Having had sand kicked in its face for long enough, the Sun Belt Conference has taken a long, cold look at itself in the mirror, and decided that it’s time to hit the gym.

On Monday, the conference announced that it planned to implement rules designed to increase the conference’s RPI rating. Specifically, the Sun Belt will mandate that its member basketball schools must only schedule non-conference opponents that, as ESPN.com’s Andy Katz reported, have a “three-year combined power rating within the top 150,” and/or teams that ended the previous season with an RPI within the top 150. The scheduling of games against non-Division I teams will be forbidden, and programs must constantly endeavor to average an attendance that surpasses the national average of 5,038 fans per game (as Katz reports, the Sun Belt brass are planning to help with this). The theory is that this scheduling upgrade en masse will raise the Sun Belt’s conference RPI and, in doing so, might lead to more than the single auto-qualifier each year in the NCAA Tournament, or at least a higher NCAA seed for the conference tournament winner. This would seemingly lead to other positive effects that all conferences love, like rising attendance at games, an increased television profile, and — to put it frankly — more respect. The rules outlined above will take effect starting in the 2011-12 season.

Troy's New Trojan Arena Will Seat Just Over 5,200 Hoops Fans

The Sun Belt is certainly ripe for a drastic self-determined change, meaning one that’s not being executed just to keep the conference alive. The great Sun Belt schism happened in the off-season of 1991, when most of the conference’s members bolted for other leagues and the remaining schools had to merge with the American South Conference to keep the Sun Belt in existence.  Since that time, the Sun Belt has had more than one representative — its conference tournament winner — in the Big Dance exactly three times: 2008 (#10 South Alabama, at large; #12 Western Kentucky, auto), 1994 (#11 Western Kentucky, at large; #11 Louisiana-Lafayette, auto), and 1993 (#7 Western Kentucky, auto; #8 New Orleans, at large). Note that long drought, there — the span from 1995 to 2007 represents thirteen consecutive tournaments in which the Sun Belt was a single-bid league. And they logged only one win in that interval (#8 Western Kentucky def. #9 Michigan, 1995). In terms of actual conference RPI, the Sun Belt finished last year at its 10-year nadir of 22nd out of 32 conferences, averaging a year-end rank of 17.5 over that time period.

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Danny Spewak is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Predicted Order of Finish

East:­

1. Western Kentucky (12-4)
2. Florida Atlantic (11-5)
3. South Alabama (11-5)
4. Middle Tennessee State (6-10)
5. Troy (4-12)
6. Florida International (4-12)

West:

1. North Texas (12-4)
2. Arkansas State (11-5)
3. Denver (8-8)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette (8-8)
5. Arkansas Little-Rock (6-10)
6. Louisiana-Monroe (3-13)

All-Conference Team (key stats from last season in parentheses)

• G: Josh White, North Texas (14.5 PPG, 3.5 APG)
• G: Ray Taylor, Florida Atlantic (14.2 PPG, 5.9 APG)
• F: Sergio Kerusch, Western Kentucky (14.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG)
• F: Steffphon Pettigrew, Western Kentucky (14.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG)
• F: Brett Royster, Florida Atlantic (10.0 ppg, 7.4 RPG, 3.0 BPG)

6th Man

• Tim Williams, South Alabama (15.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG)

Impact Newcomer

• Fred Brown, Louisiana-Monroe. The transfer from Kansas State appeared in two postseasons as a Wildcat, including an NCAA Tournament in 2007-08 alongside superstar Michael Beasley. Brown’s perimeter shooting and defensive ability will earn him immediate playing time for the Warhawks, who return just five players and introduce a rookie head coach in Keith Richard. Brown edges former Oklahoma defensive standout Juan Pattillo in this category, who joins East division favorite Western Kentucky, as well as Louisiana-Lafayette’s David Perez, a streaky shooter from Centenary.

