ASUN Conference Tournament Preview & Predictions

ASUN Conference Tournament Preview & Predictions

As the ASUN conference tournament is upon us, it’s time to make some predictions as well as preview the tournament itself. I’ll go over the favorites, sleeper teams, as well as making my own predictions and fill out the ASUN bracket

Favorites:

Liberty

The Flames have both come into the season picked first as well as coming into the ASUN tournament as favorites. They’re one of the parts in the ASUN’s two way tie for first, and though they won’t be the #1 seed in the tournament due to a loss to the other first place team, Kennesaw State, Liberty still has the best chances at winning it all. Led by the best player in the league and one of the best players in the entire country, Darius McGhee, Liberty will be extremely hard to upset, as all of their losses came away against top-5 teams. McGhee is essentially surrounded by a ton of role guys who all don’t shoot a lot but shoot at high percentages, which is the perfect combination with McGhee. There are two ways and only two ways to beat Liberty. One of those ways is to keep Darius McGhee under 20 points, and even with that barely squeeze out a win. The other, well, you’re going to have to read the next section for that.

Kennesaw State

After finishing in the bottom half of the league 12 seasons straight, dating back to the 2009-10 season, the Kennesaw State Owls are now finally in the top half. But not only are they in the top half, Kennesaw State has a share of the regular season title as well as earning the #1 seed in the ASUN tournament. Three seasons ago, Kennesaw State was coming off their second season finishing dead last in the ASUN. Two-year leading scorer Tyler Hooker had no years of eligibility left, and though the program looked like they were going to have another off year, they brought in a signing class in 2020 that would change the program for years to come. That class included guards Chris Youngblood, Kasen Jennings, and Brandon Stroud. That freshman season for them went well, and though KSU finished winless in the conference, things were looking better. Long-time top scorer Terrell Burden, who had been the second leading scorer behind Hooker, was coming back, and they brought in a breakout transfer from the Sun Belt in Spencer Rodgers. Fast forward two years, that core of Youngblood, Jennings, and Stroud are all Juniors, Terrell Burden is still here, and Spencer Rodgers is entering his senior season. Add Murray State transfer Demond Robinson to the mix, and we have a very solid lineup. This lineup would eventually carry them to the first place in the ASUN, making program history with a shot at an NCAA Tournament bid. Now I’ll get to the other way to beat Liberty - Simply play near perfect on offense and outscore Darius McGhee. In the Liberty-Kennesaw matchup earlier in the season, Darius McGhee scored a ridiculous 43 points, but it wasn’t enough as Kennesaw State won 81-88. They shot an incredible 40% from 3 and 56% from the field at home, and as they are the 1 seed, they’ll get that home court advantage for the whole tournament. But the question is - can they keep it up for 3 games straight?

Sleeper:

Bellarmine

I don’t think that any team will be able to do it, but if I were to pick one team to knock off Kennesaw State or Liberty away, it would be Scott Davenport’s Bellarmine Knights. They may have lost a lot from last year, but the way their offense is structured, individual play isn’t prioritized as much. So, if they could jump up in shooting percentages, this team will be very dangerous given their defense. They haven’t done too much to prove that yet, however, but as the defending ASUN champs who got hot last season as well, I think they have the best chance to pull off a couple of upsets.

Bracket: