12. Louisiana Monroe War Hawks
2016-17 season result: 9-24 (2-16) – No postseason
Monroe finished at the bottom of the conference standings with a bunch of seniors on the team. The good news is that Travis Munnings, a potential All-Conference performer, will be the leader of this team. The bad news is that he has next to no help around him. They won just two games last year in league play and that sounds about right for this year.
11. Arkansas Little Rock Trojans
2016-17 season result: 15-17 (6-12) – No postseason
No team in the Sun Belt lost more from graduation last year than the Trojans. The only team who does not return a double-digit scorer, fans of the program will have to have as low of expectations as possible.
One aspect of the Sun Belt is the constant fluctuation of all the teams in the standings. Teams at the top rarely stay there for long and vice versa. Little Rock hopes that’s the case for them because a steep drop will happen this time around.
10. Appalachian State Mountaineers
2016-17 result: 9-21 (4-14) – No postseason
The Mountaineers have one of the most exciting players in the conference with junior Ronshad Shabazz. The problem for this team is that, similar to Louisiana Monroe, it’s one star player with no one else to help out. Unless that changes, its another bottom-tier finish for App State.