What You Need to Know

• Tightening Up: The Sun Belt Conference may have lost New Orleans to the Division III ranks, but the rest of the league stayed intact for 2010-11. Moving to a 16-game format from an 18-game schedule with the Pioneers’ departure, the conference figures to be stronger than ever. North Texas represented the Sun Belt in the NCAA Tournament last year after winning 24 games and returns all but one starter. Western Kentucky graduated its top scorer and said goodbye to an NBA Draft pick, but coach Ken McDonald welcomes a promising class of newcomers to team with two potential All-Conference forwards. Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic and South Alabama could all be in the mix for postseason bids and will compete in their respective divisions.
• Never a Dull Moment: Several Sun Belt teams dealt with offseason drama. Arkansas State coach John Brady saw stud guard Brandon Reed transfer to Georgia Tech after earning SBC Freshman of the Year honors—and then made harsh statements about his departure. That wasn’t the only transfer Brady dealt with. Former Nebraska and Jacksonville State guard Jay-R Strowbridge stayed in Jonesboro for two weeks before leaving, citing a possible postseason ban, which the school denies. Perhaps the most notable drama came from Florida International. Divisive head coach Isiah Thomas agreed to help the New York Knicks as a consultant, but backed down after public criticism. His top recruiting class also took a hit during the offseason, thanks to the first-semester ineligibility of elite recruits Dominique Ferguson and Phil Taylor. Their status for the second semester is unknown. South Alabama coach Ronnie Arrow kicked off two newcomers before they ever played a minute of basketball, including Kentari Nettles, a forward who garnered high-major interest out of junior college.
• Musical Chairs: The conference also introduces two new head coaches. Richard replaces Orlando Early at Louisiana-Monroe, while Louisiana-Lafayette hired the established Bob Marlin away from Sam Houston State. Interestingly, Robert Lee, the former Ragin Cajuns’ coach, now works for Richard at ULM as an assistant.

Predicted Champion

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Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division (conf/overall/streak)

1. Troy                                    (12-5/17-11/W4)
2. Middle Tennessee               (12-5/18-12/W2)
3. Western Kentucky             (11-6/18-12/W5)
4. Florida Atlantic                  (10-7/14-14/L2)
5. South Alabama                     (8-10/16-14/W1)
6. Florida International          (4-13/7-23/L7)

West Division (conf/overall/streak)

1. North Texas                          (12-5/20-8/W7)
2. Arkansas State                     (11-6/16-12/W1)
3. Louisiana-Lafayette              (10-7/13-15/L1)
4. Denver                                   (9-8/16-12/L1)
5. Louisiana-Monroe                  (6-11/11-17/L3)
6. New Orleans                          (3-14/8-20/L2)
7. Arkansas-Little Rock             (3-14/7-21/L6)

News and notes

Western Kentucky’s A.J. Slaughter was named conference player of the week. He has now received this honor three times this season and also was picked as the preseason player of the year. In his senior year, Slaughter has shown why he was picked as such,as he had four straight 20-plus point performances in the last few weeks. Western Kentucky will be a force in the conference tournament as always. Despite their third-place conference record in the SBC East, their overall record is the second best in the SBC and they play much harder teams during non-conference play.

The Sun Belt Conference tournament is fast approaching at with one more night of conference play and several games that shouldn’t make too much of a difference. The standings probably won’t change at all either except for Troy and Middle Tennessee. If Middle Tennessee beats Florida Atlantic and Troy loses to Arkansas State, then the seed positions for the conference tournament might change a bit. The Troy versus Arkansas State game will be a good matchup and an important final regular season game.

Some easy wins will be for Western Kentucky against Florida International and Denver, on their home court, versus Louisiana-Lafayette. Denver has struggled on the road this season, losing nearly every game away from home so it will be a positive note for them to end regular season play at home with a win. Unfortunately, the Pioneers will have to take the road again for the conference tournament in Arkansas. This will be a huge factor in their performance. It is a shame for senior and star Nate Rohnert that the team plays so poorly on the road, because in reality they are better than many of the SBC teams. It’s a mystery as to why they can’t perform on the road. One that will have to be answered next season perhaps.

