2003 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament

2003 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2002–03
Teams11
SiteE. A. Diddle Arena
Bowling Green, KY
ChampionsWestern Kentucky (5th title)
Winning coachDennis Felton (3rd title)
MVPPatrick Sparks (Western Kentucky)
← 2002
2004 →
2002–03 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
East
Western Kentucky † 12 – 2   .857 24 – 9   .727
Middle Tennessee 9 – 5   .643 16 – 14   .533
Arkansas-Little Rock 8 – 6   .571 18 – 12   .600
Arkansas State 6 – 8   .429 13 – 15   .464
Florida International 1 – 13   .071 8 – 21   .276
West
Louisiana–Lafayette 12 – 3   .800 20 – 10   .667
New Mexico State 9 – 6   .600 20 – 9   .690
South Alabama 7 – 8   .467 14 – 14   .500
New Orleans 7 – 8   .467 15 – 14   .517
Denver 7 – 8   .467 17 – 15   .531
North Texas 2 – 13   .133 7 – 21   .250
† 2003 Sun Belt Conference tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

The 2003 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament was held March 7–11 at E. A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.[1]

The top-seed in the East division Western Kentucky defeated West division #2 seed Middle Tennessee in the championship game, 64–52, to win their fifth Sun Belt men's basketball tournament.

The Hilltoppers, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA tournament as the #13 seed in the West region. No other Sun Belt members earned bids to the tournament.

Format

All eleven participating Sun Belt members were seeded based on regular season conference records, with the five highest-seeded teams were awarded byes into the quarterfinal round while the six lowest-seeded teams entered the bracket in the preliminary first round.

Bracket

First round
Friday, March 7 		Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 8
Sunday, March 9 		Semifinals
Monday, March 10 		Championship
Tuesday, March 11
            
1E Western Kentucky 71
5E Florida International 60
5E Florida International 62
4W New Orleans 45
1E Western Kentucky 78
2W New Mexico State 59
6W North Texas 73
3E Arkansas–Little Rock 74
3E Arkansas–Little Rock 61
2W New Mexico State 78
1E Western Kentucky 64
2E Middle Tennessee 52
2E Middle Tennessee 72
3W South Alabama 69
2E Middle Tennessee 83
5W Denver 59
4E Arkansas State 76
5W Denver 82
5W Denver 72
1W Louisiana–Lafayette 68

See also

References

  1. ^ "2002–03 Sun Belt Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2020.