Atlantic Sun basketball: 2018 Conference Tournament preview

The Atlantic Sun basketball league will have the first conference tournament of the 2017-18 season. Can anyone dethrone Florida Gulf Coast?

The Atlantic Sun Conference for the past several seasons has been dominated by Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles was the representative for the league in the last NCAA Tournament as a 14 seed, before losing in the first round to Florida State in a competitive contest.

There was no question that they were going to be the favorite coming into this season, with a great returning scorer combined with high-major transfers. In both the preseason coaches and media poll, Florida Gulf Coast was picked to finish in first place. Lipscomb and North Florida followed, with New Jersey Institute of Technology selected to place last.

Some things went into fruition, like the Eagles finishing in first place. They won the first 11 games in conference play, but did slip up in two of the final three games, giving hope for others in this upcoming event.

The Bison of Lipscomb handled their business, finishing second in the league at a 10-4 record. But North Florida was a middle of the road team, with a 7-7 record. The Ospreys were a top-40 scoring offense, but as a team gives up 87.2 ppg. That’s good for third worst in all of D-1 basketball. Only twice in conference play did North Florida surrender less than 80 points in a game.

NJIT were much more competitive than expected, finishing in the middle. The biggest disappointment was South Carolina Upstate, who went 2-12 in Atlantic Sun play with a defense ranked 346th in the nation.

Because of Florida Gulf Coast’s late-season struggles, this conference tournament all of a sudden became much more intriguing. So who are the key players and teams to look for starting Monday? Here’s a preview of what to expect.