Following the conclusion of the regular season, the 2021 ASUN Tournament bracket is set. All games will be played in Jacksonville, Florida at either UNFA Arena or Jacksonville University’s Swisher Gym.
Jacksonville, who would have been the 8-seed and opened the ASUN Tournament on Wednesday against 9-seed Kennesaw State, is out of the tournament after dealing with elevated COVID cases among the men’s basketball program. Due to this, the tournament will now only feature 8 teams, unless another team is forced out, and will begin with the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Liberty is the 1-seed following the program’s third straight ASUN regular season title and is scheduled to face 8-seed Kennesaw State on Thursday afternoon at 2 pm at UNF Arena.
Bellarmine, who finished just one game behind the Flames at 10-3 in the ASUN, gets the 2-seed and is scheduled to face 7-seed Stetson who finished 7-9 in conference play following their win on Saturday on Thursday at 7 pm at UNF Arena.
Lipscomb finished conference play at 9-6 after losing to North Alabama on Saturday and is the 3-seed for the second straight season. The Bisons will play 6-seed Florida Gulf Coast, who finished 4-5 in ASUN play on Thursday at 7 pm at Swisher Gym.
4-seed North Florida finished conference play at 6-6 and will face 5-seed North Alabama on Thursday at 2 pm at Swisher Gym. The Lions finished 7-8 in conference play by ending their 7 game losing streak with a win Saturday over Lipscomb. That win pushed UNA from the 7-seed to the 5-seed.
The ASUN reseeds following the quarterfinals. So, the highest remaining seed will play the lowest remaining seed on Friday at 2 pm. The other two teams advancing to the semifinals will play Friday at 7 pm. Both semifinal games, and the championship game, are scheduled to be played at UNF Arena.
The two survivors will advance to the ASUN Championship game on Sunday at 2 pm.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will all be televised on ESPN+ while Sunday’s championship game will be televised by ESPN.
Bellarmine and North Alabama are not eligible to earn the ASUN automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as they are both still going through a four year transition process from Division II to Division I. If either the Knights or Lions win the conference tournament, Liberty would be awarded the auto bid and advance to the Big Dance since the Flames are the regular season champions.
Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay was asked about the tournament being moved from games played on the higher seed’s home floor to a neutral site this season earlier this week. “I’d be very disingenuous if I told you no big deal. Obviously, we’ve played fairly well in the Vines and in our new arena. When you work all regular season to get a seed that would be most advantageous for the pursuit of the conference tournament championship. I do think, on a neutral floor, the only thing that you get from a high seed is you get to wear the light color jersey. It would be my preference that there would be byes given to those that earn it if we’re on a neutral site, but I’m not in the conference office. I’m just a fingernail on our body and our family. It is what it is. We will come there prepared and ready to try and give our best.”
