| 2023–24 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball season | |
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| League: | NCAA Division I |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Duration: | November 6, 2023 – March 1, 2024 |
| No Of Teams: | 14 |
| Tv: | ESPN |
| Season: | 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season |
| Season Champs: | Appalachian State |
| Season Champ Name: | Regular season champions |
| League Champ Name: | Tournament Champion |
| Mvp: | Terrence Edwards Jr., James Madison |
| Mvp Link: | Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year |
| Finals: | Tournament |
| Finals Link: | 2024 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament |
| Finals Champ: | James Madison |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Arkansas State |
| Finals Mvp Link: | Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament#Champions by year |
| Seasonslistnames: | Basketball |
| Prevseason Year: | 2022–23 |
The 2023–24 Sun Belt men's basketball season began with practices in October 2023, followed by the start of the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in December 2023, and concluded on March 2, 2024. The 2024 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament took place from March 5–11, 2024, at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Florida.
On March 22, 2023, former Alabama assistant coach Bryan Hodgson was named the new head coach of the Red Wolves.[1]
Head coach Cliff Ellis retired on December 6, 2023, after 17 seasons with the Chanticleers. Assistant coach Benny Moss was named interim head coach for the rest of the season.[2]
After head coach Brian Burg left to coach Ole Miss, on March 14, 2023, former Alabama assistant coach Charlie Henry was named head coach.[3]
Jeff Jones resigned after the ninth game of the season following a heart attack he had on December 20, 2023. Special assistant coach Kieran Donohue was named interim head coach for the rest of the season. Jones retired from coaching on February 26, 2024.[4]
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | Sun Belt record | Sun Belt titles | Sun Belt Tournament titles | NCAA Tournaments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian State | Dustin Kerns | Presbyterian | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Arkansas State | Bryan Hodgson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Coastal Carolina | Cliff Ellis | Auburn | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| Benny Moss (interim) | Coastal Carolina | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Georgia Southern | Charlie Henry | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Georgia State | Jonas Hayes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| James Madison | Mark Byington | Georgia Southern | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Louisiana | Bob Marlin | Sam Houston | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Louisiana–Monroe | Keith Richard | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Marshall | Dan D'Antoni | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Old Dominion | Jeff Jones | American | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
| Kieran Donohue (interim) | Old Dominion | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| South Alabama | Richie Riley | Nicholls State | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Southern Miss | Jay Ladner | Southeastern Louisiana | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Texas State | Terrence Johnson | Texas State | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Troy | Scott Cross | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
On October 16, 2023, the conference announced a preseason conference poll as voted on by the league's 14 head coaches.[5]
| Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | James Madison (7) | |
| 2. | Appalachian State (2) | |
| 3. | Old Dominion (1) | |
| 4. | Southern Miss | |
| 5. | Louisiana (2) | |
| 6. | South Alabama (2) | |
| 7. | Marshall | |
| 8. | Troy | |
| 9. | Arkansas State | |
| 10. | Texas State | |
| 11. | Georgia State | |
| 12. | Coastal Carolina | |
| 13. | Georgia Southern | |
| 14. | Louisiana–Monore |
The conference also announced preseason All-SBC teams.
