he road to the NCAA Tournament starts with the path through the Sun Belt Conference. But the path that the Hilltopppers were expecting to take through the conference has been uprooted.

Western (10-2) will open its conference season with the best overall record in the league. The Hilltoppers start SBC play with a two-game road trip in Arkansas starting with Arkansas-Little Rock (9-5, 1-0 SBC) tonight at 7.

But the SBC has changed since the preseason coaches’ poll came out in late October. Louisiana-Lafayette (6-7 0-1 SBC) was picked No.1, while the Hilltoppers were sent to unfamiliar territory. Western picked eighth overall and fourth in the East Division.

“That pick was kind of expected,” junior guard Anthony Winchester said. “But we felt like it was disrespecting Western Kentucky. This is our league.”

ULL has fallen to fourth in the West Division and Arkansas State (9-5, 2-0 SBC) tops the Eastern Division rankings with a 2-0 start in the conference. The Indians have a 9-5 record and will play the Hilltoppers on Saturday at 4:05 p.m.

Even though the Rajin’ Cajuns received all 11 first places in their division, first-year ULL coach Robert Lee said he wasn’t convinced his team was the best.

“I didn’t think that we were the favorite to win,” Lee said. “We lost a lot last year, but I think we’ve played the most difficult non-conference schedule in the league, and I think we will be right there too.”

Western coach Darrin Horn said the shuffling in the conference is just a testament to how much the league has grown.

“The days of a guaranteed three Sun Belt Conference wins are over,” Horn said. “You take Florida International, they came out and beat Florida State.”

But Lee and Horn both said that while the records have been shuffled, there is still one team that stands out.

“I think Middle Tennessee State is the clear-cut favorite,” Horn said. “I don’t think there is any question about that.”

MTSU (11-4, 1-0 SBC) ripped apart ULAR on Jan.10, beating the Trojans by 35 points. The Blue Raiders also ended Western’s three-year conference tournament win streak by beating the Hilltoppers in the first round last season.

Western has recently received some national attention by Associated Press voters to make into their top 25 poll.

However, Horn said tournament berth or not, he wants this team to be remembered for the hard work of such young athletes.

“The goal at WKU is to always make the NCAA Tournament,” Horn said. “But with such a young team, it’s like year one all over again.”

Even with the 10-2 start, Winchester is taking the time to remind the younger players that conference play is a different atmosphere.

“This is big time,” Winchester said. ” I tell the freshmen almost every day, ‘it’s a whole new season.’”

Reach Wes Watt at sports@wkuherald.com.