You can pretty much forget about New Orleans, Arkansas-Little Rock, Florida International and Louisiana-Monroe now. If any of these teams survive the first round of the conference tournament, I would be surprised. A good matchup though for a season closer will be the New Orleans versus UALR game, since the teams have almost exact records.

For the conference championship I’d like to see a match-up between West Division leader North Texas and East Division Western Kentucky. These two teams have the best overall records and a game against each other would be fun to see in the tournament. The Mean Green did it. They pulled off leading the West Division again. Early in the season, they had the lead, lost it and now have it back. Something changed in the last half of the season and North Texas pulled it together and took the top spot just in time. For awhile, I wasn’t sure if Denver or Arkansas State who would clinch that spot instead.

It will be interesting to see which team (if any) can beat Western Kentucky and prevent them from going to the NCAA Tournament again as the SBC representative.

Upcoming games

All games are on Saturday, Feb. 27

• North Texas v. Louisiana-Monroe              1 p.m.
• Middle Tennessee v. Florida Atlantic          6 p.m.
• Louisiana Lafayette v. Denver                     6 p.m.
• New Orleans v. Arkansas-Little Rock           7 p.m.
• Western Kentucky v. FIU     7 p.m.
• Troy v. Arkansas State                                  7:05 p.m.

Wednesday, March 6 through Friday, March 9

• Sun Belt Conference Championships in Hot Springs, Ark.

Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division (conf/overall/streak):

1. Middle Tennessee               (8-3/13-10/W5)
2. Florida Atlantic                   (8-3/12-10/W5)
3. Troy                                   (7-4/12-10/W2)
4. Western Kentucky              (5-5/12-10/W1)
5. South Alabama                     (4-7/12-11/L4)
6. Florida International          (4-7/7-17/L1)

West Division (conf/overall/streak):

1. Arkansas State                     (8-2/13-8/W2)
2. Louisiana-Lafayette              (6-4/9-12/W1)
3. North Texas                          (6-5/13-8/L1)
4. Denver                                   (6-5/13-9/L2)
5. Louisiana-Monroe                  (4-8/9-13/L2)
6. Arkansas-Little Rock             (2-8/6-15/W1)
7. New Orleans                          (2-9/7-15/L4)

East Division update:

• Middle Tennessee, along with Florida Atlantic, has been hot in the last two weeks. Each team has a five-game winning streak. This conference is officially unpredictable; or, at least the East division is unpredictable. Two weeks ago, Middle Tennessee was the fifth-ranked team in the division and now the Blue Raiders are flying high topping the entire Sun Belt. However, the overall standings for the East Division are still relatively tight, with the exception of Florida International and South Alabama who are several games behind.
• The most consistent team seems to be Troy. The Trojans started out conference play on top but have settled into the middle for the rest of the season. However, don’t count them out yet. They have the capability to be a tough opponent in the conference tourney, with players like Brandon Hazzard leading the way. Hazzard has been scoring an average of nearly 17 points per game. The Trojans are only one game back from the conference lead.
• A team you can probably count out though is Florida International and at the rate South Alabama is going right now, they’re probably in that category too. The Jaguars have lost seven of their last eight games. Another team that has lost a lot of games recently is Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are not topping anyone right now, losing five of their last six although WKU’s most recent loss came in overtime against North Texas and by only one point. Don’t doubt this team yet though, as the most recognizable team in the SBC because of their previous performances in the conference tourney.
• With only three weeks left of regular season play, every team needs to step it up on the road to finish strong. This is going to be most challenging for Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky as they have four and five road games each.

West Division update:

• The biggest news here is that Denver has slipped in the rankings during their recent road trips. They haven’t won an away game since November against South Dakota State. In fact, over the last couple of seasons the Pioneers had a 40+ game road losing streak. It looks like this season won’t be much different, as DU is 1-8 on the road this season. One reason why they might be losing on the road is because they have to travel so far from Denver. The Pioneers should probably play in a conference that has more teams on the west side of the country.
• Arkansas State remains the team to beat in the West Division. A challenge for the Red Wolves though will be two games against Western Kentucky before the season ends. They have yet to play the Hilltoppers, unlike Denver and North Texas who have each beaten WKU.
• Even though Louisiana-Lafayette is ranked second in the West, they still have a losing overall record and can falter at anytime. Before the last two weeks, the Ragin’ Cajuns had a 5-10 record. It seems like their current wins can be attributed to playing worse teams, with the exception of Denver who just can’t win away from home. The teams they have played recently are ULM, UALR and UNO.
• There is still nothing new to say about the bottom three teams in the West division. Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas-Little Rock and New Orleans are three of the five teams in the conference with a losing record. The best these teams can hope for are a couple more wins and maybe an upset or two down the stretch.

