Belt improves even though losing good teams

Even though MTSU, NTU, FIU and FAU all bolted for (supposedly) greener pastures, the Sun Belt Conference held its own this past season. We were ranked 19th in RPI (thus officially still a mid-major), up from 21st last season. In fact, the 19th spot ties us for our best finish since 2008,  when we were 17th, and well above our low spot of 24th in 2011.