Bracketology: 5 biggest questions for rest of 2019-20 season

3. How many losses can Liberty afford in the ASUN to warrant a bid?

Stearman

My advice for Liberty is not to leave this up to chance. I’m afraid that if they don’t win their conference tournament, they will have a hard time making it as an at-large. After being soundly beaten by LSU, Liberty doesn’t really have any opportunities left on their schedule to prove themselves against a quality opponent. Two years ago, we saw a five-loss Saint Mary’s left out of the NCAA tournament in the WCC. Their schedule was significantly tougher than this year’s Liberty team’s will be. I think two regular-season conference losses and a loss in the conference tourney will have Liberty on the outside of the bubble looking in. If they hope to make it as an at large, they can only afford one more loss.

Harkins

This is super tricky. I think that the Flames can only afford to lose three more games (including the conference tournament) and two of them probably need to come against North Florida, the second-best team in the Atlantic Sun. If that turns out to be the case, Liberty would finish the season at 30-4 (14-2 ASun). Even with probably only 1-2 Q1/2 wins on the year, it would be hard to leave them out with that record. But they could easily be left out still because the resume will be poor. Liberty, just go win the conference tournament – it’s easier.

Dieckhoff

The only correct answer is zero. And I’m not talking about in ASUN league play. I mean in the ASUN Tournament. The Flames’ loss to LSU pretty much shuts the door on their at-large bid, in my opinion. They play in a league that offers no good wins. I’m not saying that this team isn’t tournament-caliber; Liberty has already proven they are. But their resume is not good. They can’t afford to lose in the conference tournament.