Bracketology 2024: Eastern Kentucky, Colgate, and James Madison among favorites at the start of Champ Week

Sun Belt March 5, 7, 9-11

Of the four leagues in this column, the Sun Belt Conference is the only one that has landed multi-bids in a single year. Middle Tennessee State made the field as an at-large and went to the First Four and lost to Saint Mary’s and Western Kentucky won the conference tournament earning a No. 16 seed and a shot at Kansas. They gave the Jayhawks all they could handle, eventually falling 64-57.

The Sun Belt also boasts the best seeding average of the conferences in this piece with a 12.9. The league can also lay claim to two wins in the last 10 years with No. 14 Georgia State shocking Baylor in 2015 and No. 12 Little Rock knocking off Purdue the following year.

This year could be another strong seeding year for the Sun Belt with Appalachian State and James Madison are separated by one game heading into the final games of the regular season. Both schools have very strong resumes with a combined 3-1 quad 1 record. James Madison began the season by beating Michigan State in overtime, a win that has remained strong throughout the year. Appalachian State has a 2-0 record in quad 1, owning wins over Auburn and James Madison.

If either of these two win the conference tournament they could end up as high as a No. 12 seed, if third-place Troy gets the bid they could end up on the 14 line, but anyone else will likely be lower than that.