South Alabama Jaguars

The South Alabama Jaguars are the men's basketball program of the University of South Alabama, playing home games at the Mitchell Center in Mobile. South Alabama has one of the deeper Sun Belt Conference basketball traditions, having been a charter member of the league since its founding in the 1970s. The Jaguars are best known for a scrappy underdog identity, capped by one of the great NCAA Tournament upsets of the 1980s.

The University of South Alabama was founded in 1963, and its basketball program began play in 1968 under coach Rex Frederick, becoming a charter member of the six-team Sun Belt Conference in 1976. The Jaguars have reached the NCAA Tournament eight times, most memorably in 1989 when Jeff Hodge's last-second three-pointer upset Gene Bartow's Alabama Crimson Tide, sending South Alabama on to face eventual national champion Michigan. South Alabama has won five Sun Belt Conference championships across its history, with its most recent NCAA Tournament trip coming in 2008.