Sun Belt Halts Expansion For Now

The annual Sun Belt Conference spring meetings have adjourned as the presidents, athletic directors, and coaches have returned to their respective schools. 

Let's recap the action.

Texas-Arlington should be Orange, non-football member

 - The addition of Texas-Arlington as a non-football member

A good move that was expected and gives the Belt an even 12 teams for basketball and other sports.  Starting July 1st, 2013 the division breakdown should look something like this...

Sun Belt East: Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, South Alabama, Troy, Western Kentucky

Sun Belt West: Arkansas Little-Rock, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas-Arlington, Texas State

- Ending Further Expansion Plans

The Belt announced an evaluation plan that will look into the advantages and disadvantages of having divisional football play and a conference championship game. 

Wait a minute!  What happened to Karl Benson's ambition of wanting a 12-team football conference?

The conference was well on there way to that goal with the additions of Georgia State and Texas State until Conference USA deflated those dreams by swiping North Texas and Florida International for the 2013 season.

So, why is Benson halting expansion when there are strong, established FCS schools out there looking for an FBS invite?  

The strongest, most established FCS programs in the Sun Belt region include Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, both tradition-rich programs with tremendous fan support.  A perfect fit.

Other FCS teams on the list include: Jacksonville State (Alabama), Liberty, and Sam Houston State.

The Belt has expressed no interest in adding WAC's red-headed stepchildren, Idaho and New Mexico State.  That's a great decision, or else Benson would have to create another conference division: Sun Belt B.F.E.

Ah, the ever revolving door of conference realignment, we'll wait and see what transpires.

- Changes to future Sun Belt Championship sites?

The Belt mentioned that championship sites will be announced soon, but are being delayed because they are incorporating a new bidding structure.  

This would lead us to believe that some tournament sites could be changing in the near future.

Could this mark the end of Hot Springs, Arkansas hosting the Sun Belt Conference Basketball Tournament?  

For the sake of humanity, let's hope so.

Texas-Arlington to join Sun Belt Conference

The Sun Belt Conference has scheduled a teleconference for Wednesday morning to announce the addition of Texas-Arlington.

The Mavericks will join the league as a non-football playing member in 2013 and will give the conference  it's 12th team.

Arkansas-Little Rock is the only other school without a football program in the conference.

With the addition of UTA, the Sun Belt will hold a footprint in the Dallas-Fort Worth media market.  Cha-ching.

The Mavericks will spend the upcoming season in the WAC, but will not be punished with an exit fee upon their departure.

However, they will be required to dish out $300,000 in Sun Belt entry fees, but the po$itives clearly outweigh the negatives.

The Mavericks just opened up a swanky new basketball arena (College Park Center) back in February, check out the new digs below:

Sun Belt Meeting Discussion Board

Here we are, the day of the Sun Belt Conference committee meetings taking place in the beautiful sunshine and sand of Destin, FL.

Aside from catching some rays, scarfin' down some crab legs, and knockin' back some accurately mixed margaritas, there is some serious business to attend too.

I'm sensing the Discussion Board looks something like this:

Conference Expansion
- Become a 12-team football conference if we can add Georgia Southern and Appalachian State.
  
If not...


- Remain a 10-team football conference for the time being, add Texas-Arlington as a non-football playing member to have an even 12 members in other sports.

Add Another Bowl-Tie In Game
- Western Kentucky went 7-5 last season, finished second in the conference and was left out of the bowl picture, prevent this from happening again!


- New Orleans and GoDaddy.com are direct tie-in bowls with Beef 'O' Brady's serving as an alternate bowl.


- Negotiate with Beef 'O' Brady's, Independence, and BBVA Compass bowls in hopes of developing a third direct tie-in postseason game. 

- Also, improve alternate positions with secondary bowl games. 

Noon - Lunch 
5 p.m. - Crab legs and drinks 

Interesting to see what news will come out of the meetings in the next couple of days.

Phil Steele's 2012 Preseason All-SBC Teams Loaded With Hilltoppers

1st team slobberknocker: LB Andrew Jackson

The encyclopedia of college football, Phil Steele, has released his annual preseason All-Sun Belt Conference teams which prominently features some Hilltopper flavor.

Now, I'm not big on preseason all-conference teams or polls for that matter, but it does give us an idea of the big ballers that are returning to the Sun Belt and are expected to make an impact.

I'm more of a postseason all-conference team kind of guy, where players are rewarded for "on-field" performance.

However, without further adieu.  *Drumroll*  The WKU big ballers for the 2012 season according to Phil Steele are...

1st team offense:             

TE Jack Doyle                    

C Sean Conway

OG Adam Smith

1st team defense:

DT Jamarcus Allen

DE Quanterus Smith

LB Andrew Jackson

1st team special teams:

KR John Evans

Complete listings of the All-SBC teams can be found here.

Vinny Zollo Transfers To Furman

"Don't Mess Up My Hair!"

Vinny Zollo has been released from his scholarship, free from the handcuffs of APR (Academic Progress Rate) prison and able to pursue a new destination in his hoops career.

Zollo made it official today, via his personal vlog, that he plans to continue his academic and basketball career at Furman.

Just a warning, if you dare watch the video I suggest you grab some popcorn, it's four minutes long.

The freshmen forward averaged 15.3 minutes, 3.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.8 cans of hair gel per game last season for the Hilltoppers.

Zollo's announcement comes on the heels of freshman guard Derrick Gordon choosing UMass as his transfer destination.

Alright, enough about the players that are leaving, let's focus on the players that are joining WKU right here. 

Old Dominion Officially Joins Conference USA

After a few days of pondering and re-evaluating the invitation by Conference USA, Old Dominion has officially accepted the invite, effective 2013.

The decision by the Monarchs temporarily ends the salacious rumors that either WKU or Middle Tennessee would end up in the ever expanding conference if ODU declined their offer.

However, if Conference USA decides to expand to a 16 team league, expect the WKU/MTSU rumors to resurface.

And so the waist size of Conference USA gets bigger with 14 teams that stretch from West Virginia down to Florida and all the way out west to Texas and Oklahoma. 

I'm sensing many planned university fundraisers to expand travel budgets.

Unfortunately, the decision means the Colonial Athletic Association is even more depleted.  

The CAA has now lost Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, and Georgia State during this realignment season.

Calling All Tailgaters and Party People: Home Football Game Times Announced

All the buzz is surrounding the ESPNU nationally televised showdown with Middle Tennessee at the friendly confines of L.T. Smith Stadium on Thursday, November 1st.  

And deservedly so, the thought of potentially laying a back-handed pimp slap to the dome of your arch rival on the ESPN family of networks is enough to get any ol' Hilltopper worked up.

That night will surely be a tailgater's paradise and rest assured the grills will be ablaze and beer will be flowing.  (Drink responsibly and remember don't get too hammered, we are a good team now and entering L.T. Smith Stadium to watch football is actually considered cool.) 

The rest of the home dates and kickoff times of significance include:

Sat, Sep 1st  Austin Peay  6 p.m.

Sat, Sep 22nd  Southern Miss  6 p.m.

Sat, Oct 20th  UL-Monroe  3 p.m.

Thu, Nov 1st  Middle Tennessee  8:15 p.m. (ESPNU)

Sat, Nov 10th  Florida Atlantic  3 p.m.

Sat, Nov 24th  North Texas  Noon