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Arkansas State's victory at Western Kentucky moved them up from fourth to fifth as they pass Florida International. Arkansas State is now half a game behind UALR in the West Division standings. UALR and ASU play on Thursday. The winner of that game will hold first place in the division.
Middle Tennessee is the only team to have clinched a first-round bye (1 of 5) in next month's Sun Belt tournament in Hot Springs.
Thursday's games:
- Western Kentucky at Florida Atlantic. Western badly needs a win if it has any hopes of securing a first-round bye.
- Louisiana-Lafayette at South Alabama. USA is in perfect shape to get the No. 3 seed. Slipping up at home against ULL would let others back in.
- UALR at Arkansas State. Arkansas State's victory over Middle and sweep of USA puts them in great shape to win a tiebreaker over UALR. There are two scenarios where UALR could flip it. First, by sweeping ASU. Second, by splitting with ASU and beating ULL with ASU losing at UNT. Unlikely but it would give the Trojans a better divisional record. If the teams tie in the standings and in divisional record, ASU will win the tiebreaker.
- North Texas at Louisiana-Monroe. If UNT could get into that 8-9 game at the Sun Belt Tournament, the Mean Green could be an interesting quarterfinal opponent for Middle.
- Florida International at Troy. FIU remains in a good spot to get a first-round bye. But a loss at Troy (coupled with a WKU win at FAU) would set up a Saturday showdown.
