#RisingSun: Pre-Tournament Power Rankings
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Well folks…it is hard to believe this is the final power rankings of the season for basketball. This season has gone by way too fast! But enough said, here is my rankings for the teams heading into the conference tournament!
| Team | Rank | Previous Rank | Record | The Story So Far |
| 1 | 1 | 17-1, 24-7 | The Panthers are undeniably the best team in the SBC…as they clinch the outright SBC title along with the number one seed in New Orleans. | |
| 2 | 5 | 12-6, 20-11 | After having an impressive showing against ULL, they now look to not just have the second best record in the SBC, but the second best squad as well. | |
| 3 | 2 | 11-7, 20-11 | The Cajuns barely miss out on the number 2 seed, but down count them out, as they could easily pull out the upsets. | |
| 4 | 3 | 10-8, 18-12 | The Red Wolves have won one out of their last 4, and looks as if they have lost momentum at the wrong time. | |
| 5 | 4 | 9-9, 14-16 | The Mavericks drop their final game to South Al, but with their physical play they can easily sneak in and be a Tournament sleeper. | |
| 6 | 7 | 6-12, 11-19 | The Trojans are an average team that can pull huge wins out of nowhere…they can’t be counted out this tournament and have the potential to beat anyone. | |
| 7 | 6 | 9-9, 14-16 | The Trojans have won only 2 of their last 8, and continue to remain an average team. They will have change things quick if they look to make a tournament run. | |
| 8 | 8 | 7-11, 10-16 | The Warhawks seem to have the ability to muster wins against average teams, but always fault against top of the Sun Belt squads. They have the potential however to pull an upset in the tournament, it just doesn’t look possible for them to make a true run. | |
| 9 | 10 | 5-13, 11-20 | The Jags muster consecutive wins for the first time since November, granting them the ability to rise up one position in my rankings to close their season. | |
| 10 | 9 | 4-14, 8-23 | The Bobcats finish their season on a 5 game losing streak and won only one of their last 9 games. |
I think this will be a fun conference tournament, the SBC has a lot of talent heading into the post season. There are three main teams I know can win the SBC, and then the rest of the field has a chance as well. As in any tournament, any team can beat anyone on any give night. So folks enjoy SBC post season play and enjoy March Madness!!