BricksIt Weekly
Welcome to the Sun Belt
Old Dominion is 5-0, App State rates highest, and the MAC won the opening week
Twelve Sun Belt teams hosted MAC teams on opening night. The MAC won seven.
By the Hardwood Bricks desk
Hardwood Bricks now covers the Sun Belt, 14 schools from Boone, Harrisonburg and Huntington down to Mobile and west to Jonesboro. Louisiana Tech is new this season, and Texas State left for the Pac-12. Every game gets a preview, a recap, a line history and a spot in our ratings.
Old Dominion is the league's last unbeaten team at 5-0 and rates 129th. The Monarchs have won all four of their games with a posted line, starting with a 61-49 home win over Western Michigan as 1.5-point underdogs.
App State rates highest in the league at 102nd. The Mountaineers won 66-60 at Charlotte on Friday as 7.5-point underdogs. Marshall (132nd) is third.
The season opened on Monday, Nov. 2, with 12 Sun Belt teams at home against the MAC. Marshall, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana Tech and Old Dominion won; the other seven lost.
UL Monroe is 1-5 after four road games in six days, at Texas A&M, TCU, Arizona State and Grand Canyon. Louisiana rates last in the league at 340th.
Marshall's skid
The Herd beat Buffalo by 27 on opening night and have lost three straight since: Toledo at home, at Ohio State and 74-71 at Youngstown State as 1.5-point favorites.
Louisiana Tech's arrival
The Bulldogs opened their first Sun Belt season by beating Kent State 85-75 as 5.5-point underdogs.
South Alabama's busy week
The Jaguars beat Loyola Marymount on a neutral floor Thursday and lost by a point at North Texas two days later.
James Madison at Kentucky
The Dukes lost 89-80 in Lexington as 23.5-point underdogs, then won 71-61 at Delaware.
By the numbers
The pecking order
Our model's rating for every Sun Belt team: points better or worse than an average Division I team over 100 possessions. Record alongside.