The 2012 Sun Belt Tournament comes to an end on Tuesday evening when the No. 5 North Texas Mean Green and the No. 7 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers take the court at Summit Arena in Hot Springs, Ark. For the Denver Pioneers and its fans, this is a disappointing day because the team was the No. 3 seed and the prohibitive favorite to win the conference's automatic bid. Yet, that all ended with a 67-63 loss to the Hilltoppers on Monday night.
Should the Hilltoppers, 14-18 overall, pull off this upset victory, the NCAA Tournament will have a team with a losing record as its Sun Belt conference representative, which just goes to show that even a playoff doesn't solve every postseason issue in college sports. Oh, and the Hilltoppers fired their head coach in early January after a 5-11 start.
North Texas defeated the Arkansas St. Red Wolves on Monday night in the early game, 76-72. All five starters scored at least 10 points, led by Jacob Holmen's 21 points (5-of-5 from beyond the arc). North Texas defeated Western Kentucky earlier in the season, 84-67, but that wound up meaning little to the Pioneers (who did the same to the Hilltoppers).
Game time/date: 5:00 p.m. MT, Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Location: Summit Arena, Hot Springs, Ark.
TV: ESPN2/ESPN3
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