Busting Brackets
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Sun Belt Basketball: Georgia State leads the favorites for 2019 Tournament

By TJ Miller

JACKSONVILLE, FL - MARCH 19: The Georgia State Panthers celebrate after the Panthers win 57-56 against the Baylor Bears in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 19, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL - MARCH 19: The Georgia State Panthers celebrate after the Panthers win 57-56 against the Baylor Bears in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on March 19, 2015 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

Bracketology

Who can forget 2015 when 14 seed Georgia State upset Baylor with a three near the buzzer by coach’s son RJ Hunter? And then there was the perhaps slightly less memorable but equally impressive upset Little Rock pulled off over Purdue in the 12/5 game the very next year. Two NCAA Tournament wins in the last four seasons is more than several conferences can bring to the table when it comes to track record in March.

With that said, the last couple seasons the Sun Belt has been given just a15 seed. Obviously, the seed line will largely come down to how things shake down in the Sun Belt tournament. But according to the NET rankings, Georgia Southern sits at 120, with Georgia State and Texas State following closely behind at 126 and 130. If one of these three teams claims the conference tourney championship, a No. 14 seed would probably be the best hope for the Sun Belt representative according to our Busting Brackets’ projected field. If things get crazy in New Orleans, a run by a worse-seeded team could mean a No. 15 seed or worse for the Sun Belt representative.

Louisiana and UTA generated a little at-large buzz in prior years but the Sun Belt will be sending just one team to the NCAA Tournament this season. Winning a game once there will obviously be a tall task. But the Sun Belt has manufactured magic in March before and there’s always a chance it could happen again.