THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE THREAD

Discussion in 'Men's College Basketball' started by EPJr, Mar 27, 2013.

  1. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    The Sun Belt is looking to add two or more schools, and that need became more urgent recently when Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic announced they would be leaving the conference June 30, a year earlier than planned.

    The two schools agreed to pay the Sun Belt a $750,000 exit fee to speed up their switch to Conference USA.

    That leaves the Sun Belt with 10 member schools, only eight of which play football.

    Commissioner Karl Benson said the conference would play a seven-game conference football schedule this fall and a double round-robin 18 game conference schedule in basketball.

    “We will shift our attention back to the future of the league and what our membership will consist of,” Benson said. “As of now, there are no pending invitations to the Sun Belt membership. However, we know there are a number of teams interested in joining our league.”

    One of those schools is Georgia Southern, which school president Brooks Keel stated last summer was interested in moving its football program up to the FBS level.

    Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2013/02/03/2341524/sun-belt-conference-could-be-in.html#storylink=cpy
     
  2. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Georgia Southern, Appalachian State
    move from SoCon to Sun Belt Conference

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    Two of the most dominant programs in the Football Championship Subdivision are moving up to Football Bowl Subdivision.

    Georgia Southern and Appalachian State announced in separate press conferences on their campuses Wednesday their athletic programs are leaving the Southern Conference to join the Sun Belt Conference in 2014.

    http://collegesportsinfo.com/2013/03/25/appalachian-state-expected-to-join-sun-belt/
     
  3. EPJr

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    Liberty University talks with Sun Belt are heating up; an announcement could come soon

    The plans were laid out and there were options if the Sun Belt needed them; could those options answer for the Sun Belt Conference soon?

    After Western Kentucky made it official that they will be leaving the Sun Belt Conference for Conference USA in 2014 that left an open spot in the Sun Belt Conference. Commissioner Carl Benson said on Monday that Western Kentucky news was no surprise to him or the Sun Belt Conference, and that they have been preparing for the moment. Now that WKU is gone, Commissioner Benson has been in active talks with several programs and most notably James Madison and Liberty.

    http://sunbeltinsider.blogspot.com/
    http://www.newsadvance.com/sports/l...cle_8cb85a6c-9c0a-11e2-b21a-0019bb30f31a.html
     
  4. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    FIU hires Anthony Evans

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    Anthony Evans was a finalist for the Florida International job a year ago, before the school decided to give Richard Pitino his first opportunity to be a head coach.

    Apparently, the Panthers kept Evans' resume on file.

    Evans got the job this time around, arriving in Miami on Monday night to replace Pitino. He takes over a program that is coming off its first winning season since 1999-2000, but will likely face a postseason ban next season over academic problems that began during Isiah Thomas' three-year stint on the Panthers' sideline.
     
  5. EPJr

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    Last edited: Jun 3, 2013
  6. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Sun Belt Conference logos For Conference
    and for Each Member School

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    [​IMG]
     
  7. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    Louisiana-Lafayette rallies to drop Georgia St. in OT for Sun Belt title

    There's no dodging this now. Louisiana-Lafayette coach Bob Marlin is getting a tattoo.

    Before the season, he promised his Ragin' Cajuns he would get some ink if they made the NCAA tournament. And on Sunday, Xavian Rimmer scored a career-high 27 points, and Louisiana-Lafayette rallied from a 9-point deficit in the last three minutes of regulation to force overtime and beat Georgia State 82-81 in the Sun Belt Conference championship game.

    Read more http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400546834
     
  8. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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  9. truebluefan

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    UT Arlington beats Saint Mary's for first win vs. Top 25 team

    Before the game, Scott Cross reminded his UT Arlington players they had a chance to make their mark on program history.

    "He was like, `This would be the biggest win in school history," guard Erick Nealsaid. "That just added fire to it and made us want to play harder."

    Kevin Hervey scored 15 points and UTA beat a Top 25 team for the first time, shocking previously unblemished No. 12 Saint Mary's 65-51 on Thursday night just more than a week after another special and emotional win at Texas.

    Read more http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/recap?gameId=400915769
     
  10. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    The Sun Belt was mostly a buyer in this wave of realignment, adding Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss from Conference USA and James Madison from the CAA. JMU immediately announced its intention to join the basketball side of the league in 2022-23, while the three C-USA defectors announced in February they planned to do the same, a move that was made official in March.

    The conference did suffer some attrition, with Little Rock announcing in December that it would move to the OVC in 2022-23. More recently, UT Arlington announced its return to the WAC, which it departed for the Sun Belt in 2013. The Trojans and Mavericks began this season as the only remaining Sun Belt teams without a football program, and their departure was largely characterized as being in the mutual interests of both the universities and the Sun Belt.

    Future look: Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, James Madison, Louisiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Marshall, Old Dominion, South Alabama, Southern Miss, Texas State, Troy
     

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