josh Ajayi scored 19 points and South Alabama(10-7) shot 70% from the floor in a 78-70 win over AppSt. TXST(11-6) beat Georgia Southern(10-7). Ark LR(12-4) is in first place.

feb 29

Isaiah Crawley scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for GA Southern(12-7) in a 79-70 win over GA St., but still trail TX St(13-6) a narrow winner over over UTA last night. TX St finishes the season against South Bama(11-7) on March 3. If ArkLR(14-4) wins today against ULL, they lock up first place.

March 4

How about South Bama(13-7)  beating TX St(13-7) to finish in a tie for second ,and Georgia St beating  first place ArkLR(15-5)..  ULL scored 69 points in a second half  comeback win over CCU.

March 31

Georgia Southern hires Brian Burg , former asst at Texas Tech

April 11

  Sunbelt Conference shifts 2021-25 men's and women's basketball championships from NOLA to Pensacola, Fla. It is the first time the conference will play the men’s championship in FLA . The women’s championship was held at the USF Dome in Tampa, Fla in 1988.

May 15

 It's official I can call the SunBelt, the SBC. They released a new logo today.

July 13, 2020

Ole Miss (SEC) and Georgia State (Sunbelt) announce a football/basketball weekend in Oxford, MS for 2026 season. Men's hoops on Nov 20, 2026 and pigskin on Nov 21.

O5 on Day1 then day 2

Hagins hit some key shots and Arkansas LR (SunBelt)  defense  played well in the their comback win over Purdue.

Fresno (MWC) looked in trouble from the start agakinst Utah .Marvelle Harris (24 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST)  had his usual but  the Utes were just too much for the Bulldogs.

UConn(AAC) roared back from an 11 point halftime deficit behind Rodney Purvis to defeat Colorado. Huskies also shot 96% from the free throw line.

Perkins and Bearden led the Buffalo Bulls(MAC) charge back but it wasn't  enough to beat Miami Fla

Day 2:
Props to MTSU (CUSA) who beat Sparty. I didn't have the guts to pull the trigger for them in the brackets. Upshaw and Putts were stellar in the  Blue Raiders victory. Now go get Cuse.
AAC Heartbeaks:DeCosey's 26 points  wasn't enough as Temple  lost to Iowa in the final seconds and Octavius Ellis dunk for Cincy  was waved off at the buzzer in their loss to St Joseph.

Other 5 roundups/letdowns

SunBelt: (1)Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans have had plenty of rest and  start their battle for the SunBelt Dance ticket against (4)ULL. They beat ULL twice this season and will focus on stopping the long distance Cajun shoooter, Shawn Long.  (2) ULM/(3)UTA is the other semi-final . UTA is one of the most  perplexing squads . Drew Charles treys saved them last night but Kevin Hervey has been their anchor. Roberson and Deng are the ULM anchors.

MWC- I'm going with (2) Bulldogs behind Marvelle Harris to beat top seed SD St n the final. Both teams are dancing.

MAC- Buffalo is another perplexing team and they 've had a nice run, but Isaiah Johnson and Akron will secure the MAC ticket.

CUSA: It's March and ODU is chasing a dance ticket- same old story. Trey Freeman scored 42 yesterday in the win over WKU, but MTSU, a winner over Herd yesterday, will slow him down and get the CUSA ticket.

AAC= crazy tournament. Tulane was about to fire their head coach before they upset Houston to face Memphis on one side of the bracket. Temple, who should be in  the Dance, faces  another March bloomer UConn today. I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what other AAC squads go Dancing.

For new readers Other 5= AAC, CUSA,MAC, MWC,  and SunBelt

March13 review
SunBelt- Ark LR/ULM for the ticket today/ ULL scored 25 but that was enough again st Little Rock.
MWC- Fresno punched its ticket and I still think SD St gets an at large.
MAC-  Massinburg was solid in Buffalo's win. I can't see Akron getting and at large.
CUSA:MTSU held Freeman under 20 points and got the W.
AAC: UConn /Memphis in the final- the bubble grows.

March 17: Tulsa (AAC) made a run but Michigan held them off in the play -in game. Tulsa (20-12) got 23 points from Shaquille Harrison, There were five ties and 12 lead changes in the  second half. 

July 13, 2016
Dropping  an off-season note: SMU must've had enough of Larry Brown when he pushed for a contract extension. Tim Jankovich, who  has been in head coach in waiting at SMU since 2012 and had a 104-64  record as HC at Illinois St, takes over. SMU was 9-0 under Jankovich  during Brown's suspension last season. Jankovich promises more treys and hopesto take advantage of SMU being the only 1A hoops team in the Dallas area.
Brown (2012-16)guided the Mustangs to their first dance ticket since 1993 in 2015, but that feels lile steep price. 

Squinting at SunBelt & MAC Feb 20

MAC: In a big rivalry game the Spicer & Thomas show helped Kent St  defeat Akron and narrow the gap in the East to a game while Ball St got a big  night under the boards in their win over NIU. Toledo @ EMU amd CMU at WMU are big games today.

Akron	10-4	21-6
Kent St	9-5	18-9
Ohio	8-5	17-8
WEST	CONF	OVERALL
Ball State	9-5	18-9
Toledo	7-6	16-10
Central Michigan	7-6	14-12

SunBelt: Arkansas Little Rock has a three game lead as we near  March Madness, but they'll still have to win the conference tournament. despite early OOC wins over San Diego St & Tulsa. Hagins & Johnson Jr  lead a balanced Trojans squad 

Arkansas-Little Rock	13-2	23-3
Louisiana Lafayette	10-5	14-10
Louisiana Monroe	10-5	14-12
UT-Arlington	9-5	18-7