Conference Tournament Predictions: Atlantic Sun

*After one night of Championship Week play, I am 11-1 in my predictions, the only loss being #8 Loyola over #5 UW-Milwaukee in the Horizon League tourney. I successfully predicted #6 Tennessee State to beat #3 Morehead State in the OVC*

The Atlantic Sun conference is another lower tier conference that will only get one bid to the NCAA Tournament, going to the tournament champion. However, that champ may have a chance to pull off a major upset, as the ASC already has two of the bigger non-conference upsets of the season, with 6 seed Gardner Webb throttling Kentucky (before anyone knew they would be bad) and 7 seed Mercer beating USC. For what it's worth, top seed Belmont has also beaten Cincinnati and Alabama this year, so they are able of playing with the "BCS" conferences as well. Belmont has won the last two Atlantic Sun tournaments. *sarcasm* This conference also produces coaches ready to coach in big time environments, as Penn State coach Ed DeChellis got his start at East Tennessee State *end sarcasm*.

All games will be played in Nashville, at the home of Lipscomb University.

FIRST ROUND:
1 Belmont
8 Campbell

4 East Tennessee State
5 Lipscomb

3 Stetson
6 Gardner Webb

2 Jacksonville
7 Mercer

SEMIFINALS:
1 Belmont
4 East Tennessee State

2 Jacksonville
6 Gardner Webb

CHAMPIONSHIP, can be seen Saturday 3/8 on ESPN2:
1 Belmont
6 Gardner Webb

I actually watched Gardner Webb's victory over Kentucky earlier this season, and they looked unstoppable. They couldn't miss a shot and they shut down everyone on that other team. That wasn't any fluky win, they dominated! And while they got off to a slow start in A-Sun play, they have won 5 of their last 7 heading into the tourney. However, Belmont appears to be the class of this league, and is currently on a 10 game streak themselves, so they get the championship pick, in what should be a fun to watch title game.