Upcoming games

• Sat, Feb. 6       North Texas v. Florida International      1 p.m.
• Sat, Feb. 6       Middle Tennessee v. South Alabama 1 p.m.
• Sat, Feb. 6       Florida Atlantic v. Denver                     5 p.m.
• Sat, Feb. 6       Troy v. Western Kentucky                    7 p.m.
• Thurs, Feb. 11  Arkansas State v. Western Kentucky    7 p.m.
• Thurs, Feb. 11  Denver v. Middle Tennessee                 7 p.m.
• Thurs, Feb. 11  Florida International v. South Alabama  7:05 p.m.

Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division (conf/overall/streak):

1. Western Kentucky              (4-2/11-6/L1)
2. Florida Atlantic                               (5-3/9-10/W2)
3. South Alabama                     (4-3/12-7/W1)
4. Troy                                   (4-3/9-9/L2)
5. Middle Tennessee               (4-3/9-10/W1)
6. Florida International          (3-6/6-16/L2)

West Division (conf/overall/streak):

1. Arkansas State                     (6-1/11-7/W4)
2. Denver                                   (5-3/12-7/L2)
3. North Texas                          (4-4/11-7/L1)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette              (3-3/6-11/L1)
5. Louisiana-Monroe                  (3-5/8-11/W2)
6. New Orleans                          (2-5/7-11/W1)
7. Arkansas-Little Rock             (1-7/5-14/L1)

Team Updates:

Western Kentucky. Player of the Week goes to Western Kentucky’s star player Steffphon Pettigrew. Pettigrew led WKU in two of their most recent victories, averaging 18.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He was 11 for 16 from the field in the Hilltoppers’ win against Florida Atlantic last week. This junior is the second WKU player to be honored as Player of the Week. A.J. Slaughter has received the award twice already this season. Slaughter also has moved up on the list of WKU all-time scoring leaders. He has scored 1,219 points as of Jan. 9 and is 24th on the list. A statistic recently released shows that Western Kentucky is holding opponents to an average of 61.9 PPG in the friendly confines of Diddle Arena.

Florida Atlantic. I’m not buying it that Florida Atlantic will remain second in the East Division standings. At halftime on Thursday night, the Owls were losing to the worst team in the conference, Arkansas-Little Rock, and they barely survived, coming back to win by only three.  However, there is some positive Owls news: if Greg Gantt hits 14 more three-pointers he will break the team’s freshman record, and Raymond Taylor is most likely going to break the freshman and overall school records for assists in a season. Taylor is averaging 6.4 APG. Brett Royster is ranked 18th in the NCAA in blocks with an average of 2.9 BPG.

South Alabama. The Jaguars snagged a big win against Troy on Saturday, winning a nail biter, 69-67. Head coach Ronnie Arrow has become South Alabama’s all-time win leader with 172. Freshman Martino Brock recorded his third double-double this season, and in doing so got a career-high 12 rebounds. Junior Gary Redus continues to miss games because of his right leg injury.

Troy. Senior Yamene Coleman had a fine week last week, recording his fifth double-double and scoring 20 points against South Alabama. Twenty points is the most Coleman has ever scored against a Division I opponent. Point guard Michael Volger is 17 assists away from tying the school’s all-time leader in dime-dishing. Volger is also 21st in the NCAA in assists with 5.6 APG. Brandon Hazzard continues to lead the SBC in scoring at 18.3. Troy avoided a three-game losing streak by beating Western Kentucky on Thursday night, 77-69.

