Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
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 (Charlotte), the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama (UAB), Barton Coliseum in Little Rock, 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 | Little Rock | 70–50 | Louisiana–Monroe | Roger Woods, Little Rock | Lakefront Arena (New Orleans, LA) |
- Notes
- The University of Louisiana at Lafayette was known as Southwestern Louisiana prior to the 1999–2000 season.
- The University of Arkansas at Little Rock changed its athletic branding to Little Rock starting with the 2015–16 school year.
Performance by school
| Member | Winners | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|
| Western Kentucky | |
1993, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013 |
| South Alabama | |
1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2006 |
| UAB | |
1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 |
| UL-Lafayette | |
1992, 1994, 2000, 2014 |
| VCU | |
1980, 1981, 1985 |
| Charlotte | |
1977, 1988 |
| Jacksonville | |
1979, 1986 |
| New Orleans | |
1978, 1996 |
| North Texas | |
2007, 2010 |
| Little Rock | |
2011, 2016 |
| Arkansas State | |
1999 |
| Georgia State | |
2015 |
| South Florida | |
1990 |
| TOTAL | |
- Teams in bold represent current conference members