2023 Sun Belt Conference tournament basketball odds: Eighth-seeded South Alabama taking heavy action to win event in Pensacola

The men's Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Pensacola, Fla., officially got underway Tuesday, but those were the bottom four teams in the league competing essentially in the play-in portion. The prime action tips off Thursday with a total of four games. Southern Mississippi was the regular-season champion at 14-4 in league play but isn't taking remotely the most action to win this week – South Alabama, the eighth seed, is doing so at Caesars Sportsbook.

The Jaguars have won this tournament five times but not since 2006. They finished the regular season at 16-15 overall and 9-9 in league play. South Alabama does have one of the true difference-making big men in the country in senior Kevin Samuel, who previously played at both Florida Gulf Coast and TCU. The 7-footer averages 10.2 points on 64.4% shooting along with 8.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

Samuel is the Division I active career leader in rebounds with 1,315 and in blocked shots with 377. Those rank No. 25 overall on the list of career blocks leaders in Division I since 1985. He was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the third-team All-Sun Belt Team, while teammate Isaiah Moore made the first team.

South Alabama carried a five-game winning streak into its regular-season finale – including a 31-point destruction of Southern Miss, but lost at Louisiana by 10. The Jaguars open tournament play against No. 9 seed Appalachian State at 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday as 3-point favorites.

To win the event, South Alabama is a +650 fifth favorite but is taking easily the most action to win, down from an open of +1000. The Jaguars are taking 48% of the money and 39.0% of the tickets.

"South Alabama has a high power rating regardless of what their seeding is," said Adam Pullen, Assistant Director of Trading at Caesars Sportsbook. "They're one game over .500, but they played a lot of teams tough early in the season including Alabama, Oklahoma and New Mexico. They also played well down the stretch, and they're definitely a solid team. On paper, the Sun Belt looks like a wide-open tournament and I can see this going in a bunch of different directions."

Second-seeded Marshall is the +200 favorite, but the Thundering Herd are just fifth in handle at 2.4%. Marshall and South Alabama are in opposite sides of the bracket. If South Alabama wins Thursday, it would face No. 1 Southern Miss (+425 and taking 13.6% of the handle) on Friday.  South Alabama hasn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2008. 

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