Sunbelt Wrap-up

UNTLifer · March 10, 2003

Tim MacMahon: Sun Belt sees star-crossed season ending

03/10/2003

Tim MacMahon

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — This was supposed to be the season the Sun Belt broke its streak of being a one-bid league.

So said Louisiana-Lafayette coach Jesse Evans at the league’s preseason media days, the implication being his Ragin’ Cajuns and two-time defending champ Western Kentucky would both be good enough to earn an at-large invite to the Big Dance.

Imagine Evans’ embarrassment in having to explain the his team’s immediate exit from the Sun Belt Tournament, the result of Denver’s upset of the West’s top seed Saturday.

"Rustiness was definitely a factor," Evans said, referring to the long layoff his team had because of its first-round bye.

Funny, the rest of the Sun Belt’s No. 1 seeds over the last 20 years somehow overcame the lengthy rest to win at least one game.

But it’s fitting that the Ragin’ Cajuns ruined the possibility of a rematch of last season’s title game with Western Kentucky — this time in the Hilltoppers’ house. This season certainly hasn’t unfolded as planned for the Sun Belt.

Louisiana-Lafayette’s 20-win campaign is symbolic of the season as a whole for the Sun Belt. There are plenty of positives to point to, but there is a strong sense of letdown.

The league’s Sagarin rating (14) and RPI (15) are better than last season’s. But with Western Kentucky ranked in the preseason and nine teams returning at least four starters, the Sun Belt expected to create a significant buzz in early March. The league hasn’t, however, done anything to distinguish itself from other middle-of-the-road mid-major leagues.

"We made a good year out of what could be a great year," Sun Belt commissioner Wright Waters said.

There were several preseason signs that the Sun Belt would be star-crossed this season.

Western Kentucky star center Chris Marcus wasn’t recovered from the ankle injury that led him to withdraw from the NBA Draft. He ended up limping through limited minutes in four December games before heeding the advice of doctors to shut it down for a while. (To make matters worse, junior forward/center Todor Pandov suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Hilltoppers’ season-opening loss at top-ranked Arizona.)

Some of the best players on two of the league’s better teams — center Michael Southall of Louisiana-Lafayette and forward James Moore and center Chris Jackson of New Mexico State — were ineligible until the second semester because of grades. Florida International forward Taurance Johnson, a budding star like Southall, was suspended and eventually dismissed from the team.

And sadly, other stars joined Marcus as seniors whose college careers ended on tragic notes. North Texas swingman Chris Davis narrowly missed becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer, as he suffered through the Mean Green’s collapse after running mate Leonard Hopkins went down with a broken foot. New Orleans forward Hector Romero, the league’s reigning player of the year, tore his ACL and was forced to watch the last couple of weeks from the bench.

With its top competition eliminated, it would be anti-climactic to watch Western Kentucky win its third consecutive Sun Belt Tournament title. But that’s exactly what the league needs. The Hilltoppers, who have a nation-long 37-game home winning streak, will sell out E.A. Diddle Arena, making a very positive impact on the Sun Belt’s image to a nationwide TV audience.

Western Kentucky, which has managed to win 22 games in a season that has disappointed its diehards, is also the only team in the league that has a legitimate shot to be a tourney sleeper. But the Hilltoppers, a smallish team that could use a boost of athleticism, won’t be going anywhere in my brackets.

Assuming its one and done in the Big Dance, the Sun Belt certainly shouldn’t be ashamed of its season. It just would have been nice to take a big step forward.