Middle Tennessee. This team had 46 rebounds in one game against Florida Atlantic last week. That is a season high for the Blue Raiders. Senior Montarrio Haddock had his fourth 20-point game after a disappointing loss to Florida International last week. If Middle Tennessee lets games like that one slip through the cracks, the post season isn’t looking likely for them. A high note for the Blue Raiders was Desmond Yates’ 35 points against FAU.  An interesting stat about Middle Tennessee is that as of Jan. 7, they are 23rd in the NCAA for free-throw percentage at 74.8% (BYU leads this category at 78.9%).

Florida International. The Golden Panthers won their third conference game of the season last week, but that might end up as one of their last wins of the season. They do have a shot in Saturday night’s game against Arkansas-Little Rock, which should be a relatively easy home win.

Arkansas State. The Red Wolves are pretty hot right now. They are definitely the team to beat in the West Division. That win against North Texas was big in more ways than one.  Arkansas State scored its highest point total in conference play with 83 points. Freshman Brandon Reed led ASU against the Mean Green, putting up 18. Three other players on the Red Wolves scored in the double digits that game. Against South Alabama later that week, freshman Brandon Peterson swatted his 35th block of the season. Arkansas State is ranked 14th in the NCAA in three-point field goal defense.

Denver. The Pioneers are second in the NCAA in field goal percentage at 51.9%. and 19th in three-point field goal percentage at 40.5%. Now, the bad news. Denver lost their weekend games in Louisiana to ULM and ULL. They just can’t cut it on the road. If Denver can beat South Alabama this Saturday they will extend their 11-game home win streak. Keep an eye on freshman Chase Hallam who had a career-high four three-pointers against ULM. Hallam leads DU by making 47.8% of his three-pointers.

North Texas.  Tristan Thompson did the most in helping the Mean Green get by Troy last week with his 21 points. Senior Eric Tramiel is back in the line-up after suffering a wrist injury and missing four games. During the game against Troy, Tramiel scored 11 points, then added 12 against Arkansas State. Fun fact: North Texas has won at least one game in 11 of the SBC’s 13 venues since the 2006-07 season.

Louisiana-Lafayette. Well, my predictions from two weeks ago about Louisiana-Lafayette losing three of their next five games may be proven wrong. If the Ragin’ Cajuns win either of their next two games, I’ll have to admit that I was way off about this team. And moving up isn’t impossible for the Cajuns. They have maintained that middle spot in the West Division standings all season, while the three teams above them flip-flop around.

Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks had a surprising victory over South Alabama last Thursday, 61-58. And then used that momentum for another surprising victory over Denver on Saturday, 64-53. ULM only missed four free throws against Denver, shooting 26-30.  Senior guard Tony Hooper has 198 career-steals, putting him four away from the school record. Brian Spencer holds the record at 202, from 1985-88.

New Orleans. Big news for UNO player Carl Blair, he is second in the NCAA for triple-doubles…with a total of one. Another UNO player with some noteworthy stats is Billy Humphrey who is 33rd in the NCAA in FT% at 88.3%. However, Humphrey was sidelined last week due to a knee injury. The Privateers managed to win without him, defeating UALR, 67-66, in overtime. If they hadn’t been playing the worst team in the conference that might not have been the outcome without Humphrey. UNO lost their 13th straight game in the Louisiana-Lafayette Cajundome on Thursday night.

Arkansas-Little Rock. The Trojans finally won a conference game. Not saying much considering they beat Louisiana-Lafayette who also has a losing record. They unfortunately regained their usual form against FAU, dropping a close one, 77-74, to make it nine losses out of ten games.

Upcoming games

Sat., Jan 23     Middle Tennessee @ WKU 12 p.m.

Sat., Jan 23     South Alabama @ Denver 5 p.m.

Sat., Jan 23     Arkansas State @ Florida Atlantic 6 p.m.

Sat., Jan 23     Troy @ Louisiana-Lafayette 7:15 p.m.

Mon., Jan 25   WKU @ Southern Illinois 7:05 p.m.

Thurs., Jan 28            Denver @ UALR 7 p.m.

