2015 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Tournament

2015 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Tournament
Classification Division I
Season 2014โ€“15
Teams 8
Site campus sites
Finals site UNF Arena
Jacksonville, Florida
Champions North Florida (1st title)
Winning coach Matthew Driscoll (1st title)
MVP Demarcus Daniels (North Florida)
Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Tournaments
ยซ2014  2016ยป
2014โ€“15 Atlantic Sun men's basketball standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   PCT     W   L   PCT
North Florida โ€  12 โ€“ 2   .857     23 โ€“ 12   .657
Florida Gulf Coast 11 โ€“ 3   .786     22 โ€“ 11   .667
USC Upstate 8 โ€“ 6   .571     24 โ€“ 12   .667
Lipscomb 7 โ€“ 7   .500     14 โ€“ 17   .452
Northern Kentucky* 7 โ€“ 7   .500     13 โ€“ 17   .433
Jacksonville 4 โ€“ 10   .286     10 โ€“ 22   .313
Kennesaw State 4 โ€“ 10   .286     10 โ€“ 22   .313
Stetson 3 โ€“ 11   .214     9 โ€“ 22   .290
*NKU was eligible for A-Sun Tourney, but not for postseason play due to Div. I transition
โ€  2015 Atlantic Sun Tournament winner

The 2015 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Tournament was the 37th edition of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship. It took place from March 3 through March 8, 2015 on campus sites with the higher-seeded school hosting each game throughout the championship. The North Florida Ospreys won their first Atlantic Sun Tournament championship, earning an automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Tournament.

Format

The A-Sun Championship was a six-day single-elimination tournament. Eight teams competed in the championship.[1] On July 22, 2014, the A-Sun announced Northern Kentucky will be eligible for all conference postseason championships for which their teams qualify starting with the upcoming 2014-15 academic year, as part of their transition to Division I from Division II. The Norse must still complete the four-year reclassification period before becoming eligible for NCAA Championships. The change in A-Sun policy arose after NCAA clarification that a conference may set specific criteria allowing its highest ranked finisher to be the AQ recipient if a non-eligible team were to participate and win the conference postseason tournament. Prior policy had determined that the conference would lose its AQ if an ineligible team won the tournament.[2] However, that potential scenario did not happen, as the Norse lost their first-round game to Lipscomb by a score of 76-73.

Defending champion Mercer did not participate in the tournament after moving to the Southern Conference.

With Mercer no longer in the A-Sun and FGCU eliminated in the semifinals, the tournament winner of the championship game between USC Upstate and North Florida was assured of making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. North Florida would represent the A-Sun with a 63โ€“57 win.

Seeds

Seed School Conference Overall Tiebreaker
1 North Florida 12โ€“2 20โ€“11
2 Florida Gulf Coast 11โ€“3 21โ€“9
3 USC Upstate 8โ€“6 21โ€“10
4 Northern Kentucky 7โ€“7 13โ€“16 1โ€“1 vs. Lipscomb, 0โ€“2 vs. UNF, 0โ€“2 vs. FGCU, 2โ€“0 vs. USC Upstate
5 Lipscomb 7โ€“7 13โ€“16 1โ€“1 vs. NKU, 0โ€“2 vs. UNF, 0โ€“2 vs. FGCU, 1โ€“1 vs. USC Upstate
6 Kennesaw State 4โ€“10 10โ€“21 2โ€“0 vs. Jacksonville
7 Jacksonville 4โ€“10 10โ€“21 0โ€“2 vs. Kennesaw State
8 Stetson 3โ€“11 9โ€“21
Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

Time Matchup Final score Television
Quarterfinals โ€“ Tuesday, March 3
7:30 pm #8 Stetson @ #1 North Florida 67โ€“81 ESPN3
7 pm #5 Lipscomb @ #4 Northern Kentucky 76โ€“73(OT) ESPN3
7 pm #6 Kennesaw State @ #3 USC Upstate 54โ€“90 ESPN3
7 pm #7 Jacksonville @ #2 Florida Gulf Coast 63โ€“81 ESPN3
Semifinals โ€“ Thursday, March 5
7 pm #5 Lipscomb @ #1 North Florida 57โ€“71 ESPN3
7 pm #3 USC Upstate @ #2 Florida Gulf Coast 63โ€“62 ESPN3
Final โ€“ Sunday, March 8
2:30 pm #3 USC Upstate @ #1 North Florida 57โ€“63 ESPN2
All times ET
#-Tournament seed

Bracket

  Quarterfinals
March 3
ESPN3
Semifinals
March 5
ESPN3
Championship
March 8
ESPN2
                           
  1  North Florida 81  
8  Stetson 67  
  1  North Florida 71  
    5  Lipscomb 57  
4  Northern Kentucky 73
  5  Lipscomb 76*  
    1  North Florida 63
  3  USC Upstate 57
  2  Florida Gulf Coast 81  
7  Jacksonville 63  
2  Florida Gulf Coast 62
    3  USC Upstate 63  
3  USC Upstate 90
  6  Kennesaw State 54  

*denotes game ended in overtime

See also

References

  1. โ†‘ "Championship Format". Atlantic Sun. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
  2. โ†‘ "NKU Eligible for A-Sun Championships in 2014-15 Season". Atlantic Sun. Retrieved December 20, 2014.

External links