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. 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. However, that potential scenario did not happen, as the Norse lost their first-round game to Lipscomb by a score of 76-73. This proved to be Northern Kentucky's only A-Sun tournament game ever, as the school would move to the Horizon League effective with the 2015–16 school year.
East Tennessee State, along with defending champion Mercer, did not participate in the tournament after moving to the Southern Conference.
With ETSU and 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 63–57 win.
Seeds Seed School Conference Overall Tiebreaker1 North Florida 12–220–11 2 Florida Gulf Coast11–321–9 3 USC Upstate8–621–104 Northern Kentucky7–713–16 1–1 vs. Lipscomb, 0–2 vs. UNF, 0–2 vs. FGCU, 2–0 vs. USC Upstate5 Lipscomb7–713–16 1–1 vs. NKU, 0–2 vs. UNF, 0–2 vs. FGCU, 1–1 vs. USC Upstate6 Kennesaw State 4–10 10–21 2–0 vs. Jacksonville7 Jacksonville4–1010–21 0–2 vs. Kennesaw State8 Stetson 3–119–21Overall records are as of the end of the regular season.
Schedule TimeMatchupFinal scoreTelevision Quarterfinals – Tuesday, March 37:30 pm#8 Stetson @ #1 North Florida67–81ESPN37 pm#5 Lipscomb @ #4 Northern Kentucky76–73(OT)ESPN37 pm#6 Kennesaw State @ #3 USC Upstate54–90ESPN37 pm#7 Jacksonville @ #2 Florida Gulf Coast63–81ESPN3 Semifinals – Thursday, March 57 pm#5 Lipscomb @ #1 North Florida57–71ESPN37 pm#3 USC Upstate @ #2 Florida Gulf Coast63–62ESPN3 Final – Sunday, March 82:30 pm#3 USC Upstate @ #1 North Florida57–63ESPN2All times ET#-Tournament seed
Bracket
See also 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament
References
External links Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Championship Details