| 2023-24 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Teams | ||||||
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Crowley – Southern Miss Terrence Edwards Jr. – JMU Donovan Gregory – Appalachian State Chaunce Jenkins – Old Dominion Christyon Eugene – Troy Themus Fulks – Louisiana | Tyrell Jones – South Alabama Kamdyn Curfman – Marshall Tyreke Locure – Louisiana–Monroe Dwan Odom – Georgia State Obinna Anochili-Killen – Marshall | Terrance Ford Jr. – Arkansas State Brenden Tucker – Georgia State C. J. Huntley – Appalachian State Freddy Hicks – Arkansas State Aamer Muhammad – Troy | ||||
| Team | Tournament | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appalachian State | Fort Myers Tip-Off | 1st (Palms Division) | |
| Arkansas State | Acrisure Invitational | 3rd | |
| Coastal Carolina | Myrtle Beach Invitational | 8th | |
| Georgia Southern | TowneBank Holiday Classic | 4th | |
| Georgia State | Capitol Challenge | 3rd | |
| James Madison | Cancún Challenge | 1st (Rivera Division) | |
| Louisiana | Gulf Coast Showcase | 5th | |
| Marshall | Cayman Islands Classic | 6th | |
| Old Dominion | Diamond Head Classic | 6th | |
| South Alabama | Jaguar Classic | 1st | |
| Southern Miss | Jacksonville Classic | 4th | |
| Texas State | Louisiana Tech MTE | – | |
| Troy | Trojan Classic | 1st |
| Week | Player(s) of the Week | School |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 13[6] | Terrence Edwards Jr. | James Madison |
| Nov 20[7] | Freddy Hicks | Arkansas State |
| Nov 27[8] | Kobe Julien | Louisiana |
| Dec 4[9] | Kobe Julien (2) | Louisiana |
| Dec 11[10] | T. J. Bickerstaff | James Madison |
| Dec 18[11] | Jordan Mason | Texas State |
| Dec 25[12] | Terrence Edwards Jr. (2) | James Madison |
| Jan 1[13] | T. J. Bickerstaff (2) | James Madison |
| Jan 8[14] | André Curbelo | Southern Miss |
| Jan 15[15] | Caleb Fields | Arkansas State |
| Jan 22[16] | Tre'Von Spillers | Appalachian State |
| Jan 29[17] | Nate Martin | Marshall |
| Feb 5[18] | Caleb Fields (2) | Arkansas State |
| Feb 12[19] | Victor Iwuakor | Southern Miss |
| Feb 19[20] | Terrence Edwards Jr. (3) | James Madison |
| Feb 26[21] | Samuel Tabe | South Alabama |
| March 4[22] | Tyren Moore | Georgia Southern |
| Conference | Record | |
|---|---|---|
| ACC | 1–1 | |
| Big East | 0–0 | |
| Big Ten | 1–4 | |
| Big 12 | 0–6 | |
| Pac–12 | 0–2 | |
| SEC | 1–7 | |
| Combined | 3–20 | |
| Other NCAA Division I Conferences | Record | |
| America East | 0–0 | |
| American | 4–5 | |
| ASUN | 5–7 | |
| Atlantic 10 | 0–3 | |
| Big Sky | 0–0 | |
| Big South | 5–2 | |
| Big West | 1–1 | |
| CAA | 3–7 | |
| Conference USA | 2–6 | |
| Horizon | 2–2 | |
| Independents/Non-Division I | 0–0 | |
| Ivy | 0–1 | |
| MAAC | 0–0 | |
| MAC | 16–12 | |
| MEAC | 3–1 | |
| Missouri Valley | 2–2 | |
| Mountain West | 1–1 | |
| Northeast | 0–0 | |
| OVC | 4–2 | |
| Patriot | 0–0 | |
| Southern | 3–4 | |
| Southland | 2–5 | |
| SWAC | 5–0 | |
| Summit | 1–1 | |
| West Coast | 0–2 | |
| WAC | 2–0 | |
| Combined | 61–64 | |
See main article: 2024 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament. [23]
* – Denotes overtime period
See main article: 2024 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
See main article: 2024 National Invitation Tournament.
See main article: 2024 College Basketball Invitational.
| 2023-24 Sun Belt Men's Basketball Individual Awards | ||||||
| Award | Recipient(s) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player of the Year | Terrence Edwards Jr. – James Madison | |||||
| Coach of the Year | Dustin Kerns – Appalachian State | |||||
| Defensive Player of the Year | Justin Abson - Appalachian State | |||||
| Newcomer of the Year | T. J. Bickerstaff – James Madison | |||||
| Freshman of the Year | Myles Rigsby – Troy | |||||
| Sixth Man Award | Tayton Conerway – Troy | |||||
| 2023-24 Sun Belt Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams | ||||||
| First Team | Second Team | Third Team | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrence Edwards Jr. - James Madison Christyon Eugene – Troy Caleb Fields – Arkansas State Donovan Gregory – Appalachian State Tre'Von Spillers – Appalachian State | T. J. Bickerstaff – James Madison Austin Crowley – Southern Miss Chaunce Jenkins – Old Dominion Kobe Julien – Louisiana Tyren Moore — Georgia Southern | Joe Charles – Louisiana Noah Freidel – James Madison Terence Harcum – Appalachian State Hosana Kitenge – Louisiana Nika Metskhvarishvili – Louisiana–Monroe John Ojiako – Coastal Carolina Taryn Todd – Arkansas State | ||||