Thurs., Jan 28            North Texas @ WKU 7 p.m.

Sat., Jan 30     New Orleans @ WKU 3 p.m.

Sat., Jan 30     North Texas @ Middle Tennessee 7 p.m.

Sat., Jan 30     Denver @ Arkansas State 7:05 p.m.

Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division (conf/overall/streak)

1. Troy                                             (4-1/9-7/W1)
2. Middle Tennessee                  (3-1/8-8/W1)
3. Western Kentucky                 (2-1/9-5/L1)
4. South Alabama                       (3-2/11-6/L2)
5. Florida Atlantic                      (3-2/7-9/W2)
6. Florida International            (2-4/5-14/L1)

West Division (conf/overall/streak)

1. Denver                                          (5-1/12-5/W2)
2. Arkansas State                           (4-1/9-7/W2)
3. North Texas                                (3-3/10-6/W1)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette                (2-2/5-10/W1)
5. Louisiana-Monroe                   (1-5/6-11/L2)
6. New Orleans                               (1-5/6-11/L2)
7. Arkansas-Little Rock             (0-5/4-12/L7)

News and Notes

South Alabama junior Tim Williams was the Sun Belt Conference player of the week, and he deserved it after leading the Jaguars to three road victories and averaging 20.7 points in those games. Williams is the first South Alabama player to win the award since Brandon Davis in the 2008 season.

Denver extended their home win streak to 11 after defeating Western Kentucky Sunday afternoon, 72-67. Nate Rohnert and Rob Lewis led the Pioneers with 23 and 15 points, respectively. Western Kentucky’s star player A.J. Slaughter did indeed perform for the Hilltoppers, scoring 28 points.

Another good conference match-up was Arkansas State’s victory over South Alabama on Saturday, 69-63. Thanks to Arkansas State freshman guard Brandon Reed’s 26 points, the Red Wolves increased their win streak and conference standing.

Troy senior Brandon Hazzard leads the conference in scoring averaging 18.9 PPG, followed by New Orleans’  Billy Humphrey at 18.3 PPG. Third in line is Florida Atlantic freshman Raymond Taylor, averaging 17.2 PPG, who’s  having a fine debut season so far despite FAU’s losing record.

Team Updates

Since conference play started Troy University has surpassed South Alabama and now is leading the East Division. Troy had a big win against Western Division leader University of Denver, but lost its first conference game to Florida Atlantic. Senior Richard Delk set a career high with five steals last week and nabbed a team-best seven boards against Denver.

Middle Tennessee is trying to maintain a winning record and should be able to win at least one game this week against Florida International. Forward Desmond Yates leads the team with an average of 14 PPG but Montarrio Haddock has more solid overall statistics, chalking up 13.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 1.5 APG.

Western Kentucky is having a better season than I think most people expected. Despite their loss to Denver on Sunday, the Hilltoppers should be able to pick it back up for the next couple games against Florida Atlantic and Florida International. With the rebounding prowess of Steffphon Pettigrew and Sergio Kerusch, Western Kentucky is second in the conference in pulling down offensive boards.

After playing all of the Florida teams in the SBC, South Alabama produced a three-game win streak but then lost the next two at home, and it looks like they are better on the road right now.  Two of their last three games have gone into overtime, meaning anything is possible for the Jaguars.

Florida Atlantic did not have a good December, losing five of seven. Let’s hope January will be better for the Owls. So far it’s looking good but they have a long way to go to be anywhere near competetive for a conference championship. This week brings two tough games against Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee.

Florida International cannot win on the road. The Golden Panthers are 2-10 on the road and aren’t done traveling yet. This week they travel to the states of Kentucky and Tennessee to play the same teams as Florida Atlantic. It will be interesting to see which Florida team can get the job done. My bet is on Florida Atlantic (if either).

The University of Denver Pioneers continue to show that they’re not messing around this season. They are leading the conference by one win and should grab a few more on the road this week against the Louisiana teams. It could be interesting, though, because their road record is 1-4, most likely because they have to travel halfway across the U.S. each time they play an away game. Sophomore Brian Stafford and juniors Andrew Hooper and Rob Lewis are all averaging in double-figures.

