CONFUSION: Sun Belt Misses MASSIVE Opportunity With Botched Bracket Reveal—Is There Still HOPE?

0:00That was one messy Sunbelt tiebreaker and that's after we know what the bracket is. Lockdown Sunbelt. You are a Lockdown Sunbelt, your daily podcast on the Sunbelt Conference. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. All right Dave, show us Lockdown Sunbelt, your teams every day today's episode brought to you by Fandall. Fandall is giving you a way to turn that energy into bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. Head to Fandall.com to get started. All right, we will get to baseball. Huge Southern Miss Sweep over La Tech. We sort of saw that coming because La Tech had been tested yet and South Alabama sweeps, ULM sweeps, Arkansas State sweeps. It was a good weekend for some of the Sunbelt teams, not so good for others. We got to that. But obviously the big news came down Friday night into Saturday morning was the Sunbelt

1:03Tournament bracket and everybody trying to figure out what the tiebreakers were. All right. And it's very strange. They discussed it and still aren't 100% sure, right? Karen, she went through it and Kelly D'Amfouci, the president of Texas State giving Karen all the credit she so richly deserves and she's still not 100%. That president, radio voice of AppState, he tweeted out the tiebreaker and what did he say? I said so convoluted that I managed to get it right, get the right outcome with the wrong procedures. All right. So a few things in this and we will get to the bracket. Let me, you know, you can go see what Matt president did. He did it late Friday night into, well, probably late Friday night as it turns out since he was in central time.

2:03Let's see if we can, I did bring this up here. There we go. So that's what Matt did. I know he can't see it on the screen, but you can go tweet, you can find it on his, on his Twitter feed. But he broke down the records of all the teams versus each other. All right. And eventually we will get to the actual bracket, which is right there. All right. So we had, as I mentioned, you know, in Saturday's episode and then on the, excuse me, on Saturday's episode. And then on the quick video, right, we give it up to T three bracket, apology and Rocco Miller for trying as it is very convoluted. All right. As we're not exactly sure, maybe even the sun doesn't get a perfectly correct. But what I understood was basically you get the six teams. And you got to find teams that they, the highest teams that they played against in the standings. So we went from Troy, but not everybody played Troy.

3:03We go all the way down to the 9C. What's your record against Southern Miss and JMU? Seriously, that's how they determine the tie break. At least that's how they started. That is a little bit off. We got six teams and we're talking about how we did against these two, which are worse than all the teams ahead of them. That's how they figured out the tie breaker. That's, that was, that's problem A, B, a huge missed opportunity by the Sunbelt. If you are on social media, and I know we're all in our little bubble. But it's not just, you know, the, the, the local basketball guys. It was the national media. It was focused on the Sunbelt because wrapping up it before everybody, you know, almost before everybody else. And the bracket was going to be the first tournament bracket out Friday night Saturday morning. And they missed it. They should have had a show to go with the reveal of the bracket.

4:06NCAA does that. But why not have that. As you have a huge studio, right? One of the biggest complaints that we get with the Sunbelt Commerce tournament coming up this week is. Mass Stewart and company are not in the arena. They're in the studios in New Orleans, right? The Sunbelt broadcasters, it gets up to like ESPN 2 or ESPN U for the championship game. Those guys are in the arena in Pensacola, right? And so you have this great studio and facilities. And you don't use it when you can. You could have even milked it for all that. Right? So you released the bracket 1220. No, I'm sorry. It was would have been 1245 AM Eastern time. Because it was posted, believe on the Sunbelt website or the Sunbelt.

5:07Social media at 1145 Central time. So you could have sent out a press release. We will do a quick video. 10 AM Eastern time 9 AM Central breaking down the tiebreakers and tell you how we got to where we got. What a huge missed opportunity. Because that would have gotten a ton of publicity. And you could have had a great opportunity to put the Sunbelt in a positive light. Usually, sadly, it is not a positive light. Right? JMU is making the college football playoff. Everyone's complaining. Well, not everybody. But so many people are complaining that JMU should not be in the playoff or too late for that. All right. And so you got this wild and wacky potential seven way tiebreaker, which was never really potential. Because Troy wasn't going to lose to ULM. And so, but now you've finished with a six way tiebreaker in second,

6:09and you miss the opportunity to show off your tiebreaker system. And maybe it's not as convoluted as you think. Just a huge swing and miss by the Sunbelt. Right? That they really had an opportunity to be the focus of college basketball for the better of 12 to 14 hours. It doesn't sound like very long, but when was the last time they were that? Like, Ron Hunter Jr. and Ron Hunter winning a ball game. I mean, JMU and a ball game a couple years ago. That's pretty good. So maybe that's when the last time they were, but that's in the middle of the NCAA tournament. They had it to themselves. All right. So, I'm going to post the bracket here, and then I got to post it to where I can see it. Let's see. There we go. All right. But no way I can see that. Probably you guys can't see it. But we can kind of go over together.

