The Sun Belt Conference tournament is back.
And so is the format known as “The Gauntlet.”
Four teams tied atop the Sun Belt standings this season with matching 13-5 records in conference play — South Alabama, James Madison, Troy, and Arkansas State — and those four teams have earned byes into deep in the tournament. South Alabama enters as the No. 1 seed in the conference, as they were undefeated against the other three teams this season to secure the tiebreaker advantage. The Jaguars were 2-0 this season against Arkansas State, and notched wins over both Marshall and James Madison. Alabama State, courtesy of the top seed, earned a bye to the Sun Belt semifinals.
The Duke entered last weekend with a chance to clinch the conference title and No. 1 seed outright, but a loss to Texas State on Friday opened the door to the four-way tie atop the conference standings. However, as the No. 2 seed the Dukes still earned a bye to the semifinals.
Troy slots in as the No. 3 seed in the conference, with Arkansas State as the No. 4 seed. Both teams earned byes to the quarterfinals.
On the other end of the standings, the tournament kicks off with No. 12 Southern Miss (10-21) against No. 13 Coastal Carolina (10-21), followed by No. 11 Louisiana (11-21) vs. No. 14 ULM (7-24). If one of those teams is going to punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, they will need to win seven games in seven days.
Here is the bracket, along with the schedule of games.
2025 men’s Sun Belt tournament bracket
2025 men’s Sun Belt tournament schedule
Tuesday, March 4
Game 1: (12) Southern Miss 66, (13) Coastal Carolina 63Game 2: (11) Louisiana 73, (14) ULM 69 (OT)
Wednesday, March 5
Game 3: (9) Georgia Southern 78, (12) Southern Miss 64Game 4: (10) Old Dominion vs. (11) Louisiana – 8:30 p.m. ET [ESPN+]
Thursday, March 6
Game 5: (8) Georgia State vs. (9) Georgia Southern – 6 p.m. ET [ESPN+]Game 6: (7) Texas State vs. Winner Game 4 – 8:30 p.m. ET [ESPN+]
Friday, March 7
Game 7: (5) Marshall vs. Winner Game 5 – 6 p.m. ET [ESPN+]Game 8: (6) App State vs. Winner Game 6 – 8:30 p.m. ET [ESPN+]
Saturday, March 8
Game 9: (4) Arkansas State vs. Winner Game 7 – 6:30 p.m. ET [ESPN+]Game 10: (3) Troy vs. Winner Game 8 – 9 p.m. ET [ESPN+]
Sunday, March 9
Game 11: (1) South Alabama vs. Winner Game 9 – 6 p.m. ET [ESPN+]Game 12: (2) James Madison vs. Winner Game 10 – 8:30 p.m. ET [ESPN+]
Monday, March 10 — Sun Belt Championship Game
Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12 – 7 p.m. ET [ESPN/ESPN2]