Arkansas State is second in the conference. Can’t wait to see them in heir rematch against Denver at the end of January, but for now they continue traveling for three more games. Guards Brandon Reed and Daniel Bryant, who each average around 13.5 PPG, carry the Red Wolves right now.

The North Texas Mean Green are stuck right in the middle. Anything can happen for them in the next two months. After defeating New Orleans and Arkansas-Little Rock, the Green were able to move up to the No. 3 position in the West Division standings.

Louisiana-Lafayette is probably going to lose three of their next five games, which will keep them from moving up in the standings anytime soon. Their recent win against North Texas was a close game and could have gone either way.

Not much to say about Louisiana-Monroe, New Orleans and Arkansas-Little Rock. They all have losing records and at this point there is not much they can do to turn around their seasons. New Orleans does have two top players but after that the stats for their team members trail those of other teams. Arkansas-Little Rock has yet to win a conference game and has a seven-game losing streak. Not much hope for them.

Upcoming Important Match-ups

1/16 South Alabama vs. Troy 8:05 p.m.

1/18 Middle Tennessee vs. Western Kentucky 8 p.m.

1/21 Troy vs. Western Kentucky 8 p.m.

1/23 Denver vs. South Alabama 6 p.m.

Laura Hathaway of the Clarion is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Current Standings

East Division

1. South Alabama (7-2)
2. Troy (5-3)
3. Florida Atlantic (4-3)
4. Western Kentucky (4-3)
5. Middle Tennessee (3-5)
6. Florida International (3-8)

West Division

1. Denver (6-2)
2. New Orleans (5-2)
3. North Texas (5-3)
4. Arkansas-Little Rock (4-5)
5. Arkansas State (3-4)
6. Louisiana-Monroe (3-5)
7. Louisiana-Lafayette (2-4)

News and Notes

• Small Changes…  Still no conference games have been played in the SBC but over the past two weeks there have been subtle changes in the standings. Arkansas-Little Rock jumped from last place with one win to being ranked fourth in the West division of the conference. Denver also took its place at the top of the Western division rankings as they barely scraped past South Dakota State and Cal State Northridge. Changes in the East division were also minimal with Troy keeping its spot near the top and Florida International falling further and further behind.
• Team of the last couple weeks…  This honor definitely goes to South Alabama, who currently has a four-game win streak and is slowly but surely extending their lead over the conference competitors. If they keep winning, the rest of the league doesn’t stand a chance of catching them. It shouldn’t be too hard for them to beat their first conference opponent UALR and then tack on two more wins against the Florida SBC teams.
• Player of the last couple weeks…  Denver captain Nate Rohnert was named Sun Belt Conference player of the week, an honor he earned by scoring a career-high 32 points against Wyoming. The score of the game was 80-77 meaning Rohnert scored nearly half of the Pioneer points in the game. Who knows what they would do without him? Rohnert also currently leads the Sun Belt in points per game at 19.2 and is second in assists. As the only senior on the DU team, Rohnert has learned how to take responsibility and lead. Rohnert’s hard work and dedication to the Pioneers is finally starting to pay off as they took the lead of their division and rank second overall in the SBC.

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Matt Poindexter is a regular RTC contributor.

Predicted Order of Finish:

East

1. Western Kentucky (17-1)
2. Troy (14-4)
3. Middle Tennessee (11-7)
4. Florida Atlantic (6-12)
5. South Alabama (5-13)
6. Florida International (2-16)

West

1. North Texas (15-3)
2. Denver (12-6)
3. Arkansas-Little Rock (11-7)
4. Louisiana-Lafayette (9-9)
5. Louisiana-Monroe (8-10)
6. Arkansas State (5-13)
7. New Orleans (2-16)

All-Conference Team:

• A.J. Slaughter (G) – Western Kentucky
• Nate Rohnert (G) – Denver
• Desmond Yates (F) – Middle Tennessee
• Rudy Turner (F) – Louisiana-Monroe
• Jeremy Evans (C) – Western Kentucky

