Fun in the Atlantic Sun

It’s true. This is March. Monday kicks off the conference tournament season as the Atlantic Sun starts their conference tournament. All games will be played at the home arena of the higher seed.

The ASun has two teams that finished 14-2 in league play and are top 100 KenPom teams. Lipscomb and Liberty are two teams capable of winning this tournament and making someone sweat in an opening round NCAA tilt.

The two split their season series, with each winning on the others home court. Liberty lost to North Florida and Lipscomb lost to FGCU for their other losses.

While both are the heavy favorites, NJIT (171st) and North Florida (184th) are the only other teams in KenPom’s top 200. Anyone other than Lipscomb or Liberty coming out will probably be a 16-seed.

It’ll be a shame if Lipscomb doesn’t come out of this league. Liberty would be a capable tourney team but Lipscomb would be a fun bracket buster. I’d challenge the committee to take Lipscomb should they lose to Liberty in the tourney final. The argument against them will be the weak league. That’s rubbish. Winning should matter. Going 9-11 or 8-10 in conference play isn’t remarkable regardless of league strength. Unless you have some great non-conference scalps, you’re a mediocre team. And Lipscomb challenged themselves, playing TCU, SMU, Clemson, Louisville and Belmont. It’s time to reward teams that dominate their leagues that have one bad night in a single-elimination league tournament.