7:09I still can't see it. Okay. There we go. All right. All right. So you got Troy and Marshall, which ends up being the winner of that whole thing because they still lost and still were only the second seed. So they're not playing until Sunday. All right. So app state is the four seed. They're on Troy side coastal Carolina, the three seed on a Marshall side in coastal Carolina. What a great win. Josh Beatles step back jumper. Maybe even with a spin move in the lane. He gets coastal Carolina over JMU. All right. The big loser on Saturday or on Friday into Saturday with South Alabama. All right. With Marshall losing. They had a chance to get to the number two seed. I didn't think they were going to lose in their four home games. They lost twice. So they got what they deserved as it turns out. That's that's nobody's fault. As far as Arkansas state is concerned as South Alabama is six and Texas state,

8:10which beat app they got to five. But Arkansas state. They're the ones. Who you know 11 and seven tied for second all the way down to seventh. Now the four point play as it turns out against South Alabama is the difference between them being seventh. And then being I believe second. That's crazy. All right. And so, you know, and then you got Southern Miss who had a nice win against South Alabama. James Madison was hot their ninth Georgia Southern 10th. They had a big win. Not a good matchup with Marshall apparently. And then you got. Cajun's 12 Georgia state. I can't see it. Georgia state 13. Old Dominion is 11 in ULM 14. All right. So we're going to eliminate. We'll see if James Madison can win more than one game.

9:10They're going to place Southern Miss winable ballgame if they win. All right. So they're miss is going up against Texas state. All right. Texas state very good at home. Not so good away. We'll see how that plays. All right. And then so Texas state's going to app state. And then app state. You know takes on Troy. If that works its way out the other way is going to be much more difficult. Okay. Arkansas state is going to have to play the winner. We'll just say of Georgia Southern. We'll say they play Georgia Southern. Arkansas. I'll take the over that one. Arkansas state will win that. And then Arkansas state knockoff South Alabama. They lost to him twice. But both times they probably should have won. And then Arkansas state would be playing their third game in three days. Can they take down the three seed coastal Carolina? That's where I would look for an upset. I don't think that. I'm not sure they can make the run all the way to the end. That that I don't I do not think is going to happen.

10:10That's just one too many ball games. But I would watch that big upset Arkansas state over coastal Carolina. Right. I don't think Texas State beating app is that big of an upset. But I'm not sure that's going to happen anyway. All right. I think the Troy side is much easier than the Marshall side. All right. I think Arkansas state can win a little a few games. South Alabama could win a few games. Coastal Carolina could win a few games. And Marshall is already at the number two seed. All right. So that's what I think. Well, what do you guys think as we do this? And we'll have a pick later on before it starts. We should have Matt Stewart on Tuesday's episode. I mean, I'm probably going to pick chalk. In fact, in fact, as far as Troy goes, I think Troy is probably going to win the tournament. Let me know what you guys think.

11:10And we'll go on from there. All right. Again, we're hoping to have. We could have some logistical issues, but we're hoping to have Matt Stewart on. Once he settles in New Orleans later today. And we'll have him on for Tuesday's episode. All right. Meanwhile, Southern Miss in baseball sweeps LaTac big series for the Golden Eagles. Number one in more Nolan's RPI. Talk about that. Next after I tell you. About Fandool and indeed. College basketball is nonstop big games tight spreads momentum swings every single night. From early tip offs to late night, West Coast shootouts. There's always action on the board. And now, Fandool is giving away to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins. College basketball parlay profit boost. You can build any college you parlay you want, rivalry games, rank matchups, whatever fits your needs.

12:11You can mix spreads, totals and player props to match how you see the slate play out. Then you can apply the profit boost and instantly bump the entire bump up the potential payout. Go safe, go bold, ride with the team. You've been following all season. It should parlay your style now with more upside behind it. Head to Fandool.com to get started. That's Fandool.com. Fandool, play your game. And indeed. Workplace chaos, deadline second up, inbox overflowing. And the one position you have to fill still sitting on when the pressure's on and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsor jobs. Indeed sponsor jobs helps you reach the people you actually fit when you're looking for skills experience location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's a stat that says it all. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours make 27 hires on Indeed. According to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates, but check all your boxes with indeed sponsored jobs.

