With Liberty’s losses on the road this past week against Jacksonville and North Florida, the Flames have left the door open for Jacksonville State and Bellarmine to have a say in who has home court throughout the ASUN Tournament.
Those three teams currently all have three losses in conference play entering the final week of the regular season. The Gamecocks and Knights have a huge meeting on Sunday in Louisville that will go a long way in determining who wins the West Division and who will have home court throughout the conference tournament.
The 2022 ASUN Tournament, after one year played in Jacksonville, shifts back to all higher seeded teams hosting each game. With the division format this year, division finish trumps conference record. For example, if a team finishes 9-7 and fourth in their division and they are to face a team in the tournament that finishes 8-8 in ASUN play and third in their division, the team that finishes third in their division would play at home.
Also note that the tournament schedule has been altered slightly. Instead of the championship game being on Saturday afternoon, the game has now been moved to Tuesday night. All game times are currently to be determined. All games will be on ESPN+ with the exception of the championship game which will be on ESPN.
Tiebreaker procedures for the ASUN to determine division finish are, first, head to head results among teams involved in the tie, and, secondly, NCAA NET ranking available on the day following the conclusion of ASUN regular season play.
With just over one week and most teams only having three games remaining in the regular season, here’s how the ASUN Tournament bracket would look if it began today.
TUESDAY, MARCH 1 (first round)
Game 1: #3 West Central Arkansas vs #6 East North Florida
Game 2: #4 East Kennesaw State vs #5 West Lipscomb
Game 3: #3 East FGCU vs #6 West North Alabama
Game 4: #4 West Eastern Kentucky vs #5 East Stetson
THURSDAY, MARCH 3 (quarterfinals)
Game 5: #2 East Jacksonville vs Game 1 winner
Game 6: #1 West Jacksonville State vs Game 2 winner
Game 7: #2 West Bellarmine vs Game 3 winner
Game 8: #1 East Liberty vs Game 4 winner
SATURDAY, MARCH 5 (semifinals)
The tournament is re-seeded after the quarterfinal round. The highest seeded remaining team will play at home against the lowest seeded remaining team. Likewise, the second highest seeded remaining team will play at home against the second lowest seeded remaining team.
If the highest seeded teams win in the first two rounds, here’s what the semifinals would look like:
Game 9: #1 West Jacksonville State vs #2 East Jacksonville
Game 10: #1 East Liberty vs #2 West Bellarmine
TUESDAY, MARCH 8 (championship)
KENPOM PROJECTED END-OF-YEAR STANDINGS
West Division
1. Jacksonville State (12-4)
2. Bellarmine (12-4)
3. Central Arkansas (6-10)
4. Eastern Kentucky (5-11)
5. Lipscomb (5-11)
6. North Alabama (3-13)
East Division
1. Liberty (12-4)
2. Jacksonville (11-5)
3. FGCU (9-7)
4. Kennesaw State (7-9)
5. North Florida (6-10)
6. Stetson (6-10)
