Projected order of finish
- South Alabama
- Arkansas State
- Appalachian State
- James Madison
- Coastal Carolina
- Marshall
- Georgia Southern
- Troy
- Louisiana
- Louisiana Tech
- Georgia State
- Old Dominion
- Louisiana Monroe
- Southern Miss
Preview
The Fun Belt is a conference on the rise and ready to take the next step, but sometimes a drawback to its overall strength is its parity. However, it’s that parity that makes for tremendous drama, especially in recent seasons.
The 2026-27 season should once again provide its share of surprises in league before we get to the ladder bracket in early March. Last year that surprise was Georgia Southern (21-16, 8-10 SBC/10th). The 10th-seeded Eagles made it all the way to the championship game of the conference
tournament last March in New Orleans, but that is where their luck ran out against the top seeded Troy Trojans (22-12, 12-8 SBC first).
Under head coach Charlie Henry, the Eagles have looked somewhat like the Eagles of the early-mid 1990s under Frank Kerns — teams who shot a lot of threes and favored an up-tempo style. Last season, the Eagles shattered program records for 3-pointers made (370) and attempted (1,099). The previous record was also set under Henry a year earlier.
There’s no Charlton Young around chucking them up from range these days, but point guard Dallas Gardner and wing forward Truman Claytor VI can both shoot the rock from deep, and neither is bashful when doing so. They can contend if they can get their rebounding issues solved.
Much has changed in Troy, Ala., since the end of last season, and the two-time defending champions will have much work to do under new head coach Adam Howard if they hope to make it three straight. Scott Cross left to become the head coach of Georgia Tech at the end of the season after the Trojans became the first-ever NCAA Tournament victim of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Only three reserves return off that team that won 22 games and went dancing last season. While the Trojans might have an uphill climb of sorts under Howard, most expect them to face touch competition from the league’s other perennial title contenders like South Alabama (21-12, 11-7 SBC/T-second), James Madison (18-15, 9-9 SBC/T-eighth) and Appalachian State (19-13, 11-7 SBC /T-second), who have all built some continuity under their respective head coaches.
Richie Riley’s Jaguars were an NIT participant last season after getting an unceremonious snub in 2025. USA finished in that amazing six-way tie for second place in the league standings a year ago at 11-7 in league play. Despite returning no starters from a year ago, the foundation laid and the winning culture established by Riley in eight years in Mobile figures to be enough to keep USA atop the league this season. Keeping continuity and sustaining success while having a coaching change due to a culture of winning are rarely, if ever, seen in college hoops nowadays, especially at the mid-major level, which is dominated by constant turnover.
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However, James Madison has been able to do that under Preston Spradlin, who replaced Mark Byington when he left for the Vanderbilt job in the spring of 2024. The Dukes are 38-27 in two seasons under Spradlin and figure to be very much in the mix again after a bit of a down year in 2025-26, which saw the Dukes struggle to a 9-9 mark in league play, which was in a tie for eighth.
One of the reasons to be optimistic about the Dukes being right in the thick of the league race this season is the addition of guard Gage Lattimore from North Carolina Central. He was an All-MEAC selection last season and averaged 16.6 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 2.4 APG. Lattimore has two years of eligibility remaining. He also connected on 82 threes at an impressive 39.2% clip from deep.
Arkansas State (20-12, 11-7 SBC/T-second) started on a similar track of success as that of the JMU Dukes, with Ryan Pannone able to sustain that winning culture at least for the time being in Jonesboro. If anything, the Red Wolves looked to play a tick faster last season. According to KenPom, the Red Wolves ranked 10th in adjusted offensive tempo (72 possessions per game) and ranked seventh in average possession time (15.7 seconds). They led the SBC in scoring offense (82.9 PPG) and ranked sixth in the league in overall field goal percentage (45.1%) and ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (33.3%).
But it’s the defensive end of the floor where things must improve for Arkansas State this season. The Red Wolves ranked 11th in scoring defense (77.8 PPG) and eighth in overall field goal percentage defense (43.7%) in league-only games last season.
The middle of the Sun Belt is anyone’s guess with Marshall (19-13, 11-7 SBC/T-second), Louisiana (11-22, 7-11 SBC/T-11th) and Coastal Carolina (19-13, 11-7/T-second) being among the teams ready to pounce should one of those top teams falter. Justin Gray’s Chanticleers were certainly one of the “feel good” stories in the Sun Belt last season. They rebounded to win 19 games in Gray’s second season at the helm after winning just 10 games in 2024-25.
Marshall leaned on an offense that loved to get up and down and shoot a lot of threes last season, but when it came to rebounding, the Thundering Herd regarded it as optional rather than a priority, and that ultimately proved costly. Marshall was also among the glut of teams in that log-jam tied for second last season. Ultimately, the Herd must defend better, which includes rebounding as a major aspect of that equation. The Thundering Herd ranked 316th nationally in defensive rebounding last season.
Louisiana got the post-Bob Marlin era off to a bit of an underwhelming start under the leadership of first-year head coach Quannas White, as the Ragin’ Cajuns finished the season with just an 11-22 mark. Things figure to go a little better this time around, as Jamyron Keller returns after lighting it up for 17 PPG in his first season after transferring in from Oklahoma State.