13:13Then less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates, but check all of your boxes, less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to help get your job, the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. So let's go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply need to hire this is job for indeed sponsored jobs. All right, Dave shows locked on Sunbelt. Your teams every day. Let me before we go to the baseball tell you about the everyday club. Thank you for making locked on Sunbelt your first listen to the day and thank you for making locked on the number one sports podcast network.

14:13You already live Sunbelt sports every day. Now take it up a level and go ahead free. Join the everyday club today and get locked on Sunbelt with no interruptions all for just $5 a month or $50 a year. Go to lockdownsunbelt.supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. All right, Dave Schultz locked on Sunbelt your teams every day. All right, what a week it was. It was not a great weekend for the Sunbelt to be honest with you. In baseball coach Carolina took it on the chin. They did rebound to win Sunday to make travel somewhat bearable back home. But it was a really good weekend for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. All right, when we started looking at who La Tech had played and then played anybody. We're kind of looking like this was going to be a series win for Southern Miss. And you know, after La Tech let the first game get away, the rest of the series got away. Southern Miss bullpen did not allow a run in the series.

15:18It was outstanding. All right, Friday night Southern Miss takes them down eight out to three. All right, and then Lane Boros goes show up tomorrow. We'll rebound. And then Saturday 11 nothing. All right. Easy win for Southern Miss with other shout out. Well, we're going to find out what we're made of says Lane Boros of La Tech. And they did find out what they made of. They lost a six to two. Again, what is it with these coaches who go after their players and fans like Lane Boros is like. Jump off the bandwagon if you want, but we got a bunch of good players. And we work hard and we'll figure this out. Hey, they may have lost to a top 10 team this season. When we all look back on it and he's like, well, we lost to Southern Miss, but they're six to the nation. Well, they're pretty good.

16:19So, you know, settle down a little bit. Second thing is, why are you yelling at the fans? Why are you threatening the fans? I don't get it. Just say, Southern Miss is really good. And we're going to try and figure things out. Sometimes when you play good teams early, it shows you what our weaknesses are. And we've got a chance to improve on those weaknesses or attempt to fix those weaknesses. So it is that it's a weird thing. These coaches are going after their players, their fans. Nobody can come after the coaches. Crazy. All right. Having said that, after Friday night's win, Southern Miss was number one and more known as RPI ranked. It's a great spot. You're going to get it here. We've got one more week of out of conference play. And then you're going to start to get conference play. So what's going to happen is that RPI is going to come down because you're playing other RPI,

17:21you're playing other RPI teams that are not particularly high. All right. So that's going to happen. And if you lose one, you're going to fall a little bit. But somewhere along the way, they're going to start talking about Southern Miss being a national seed. That talk, if it hasn't already started, is going to talk pretty soon, right? Like, forget about regional host. It's going to go through them to get to a super regional. We don't want to talk about last year. Sorry. Not going to talk about last year. So that's what's going to, that talk is going to start to happen. Obviously, as Nick Saber would say, and other people say rat poison. But that talk will start. All right. It's a little early now. I get it. A little early now. But a great job by Southern Miss. To go into a lot of tech at a team that was ready for them. And really not make the series very close at all.

18:23I think that was a really good job by Southern Miss. Who do they have? Let's see who. Well, Southern Miss. They have a huge ball game. Huge ball game this weekend or this week, right? They're playing Mississippi State tomorrow. They get Mississippi State at home, by the way. Not a whole lot of juice in that one. You see, Mississippi State, they, they pull it off. Oh, no, they didn't, they lost, they lost UCLA. They blew it late and then lost eight to seven. That's Mississippi State's first loss. So not like they're going to be in a good mood. But again, baseball is not one of those games where you can try harder, like basketball or football or hockey. You still have to stay relaxed and execute because if you get two pumped up, you overthrow it or swing the bad pitches type of deal. So that's a big ball game. Another great RPI chance for Southern Miss to solidify that.

