Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Conference Basketball Championship
Sport College basketball
Conference Sun Belt Conference
Number of teams 13
Format Single-elimination tournament
Current stadium Lakefront Arena
Current location New Orleans, LA
Played 1977–present
Last contest 2016
Current champion Little Rock
Most championships Western Kentucky (9)
TV partner(s) ESPN2
Official website SunBeltSports.org Men's Basketball
Host stadiums
Charlotte Coliseum
Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex
Hampton Coliseum
E.A. Diddle Arena
Richmond Coliseum
Mobile Civic Center
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Barton Coliseum
Cajundome
Mitchell Center
Alltel Arena
Lakefront Arena
UNT Coliseum
Murphy Center
Summit Arena
Host locations
Charlotte, NC (1977-1980, 1989)
Jacksonville, FL (1981)
Birmingham, AL (1982-1984,1986,1990)
Hampton, VA (1985)
Bowling Green, KY (1987, 1994, 2003-2004)
Richmond, VA (1988)
Mobile, AL (1991, 2001, 2008)
Biloxi, MS (1992-1993)
Little Rock, AR (1995-1997, 2000)
Lafayette, LA (1998-1999, 2007)
New Orleans, LA (2002, 2014-2015)
Denton, TX (2005)
Murfreesboro, TN (2006)
Hot Springs, AR (2009-2013)

The Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament has been played every year since the formation of the Sun Belt Conference for the 1976–77 academic year.

The winner of the tournament is guaranteed an automatic berth into the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.

History

Format

The size and format of the Sun Belt tournament has varied widely since its establishment in 1976. The size of the conference has ranged between a minimum of six teams and as many as thirteen.

Nonetheless, the tournament has consistently utilized a simple single-elimination style tournament. With a few exceptions, all conference members are typically invited to each tournament. Depending on the total number of teams in the league during a particular year, higher-seeded teams have sometimes received byes into the quarterfinal or semifinal rounds. Teams have always been seeded based on regular season conference records, although some modifications were made when the league was split into divisions during the 2000s.

Hosts

With some exceptions, the tournament has historically been played at the home gym of one of the conference's members (e.g. Louisiana–Lafayette's Cajundome, North Texas' UNT Coliseum) or at a major arena in a nearby city (e.g. Mobile Civic Center near South Alabama).

Some of the more common host venues have included the Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina (UNC Charlotte), the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama (UAB), Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, Arkansas (Arkansas–Little Rock), and E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky (Western Kentucky).

However, the tournament has been hosted at a neutral arena site each year since 2009 (Hot Springs, Arkansas and New Orleans, Louisiana). Lakefront Arena in New Orleans had previously hosted the event in 2002 when UNO was still a Sun Belt member but the Privateers have since departed the conference. The only other neutral sites to host a Sun Belt tournament were the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia (1985) and the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, Mississippi (1992–1993).

NCAA performances

The Sun Belt has a storied basketball history, sending multiple teams into the NCAA tournament in the 1980s and 1990s (most recently 1994), and then again in 2008 when both regular season champion South Alabama, and tournament winner Western Kentucky received bids, and in 2013 with Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee.

Charlotte reached the Final Four in 1977, and future Sun Belt member Western Kentucky reached the Final Four in 1971. Overall, past and present Sun Belt schools have posted 21 wins in the NCAA Tournament during the time they were conference members.

