The Sun Belt Conference announced the 2023-24 Vic Bubas Cup final standings Thursday, and Arkansas State Athletics posted a school-record 118 points to finish in fourth place among the league’s 14 members.
The Red Wolves made a three-place jump in the league’s all-sports standings from 2022-23, posting their best finish for a full athletics year since 2015-16 and tying their third best this century (since 2000-01). A-State won the Bubas Cup Trophy in 2019-20 when 10 of the conference’s 18 sports at the time were scored.
Arkansas State averaged 7.9 points per sport, which tied James Madison for the second highest in the league, and finished just 12.5 total points behind Bubas Cup-champion Texas State. The Sun Belt’s 14 members the last two years are the most in the history of the league, and 11 of those schools compete in more sports that count toward the Bubas Cup standings than A-State.
The Red Wolves have claimed the most Sun Belt championships among all league members each of the last two years. A-State has won nine SBC titles since 2022-23, three more than the second closest (Old Dominion) and more than double the number of league championships collected by 11 of the 13 other members. Including women’s bowling, Arkansas State had 10 combined conference titles in 2022-23 and 2023-24 for its second most over any two-year stretch in school history.
The Red Wolves saw a school-record 10 different teams compete in the postseason in 2023-24, including football, women’s cross country, volleyball, men’s indoor track & field, men’s and women’s golf, men’s basketball, women’s bowling and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field.
Since 2022-23, there have been 16 A-State teams participate in postseason competition for the most over any two-year span in school history. The 2023-24 year alone featured football appearing in its first bowl game since 2019, women’s golf making its first postseason appearance in school history, men’s basketball returning to postseason play for the first time since 1999, men’s golf advancing to an NCAA Regional and women’s bowling finishing as the national runner-up.
Arkansas State has also scored 190.5 points in the Learfield Directors’ Cup all-sports rankings this year to stand No. 77 in the nation, which is currently the top position held by a Sun Belt Conference school.
The Red Wolves’ points total is already the second most in school history behind only its 234.5 scored in 2013-14, the same year they posted their best finish ever at No. 83.
Additionally, A-State has scored the second most points by any Sun Belt program since 2014-15. The next update to the Learfield Directors’ Cup standings is scheduled to be announced June 11.