19:25You know, and who do they have? Let me see who they got this weekend. They got Lipscomb and see that's going to be the thing. No, that's Mississippi State, sorry. Wrong schedule. They got North Alabama, which is, they got Nichols in the North Alabama, which is better than Lipscomb actually. Lipscomb right now is ranked to 60. North Alabama is a one 60. Then they get Ole Miss in a week and then they're playing Arkansas state, which knows where there be. They're off to a great start as well. They got a 90 RPI and they're off to a tremendous start. Mike Selma absolutely has the Red Wolves competing so far this year. So we'll see how that goes. All right. All right. Let's talk about the rest of the good that was in the Sun Belt baseball will add a little bit of the bad as well because it is what it is. But South Alabama and ULM had weekend sweeps as well. We'll do that right after I tell you about Robin Hood.

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21:48I don't know why I feel like I'm dehydrated. We talked about these good series wins, like Southern Miss, two weekends ago, Baylor, Purdue, Oregon state. And now La Tech, who was 12 at the time. I can't imagine La Tech is falling now much to be honest with you. They fall because they lost. They failed. They fell to 21. That's not bad because they're playing number one Southern Miss. Okay. On the other hand, South Alabama was playing West Georgia. West Georgia coming into today's action was one and a ten. You can't lose to a West Georgia. You just can't. Even if you take two out of three,

22:49it's going to hurt you down the road. As much as those wins, that Southern Miss has, and that's going to help all year long, and the beating of Arkansas, my Arkansas state, and Troy Beach, Georgia, and Georgia State Beach, Georgia Tech. Those things are so huge. All season long. And so the same stands when you lose to a West Georgia. So South Alabama right now, sitting at 141. All right. But where? West Georgia, sitting at 297. So they 174. They've run rule from 21 to 6, and they eaked out a total victory. A really important win on Sunday in the ninth inning.

23:49All right. They got a sack fly. I think it was Nathan Wood coming off the bench to provide the game winning play. All right. So really important to win that ball game, because I would have been hanging over their head for a long time. But we're all season as it turns out. They get you AB and now coming into South Alabama next weekend. It's going to be Louisiana Tech. So we're going to find out a lot about both teams. Louisiana Tech and South Alabama was Louisiana Tech a little bit of a fraud. How good is South Alabama? All right. And now Louisiana Tech has to do it on the road. So that's where Southern Miss is going to get bonus points for beating a lot of tech on the road. All right. There may be a little bit of Southern Miss rooting for a lot of tech. Actually, I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm presuming South Alabama and Southern Miss play each other. Right. Yeah. That is that is in mobile end of April. All right.

24:49So that will be a huge series of the 24th, 25th and 26th. Okay. All right. Meanwhile, how about you? I'm Ford Pervanton has the war hawks at eight and five. They are the second hottest team. In the sundown, only Southern Miss is 110 in a row. ULM has one six in a row. All right. They lost two out of three last weekend. Into my history classic, but they'd be gambling beat Alcorn State. And again, beat Western Illinois. And you got to beat those teams because they're sitting at 261. All right. They get a couple of games with a southeastern. And then they're playing former Sunbelt foe, a UTA before opening up with a Texas state. So again, these are very winnable ball games. They get southeastern is coming into Monroe. They're going to UTA. They're going to Arlington.

25:49To play the Mavericks. Not quite as easy. What can you take two out of three from UTA? All right. Arkansas State had the sweep there off. Two of them to start. They are 90th. RPI. All right. They are nine and three. I think they played Western or the Arkansas. A Pinewolf. The law tech is already playing the sundaels. All right. They get Arkansas. They get law tech on Tuesday and Wednesday. So on a side note. Usually and people have mentioned this. Craig Steven mentioned Steven Sin. But others have mentioned it that usually the Sunbelt announces their football schedule somewhere around March 1st. We're waiting for a lot of tech to figure out their issues with comfort USA. There's lots of going on. Comfort USA wants more money than a lot of tech wants to give them. There wasn't quite enough leeway legally.

26:49And so they're trying to work it out. Obviously, Comfort USA is trying to milk a lot of tech for more money. That's basically what it is. Okay. We do think I saw Sean Fox who we do hope gets better. I mean, I know he's hard headed. There was no reason to test that theory. But he tweeted out that. From his understanding, everything is going forward with Louisiana Tech. Playing in the Sunbelt and football in 2026. The athletic program joining it for 2627. All right. Slight the lay on the schedule. Because that will happen. And again, we are wishing Sean Fox went a little bit of tumble. And. Enter themself. So get well soon. Foxy. All right. All right. So Arkansas state. Is off to a tremendous start. And they're drawing some fans are sitting records. Doesn't sound like a lot, but. They bring it in 1200. They're talking about bringing an extra seating. What a nice problem to have. All right. They have to go. They got to play a lot of tech at home. Then they're going to Tulsa to play oral Roberts or Roberts 165.