6th Man: Brandon Hazzard (G) – Troy

Impact Newcomer: Isiah Thomas. Usually, this is where we pick out the best incoming freshman or transfer in the conference. But for the first time in a very long time, people are paying attention to a Sun Belt team in a month that is not March. One can’t be sure if Isiah’s hiring at FIU will be a huge boon for the conference in terms of exposure, or if his actions will make him a white elephant, but his impact will be unparalleled either way. As far as on the court, New Orleans guard Billy Humphrey, a transfer who averaged 12.2 PPG for Georgia before being dismissed from the team following a DUI, is the most proven and highest rated player to make a Sun Belt debut in 2009-10.

What You Need to Know:

• If you’re going to pick out guy to win Player of the Year, it has to be WKU’s A.J. Slaughter. He probably would have won the honors in 08-09, but his teammate Orlando Mendez-Valdez overshadowed him. Now that Mendez-Valdez has graduated, expect Slaughter to outshine everyone else in the Sun Belt.
• For the past two years, Western Kentucky has been the team to beat in the Sun Belt. In 2008 and 2009, they won the conference tournament and went on to NCAA tournament upsets, beating a #5 seed each year in Drake and Illinois. If not for poor free throw shooting, the Hilltoppers very well could have claimed a victory over Gonzaga in last year’s tournament to go to the Sweet 16.
• Isiah Thomas isn’t the only one who has moved out of a powerful program and into a Sun Belt coaching position.  John Brady, coach at LSU during their 2006 Final Four run, is now at Arkansas State and Mike Jarvis helmed the St. John’s program prior to his current job at Florida Atlantic. North Texas’ Johnny Jones was the last coach (for one season) at Memphis before some guy named Calipari took over.

Predicted Champion. Western Kentucky (NCAA Seed:  #11). Since North Texas made a run and won the conference tournament in 2007, it has been WKU all the way in the Sun Belt. Even though conference Player of the Year Mendez-Valdez is no longer with the Hilltoppers, the return of guard A.J. Slaughter should mean that the conference championship trophy stays in Bowling Green for another year. Couple that with the increased inside presence of WKU center Jeremy Evans and the fact that they return 4 starters from last year, and there’s no reason to bet against the Hilltoppers.

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Toppers Return to The Dance
As we predicted last time around, Western Kentucky will represent the Sun Belt Conference in the Big dance this year. This was no surprise to avid Belt followers. However, what was a surprise was the opponent they faced in the finals – South Alabama.

South Alabama came into the tournament as the sixth seed, and slid into the finals after winning their first two games by a combined total of five points. One of their opponents was Troy, who’s magical run came to a close by just three points. Not that they didn’t have their fair share of chances to get the win themselves. Trojan guard Michael Vogler missed the front end of a one-and-one and then two 3-point tries in the final 17 seconds as Troy tried to tie the game.
Ironically, South Alabama’s last leg into the final game came with little difficulty when they knocked off  Arkansas Little-Rock, a team that also struggled to find its range, by ten points. The Trojans had no answer for the loss of Moore, their top scorer, and it showed, as they went 16-61 from the floor on the night. However, South Alabama would not be so fortunate against WKU in the finals.

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Rick Henderson of The Owl’s Nest is the RTC correspondent for the Sun Belt Conference.

Final Results Are In

A couple things were expected.  And a lot was not.  WKU sitting out the first round is no shocker.  UALR atop the West was expected as well.  But MTSU was expected to do a lot better.  Additionally,  who would have “thunk” that head coaches Mike Jarvis and John Brady would finish at the bottom of their respective divisions and as 12th and 13th seeds?  Wow.  Lastly, how does Troy, a team that actually was picked to finish in the basement, obtain a first round bye and sit all alone in second in the East?  Weird wild stuff!  And, of course, why we all love the sport of basketball.  Anything can happen on any given night.  And especially over the course of a season.  Troy has a decent shot at making it to the finals given they can get past UALR.  But WKU will prove a tall order.  The Trojans lost both regular season games to the Toppers.

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