Champions by year

Season Tournament Champion Score Runner-Up MVP Game Site
1977 UNC Charlotte 71–70 New Orleans Cedric Maxwell, UNC Charlotte Campus Sites – First Round
Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, NC) – Finals
1978 New Orleans 22–20 South Alabama Nate Mills, New Orleans Campus Sites – First Round
Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, NC) – Finals
1979 Jacksonville 68–54 South Florida James Ray, Jacksonville Campus Sites – First Round
Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, NC) – Finals
1980 VCU 105–88 UAB Edmund Sherod, VCU Campus Sites – First Round
Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, NC) – Finals
1981 VCU 62–61 (OT) UAB Kenny Stancil, VCU Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum (Jacksonville, FL)
1982 UAB 94–83 VCU Oliver Robinson, UAB Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center (Birmingham, AL)
1983 UAB 64–47 South Florida Cliff Pruitt, UAB Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center (Birmingham, AL)
1984 UAB 62–60 Old Dominion McKinley Singleton, UAB Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center (Birmingham, AL)
1985 VCU 87–82 Old Dominion Mike Schlegel, VCU Hampton Coliseum (Hampton, VA)
1986 Jacksonville 70–69 UAB Otis Smith, Jacksonville Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center (Birmingham, AL)
1987 UAB 72–60 Western Kentucky Tracy Foster, UAB E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, KY)
1988 UNC Charlotte 81–79 VCU Byron Dinkins, UNC Charlotte Richmond Coliseum (Richmond, VA)
1989 South Alabama 105–59 Jacksonville Jeff Hodge, South Alabama Charlotte Coliseum (Charlotte, NC)
1990 South Florida 81–74 UNC Charlotte Radenko Dobras, South Florida Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center (Birmingham, AL)
1991 South Alabama 86–81 Old Dominion Chris Gatling, Old Dominion Mobile Civic Center (Mobile, AL)
1992 Southwestern Louisiana 75–71 Louisiana Tech Todd Hill, Southwestern Louisiana Mississippi Coast Coliseum (Biloxi, MS)
1993 Western Kentucky 72–63 New Orleans Darnell Mee, Western Kentucky Mississippi Coast Coliseum (Biloxi, MS)
1994 Southwestern Louisiana 78–72 Western Kentucky Michael Allen, Southwestern Louisiana E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, KY)
1995 Western Kentucky 82–79 Arkansas–Little Rock Chris Robinson, Western Kentucky Barton Coliseum (Little Rock, AR)
1996 New Orleans 57–56 Arkansas–Little Rock Lewis Sims, New Orleans Barton Coliseum (Little Rock, AR)
1997 South Alabama 44–43 Louisiana Tech Rusty Yoder, South Alabama Barton Coliseum (Little Rock, AR)
1998 South Alabama 62–59 Southwestern Louisiana Toby Madison, South Alabama Cajundome (Lafayette, LA)
1999 Arkansas State 65–48 Western Kentucky Chico Fletcher, Arkansas State Cajundome (Lafayette, LA)
2000 Louisiana–Lafayette 51–50 South Alabama Virgil Stanescu, South Alabama Alltel Arena (North Little Rock, AR)
2001 Western Kentucky 64–54 South Alabama Chris Marcus, Western Kentucky Mitchell Center (Mobile, AL)
2002 Western Kentucky 76–70 Louisiana–Lafayette Derek Robinson, Western Kentucky Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, LA)
2003 Western Kentucky 64–52 Middle Tennessee Patrick Sparks, Western Kentucky E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, KY)
2004 Vacated 67–58 New Orleans Bo McCalebb, New Orleans E. A. Diddle Arena (Bowling Green, KY)
2005 Vacated 88–69 Denver Tiras Wade, Louisiana-Lafayette UNT Coliseum (Denton, TX)
2006 South Alabama 95–70 Western Kentucky Chey Christie, South Alabama Murphy Center (Murfreesboro, TN)
2007 North Texas 83–75 Arkansas State Calvin Watson, North Texas Campus Sites – First Round
Cajundome (Lafayette, LA) – Finals
2008 Western Kentucky 67–57 Middle Tennessee Jeremy Evans, Western Kentucky Campus Sites – First Round
Mitchell Center (Mobile, AL) – Finals
2009 Western Kentucky 64–55 South Alabama A. J. Slaughter, Western Kentucky Summit Arena (Hot Springs, AR)
2010 North Texas 66–63 Troy Eric Tramiel, North Texas Summit Arena (Hot Springs, AR)
2011 Arkansas–Little Rock 64–63 North Texas Solomon Bozeman, Arkansas-Little Rock Summit Arena (Hot Springs, AR)
2012 Western Kentucky 74–70 North Texas George Fant, Western Kentucky Summit Arena (Hot Springs, AR)
2013 Western Kentucky 65–63 FIU T. J. Price, Western Kentucky Summit Arena (Hot Springs, AR)
2014 Louisiana–Lafayette 82–81 (OT) Georgia State Bryant Mbamalu, Louisiana-Lafayette Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, LA)
2015 Georgia State 38–36 Georgia Southern Kevin Ware, Georgia State Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, LA)
2016 Arkansas–Little Rock 70–50 Louisiana–Monroe Roger Woods, Arkansas-Little Rock Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, LA)

Performance by school

Member Winners Winning Years
Western Kentucky
9
1993, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013
South Alabama
5
1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2006
UAB
4
1982, 1983, 1984, 1987
UL-Lafayette
4
1992, 1994, 2000, 2014
VCU
3
1980, 1981, 1985
Charlotte
2
1977, 1988
Jacksonville
2
1979, 1986
New Orleans
2
1978, 1996
North Texas
2
2007, 2010
Arkansas-Little Rock
2
2011, 2016
Arkansas State
1
1999
Georgia State
1
2015
South Florida
1
1990
TOTAL
40

Television

See also

References

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