It’s hard not to pick Appalachian State near the top of the Sun Belt every season after Dustin Kerns has established himself as one of the most consistent winners in the SBC during his seven seasons in the High Country of Boone, N.C. He built a culture at App State, which has taken time and care, making sure to include part of the program’s foundational core, which is a legacy that dates back to the late 1970s and early 80s under legendary head coach Bobby Cremins. In 2024, Kerns was instrumental in having Darryl Robinson — one of the key cogs of the Mountaineers’ first NCAA Tournament teams in 1978-79 — have his jersey retired. Kerns has a unit that has plenty of pieces who could fit into a somewhat unlikely title contender by season’s end. Expect former Georgia Southern Eagle turned Mountaineer guard Eren Banks to take a giant step forward and become a reliable offensive weapon this season for the Black and Gold.
As unlikely as it may seem, Southern Miss might have the league’s top player in Isaac Tavares (15.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG), but the problem is everything around Tavares. USM won 19 games last season but was trucked by Houston Christian in a recent exhibition in a 29-point loss, which is a bit of a concern heading into the season.
Old Dominion heads into year three under Mike Jones longing to see some semblance of progress. Another former Georgia Southern Eagle could have a big year at a rival program as Adante’ Holiman is a jet-quick guard that is a problem-causer. The 5-foot-11 point guard averaged 16.8 PPG back in 2024-25 with the Eagles. He then went to Arizona State last season but did not make an appearance.
Now he’s back in the Sun Belt, looking to lead a Monarch resurgence. The addition of Holiman certainly helps soften the blow of losing 32 points from its backcourt from a year ago in Jordan Battle (15.4 PPG) and Ketron Shaw (16.8 PPG).
Louisiana Tech was one of the better defensive teams last season, and that would be enough to help the Bulldogs finish the season with 20 wins, but with virtually all the offensive production gone, there are more questions than answers surrounding head coach Talvin Hester’s team entering the 2026-27 season.
Wing guard Jaylen Fenner (5.5 PPG) is the lone starter returning from a year ago for the Bulldogs, and he will team up with JUCO transfer Deven Bates in the backcourt, which should give the Bulldogs a great offensive asset in Bates, while Fenner should again be among the league’s top perimeter defenders.
Georgia State is a program in transition, and with three rather dismal years under head coach Jonas Hayes, it was time for a change in Atlanta for the one-time perennial hardwood power in the Sun Belt under Lefty Driesell. The coach tabbed to replace Hayes also comes from basketball royalty: Jon Cremins, the nephew of former Georgia Tech and College of Charleston head coach Bobby Cremins. He is the latest from that old College of Charleston staff under Cremins to garner a head coaching position, joining Andrew Wilson (VMI), Byington (Vanderbilt) and Kyle Perry (Converse).
Cremins spent time working under Perry at USC Upstate. He was also a part of Byington’s staffs at both James Madison and Vanderbilt. Now, for the first time since leading then-JUCO Spartanburg Methodist to a 55-11 mark in two seasons (2015-17), he will have a chance to try his hand at being a head coach once again. It’s effectively an entirely new roster for Cremins, and his best “get” from the transfer portal is 6-foot-2 guard Jacob Meyer, who starred at both Coastal Carolina and UAB prior to arriving in Atlanta. Meyer is a preseason Sun Belt First-Team pick after averaging 12.4 PPG and 3.8 RPG last season for the Blazers.
Like Georgia State, another program ready to make its charge towards recovery this season is Louisiana Monroe under the direction of first-year head coach Ryan Cross. Phil Cunningham lasted just one season in Monroe, and after winning a dismal four games overall and only one league game, it was time for a second coaching change in as many seasons.
Cross arrives to the rescue from UAB, where he was part of Andy Kennedy’s staff, helping the Blazers to the postseason in four of the past six seasons, which included a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. Cross is no stranger to Monroe, however, having already spent eight seasons there from 2012-20 with the last two as the Associate Head Coach. He helped the Warhawks to three of its winningest seasons since joining the Sun Belt Conference. He has an entirely new roster highlighted by guard Dayjaun Anderson, who transferred in from Charleston.
All-Conference Team
First Team
F — Peyton Law (South Alabama)
G — Dallas Gardner (Georgia Southern)
G — Jacob Meyer (Georgia State)
G — Isaac Tavares (Southern Miss)
F — Noah Otshudi (Marshall)
Second Team
G — Eren Banks (Appalachian State)
G — Tameron Ferguson (Arkansas State)
G — Trey Perry (Coastal Carolina)
G — Gage Lattimore (James Madison)
G — Jamyron Keller (Louisiana)
Third Team
G — Adante’ Holiman (Old Dominion)
G — Jalen Langsy (South Alabama)
F — Boubacar Djigo (Marshall)
F — Truman Clayton IV (Georgia Southern)
F — Preston Fowler (James Madison)
Player of the Year: Peyton Law (South Alabama)
Newcomer of the Year: Jacob Meyer (Georgia State)
Best Pure Scorer: Isaac Tavares (Southern Miss)
Regular-Season Champion: South Alabama
NCAA Tournament Prediction/SBC Tournament Champion: Arkansas State
NIT: South Alabama
Dark Horses: Georgia Southern and Coastal Carolina
