Only one team from the Atlantic Sun is expected to earn a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, and that will be whichever team wins the conference tournament. The tourney stared on Tuesday and will run through Sunday, with the champion being crowned on ESPN2.
Atlantic Sun tournament 2015: Bracket, schedule and results
The Atlantic Sun will crown its tournament champion on Sunday.
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Florida Gulf Coast is the most notable team in this conference, thanks to their famous "Dunk City" run to the Sweet 16 in 2013. The Eagles still have some players from that run, including senior guards Brett Comer and Bernard Thompson. FGCU was cruising toward a regular-season title until stumbling in the final two games, losing to North Florida and Jacksonville.
North Florida claimed the title and top seed after sweeping FGCU in the regular season. The Ospreys finished their transition to Division I in 2009 and are looking to go dancing for the first time. Those two teams are widely expected to clash in the championship round, but don’t count out No. 3 USC Upstate, which swept North Florida. The team gets its third crack at the Eagles in the semifinal round.
The format
With only eight teams in the conference, the A-Sun’s tournament is a simple quarterfinal format with no bye rounds. The games will be held at campus locations, and the top seeds will host each round.
Northern Kentucky is making a transition to Division I, so it is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament. The team was, however, allowed to play in the conference tourney, which could have made things awkward if it advanced to the final round (its opponent would get the tourney bid regardless of the game’s result). Thankfully, the Norse were eliminated in the quarterfinals to avoid this potential headache.
The teams
Bracket
A downloadable bracket can be found here.
Schedule and results (all times Eastern)
Tuesday, March 3 (Quarterfinals)
No. 1 North Florida 81, No. 8 Stetson 67
No. 5 Lipscomb 76, No 4. Northern Kentucky 73 (OT)
No. 2 Florida Gulf Coast 90, No. 7 Jacksonville 63
No. 3 USC Upstate 90, No. 6 Kennesaw State 54
Thursday, March 5 (Semifinals)
No. 1 North Florida 71, No. 5 Lipscomb 57
No. 3 USC Upstate 63, No. 2 Florida Gulf Coast 62
Sunday, March 8 (Championship)
No. 1 North Florida 63, USC Upstate 57
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