27:50They're playing Little Rock. And guess who Arkansas state opens up. This song I'll come play with. They're opening up against other miss. Let me see what that series is. Because. Then you're going to find out how quickly Arkansas state is going to find out. If they're ready to hang with Southern miss. And that is in Arkansas. That is in Jonesboro. So Southern miss opening up on the road. Big, big series to set the tone. In the Sunday. On the other side of things. Did not go well for coastal Carolina. They lost two out of three. They lost Friday and Saturday. Because two starters are out. They did bounce back on Sunday, which again is a nice bounce back. It makes you feel so much better. Winning that Sunday ballgame compared to losing it. And. You know, it's a tournament. But sometimes you win the first two ballgames. And you don't feel good coming back when you lose Sunday, which is. It's kind of strange. But I guess that's the way that it is. So maybe coastal Carolina can turn around. We'll see.

28:50The Cajuns had a good weekend. Forgot them. They won. Two out of three against UC San Diego. Andrew Herman had a one hitter. 117 pitches. 13 strikeouts. And. They held on. They did a good job holding on. UC San Diego came back with a run in the eighth. Two on. And. Nobody out. Got one run home. Then they had two on in the ninth. And they couldn't push across the tying or go ahead. Run. So. The Cajuns also. In a good spot. RBI wise early on in the season. They're sitting at 14. That's impressive. Okay. Have state. Got swept. Not great. A couple of walkoffs. They had chances. They had chances to win. They, I think they did a good job of tying things up on Sunday. But. They lost. It's a gardener web. Yeah. It was gardener web. Who's in the top 40.

29:50But they lost seven to six in 10 innings. They lost 11 to 10. And they lost eight seven in 11 innings. Ouch. That's. That can spiral out of control. Hopefully. It does not. All right. And Marshall. I need to find this out. Let's go to the. Box score. Marshall. They had a big. Well, they had the series with against a Butler. But. They set a record for strikeouts, I believe, in that ballgame. 14 strikeouts. For. Collins. Who didn't even finish the game? Under 19 pitches. So Kenyan Collins. I went eight in a third innings.

30:52And set a record of 14. Strikeouts. Give up one run on four hits. Couple of walks while pitch hit better. But still pretty efficient. 119 pitches. Andrew Herman had that. 117 pitch performance. So, all right. So, obviously, a lot. Lot of tech is going to be featured a lot. Over the next couple of weeks. Southern misplay. Mississippi State. Huge ballgame on Tuesday. So we'll look forward to that. And. I'm landing late and not working on Wednesday. So hopefully I can see. See some of that. I think it was a seven p.m. Eastern time or maybe central time. So we want the that crowds. Pete Taylor. Field is going to be packed. And on a side note. I think I met Pete Taylor's son or grandson. Teachers at STM in. And I met him.

31:53Somewhere. Somewhere along the way. That's. I know where I met him. Berb and honey. What a shocker. But. I met him this weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Real. I'm a retailer. That's awesome. All right. So. We got the Sombal Converse tournament. Starting on Tuesday. All right. Off on Wednesday. By the way. Following. Tuesday. Wednesday. I'm going to be on Tuesday. The following week. Tuesday Wednesday. Marshall baseball. Is coming to me. They're playing legal. And I just happen to be off. It's a three p.m. game in 11 a.m. game. Normally, I wouldn't have a chance to see any of that. Outside the game lasted more than two and a half hours. So. We're looking forward to that. All right. Also, by the way, we made it. Finally, 2,900 subscribers. Really appreciate that. Looking forward to this baseball season. Basketball season is wrapping up. is wrapping up. Again, I'm probably picking Troy. We can do the whole bracket, but I'm picking

32:53Troy to witness. I'm not sure. I think Arkansas State can do a little damage, but I'd be surprised if it's anybody but Troy standing at the end. All right. And we'll see if Sen comes back for Troy. All right. Thank you so much for tuning in. All right. I'm making I'm still one more day here and we'll two more I guess in Baton Rouge as we're going to see more northeastern baseball and mind or eastern hustings. All right. We will talk to you guys again on probably do preview on Monday morning. All right. Have a great day everybody. We'll talk to you again soon. You've been watching Lockdown Sunbelt, your teams every day. Have a good one.