The 2009–10 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball season marked the 33rd season of Sun Belt Conference men's basketball during the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season.
Preseason Blue Ribbon magazine predicted Western Kentucky University to win the East Division. The Hilltoppers are returning from a season in which they came within one second of upsetting Gonzaga and advancing to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. In addition, Hilltopper star A.J. Slaughter was named the Preseason Player of the Year.
Sun Belt Preseason Poll East Division RankTeam1 Western Kentucky2 Troy3 Middle Tennessee State4 South Alabama5 Florida Atlantic6 Florida International
West Division RankTeam1 North Texas2 UALR3 Louisiana-Lafayette4 Denver5 Arkansas State6 ULM7 New Orleans
Preseason All-SBC Team G -- Brandon Hazzard (Troy, Sr.) G -- A. J. Slaughter (WKU, Sr.) F -- Nate Rohnert (Denver, Sr.) F -- Eric Tramiel (North Texas, Sr.) F -- Desmond Yates (Middle Tennessee, Sr.)
Regular season Non-conference In terms of upsets over the six major conferences, Western Kentucky beat Vanderbilt University 76-69 on December 11. A.J. Slaughter scored 27 points to lead the Hilltoppers to their first win over Vanderbilt since 1946. Western Kentucky led for the final 16:33 of the game, though Vanderbilt cut the lead to one twice. This was Vanderbilt's second consecutive loss.
Conference season
Postseason SBC Tournament
Asterisk denotes game ended in overtime.
References