As long as Appalachian State and Troy keep losing, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball team is in good shape to sneak into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
But if one of the Sun Belt's two bottom-feeders heats up in the final two weeks of the regular season, UALR (10-17, 5-9 Sun Belt) could be booted out of the 10-team bracket, which begins March 12.
Troy (11-15, 4-10) and Appalachian State (9-18, 4-10) are tied for last place in the league with one more loss than UALR, which will face four of the conference's six best teams to close the regular season.
The Trojans play at Georgia Southern (18-10, 10-5) on Thursday and Georgia State (19-9, 10-5) on Saturday. Georgia Southern and Georgia State are a combined 19-4 at home this season.
Given the Sun Belt's No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are rewarded with a bye into the semifinal round, the Georgia schools have plenty of incentive to win now and not take it easy on UALR.
"We still have one focus," Walker said, "and that's to get to New Orleans. I don't care how we get there. I don't care if it's a play-in game. I really don't care. My whole focus with my team is to keep them ready and keep them playing well enough to get to New Orleans."
After the Georgia trip, the Trojans have two home games against Louisiana-Lafayette (16-11, 7-7) and Louisiana-Monroe (14-12, 7-7) to close out the regular season. The Louisiana schools are in a three-way tie for fifth place with Coastal Carolina (13-13, 7-7).
"I guarantee," Walker said, "if we get to New Orleans, there won't be too many teams lining up to play us in the first round."
To get there, UALR either needs victories or more losses from Troy and Appalachian State.
This week, Troy will host the Sun Belt's No. 1 team in Texas State (22-6, 11-4) and No. 4 team Texas-Arlington (13-15, 9-6). Appalachian State will travel to the Louisiana schools.
While this week could decide the Trojans' fate, March 7 likely will be when UALR's postseason future becomes clearer. On that date, either Troy or Appalachian State is guaranteed a loss because they play each other.
Should the Trojans sneak in as the No. 10 seed, where they currently reside, they will have to travel to the No. 7 seed March 12 for a play-in game into the tournament.
"We are where we are," Walker said. "You are what you are right now, [you are] just what your record says. At the end of the day, we still have a chance to get to New Orleans."
Sports on 02/26/2019