Because of various tie-breaking scenarios in their favor, Georgia State has secured a spot in the Sun Belt men’s basketball tournament.
The Panthers, the defending conference tournament champs, earned a spot after Texas State’s loss to Texas-Arlington Tuesday. The Bobcats were the last team that could directly prevent the Panthers from a chance of making it to New Orleans. Even if Texas State were to win its final two games and Georgia State were to lose its final two, the Panthers have the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of their season sweep of the Bobcats.
The Panthers' seed in the eight-team event is still to be determined. They will play at Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday and at Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday.
If Georgia State finishes in a three-way tie for sixth at 8-12 with Arkansas State (7-12) and South Alabama (8-10), it would finish as the seventh seed because of head-to-head tiebreakers between the three schools. The Red Wolves went 3-1 against the other two, Georgia State 2-2 and South Alabama 1-3.
The highest seed the Panthers could earn is fifth, which would require it win its final two games and finish in a tie with Georgia Southern (10-8). The teams split their regular-season meetings. The next tiebreaker is the record against the first-place team, Arkansas-Little Rock. The Trojans swept the Panthers and Eagles. The next tie-breakers is the record against the second-place team, which will be either Louisiana-Monroe (13-5), Texas-Arlington (11-7) or Louisiana-Lafayette (11-7). Those series haven’t been decided. The tiebreaker continues to cascade down the standings until it has been decided.
The tournament will be held March 10-13 at Lakefront Arena.
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