WEEKLY NOTES

NEW ORLEANS – The 2024-25 men's basketball season begins Monday, Nov. 4, with the second season of the MAC-SBC Challenge, pitting 12 men's basketball teams from the Sun Belt against opponents from the Mid-American Conference.

What you should pay attention to:

• MAC SBC CHALLENGE – The Sun Belt won the inaugural men's MAC-SBC Challenge with 15 wins in 24 total games. The MAC won seven home games during the first wave of play in November 2023, but the Sun Belt prevailed with ten home wins in February 2024 contests. Key matchups in the first MAC-SBC Challenge of the 2024-25 season include reigning Sun Belt Tournament champion James Madison hosting 2024-25 MAC preseason favorite Ohio, while reigning MAC tournament champion Akron hosts runner-up of the Sun Belt Tournament and the 2024-25 preseason visits favorite state Arkansas.
  

All times CT

• REARVIEW MIRROR — James Madison won the 2024 Sun Belt Conference basketball title and earned a No. 12 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament, where they became the first Sun Belt team since 2016 to win an NCAA Tournament game by ousting No. 5 seed Wisconsin, 23. , 72-61, in the first round. JMU finished its historic campaign with a Sun Belt record of 32 wins and just four losses. App State won 27 games as the outright Sun Belt season champions and earned a bid to the 2024 National Invitation Tournament (NIT), marking the third consecutive year a Sun Belt team has participated in the event. Arkansas State earned 20 wins, made its first postseason appearance since 1999 and reached the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.
  
• RED WOLVES RECKONING — After reaching the Sun Belt championship game last season, Arkansas State was selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2025 conference title after receiving 12 of a possible 14 first-place votes from the league's head coaches. The preseason hype comes from the return of five players who started at least half of the team's games a year ago, as well as the addition of several notable newcomers poised to take on crucial roles. Under first-year head coach Bryan Hodgson, the Red Wolves won 20 games in the 2023-24 season, including 12 of their last 16 games.
  
• Trust Trojans – Troy was ranked third in the Sun Belt preseason poll and is finishing its third straight year with at least 20 regular-season wins and more than 10 conference victories. The Trojans are the only Sun Belt program to achieve both metrics. Troy's 2024-25 roster features 12 returning players and is returning 66 percent of its points from last season, while the Trojans haven't added a single player from the NCAA transfer portal and haven't lost a player to the portal in the offseason. Troy is led by sophomore forward and 2024 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year Myles Rigsby and senior guard and 2024 Sun Belt Sixth Man of the Year Tayton Conerway. Rigsby was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt First Team, while Conerway was named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Second Team.
  
• SAME FACE, NEW PLACE – Arkansas State redshirt senior forward Kobe Julien, who transferred to the program from conference rival Louisiana, was named the Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year. Julien was selected to the All-Sun Belt Conference Second Team and NABC All-District First Team in 2024 after leading the league in scoring with 17.3 points per game. He scored at least 20 points in 11 different games last season, including eight times against conference opponents.
  
• PARTY IN PENSACOLA – The 2024-25 Sun Belt Conference basketball season culminates with the 2025 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida, March 4-10. On October 24, 2024, the Sun Belt agreed to a five-year extension that will keep the Sun Belt men's and women's basketball championships in Pensacola through the 2029–30 season. The groundbreaking expansion will make Pensacola the longest-reigning (2021-2030) and most frequent (10 times) host site of the Sun Belt Basketball Championships in league history.