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NCAA Tournament: Updating Conference Tournament Brackets & Who’s Dancing

By Nathan Giese

Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2015; Anaheim, CA, USA; UC Irvine Anteaters forward Ioannis Dimakopoulos (12) kisses the trophy for the Big West Conference Tournament championship as the UC Irvine Anteaters celebrate after the game against the Hawaii Warriors at Honda Center. The UC Irvine Anteaters won 67-58. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 18, 2015; Dayton, OH, USA; North Florida Ospreys players react on the bench during the second half against the Robert Morris Colonials in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 18, 2015; Dayton, OH, USA; North Florida Ospreys players react on the bench during the second half against the Robert Morris Colonials in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at UD Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /

Atlantic Sun

Projected Regular Season Champ: North Florida Ospreys

Actual Regular Season Champ: North Florida

Bracket

#1 North Florida vs. #8 USC Upstate
 #4 Florida Gulf Coast vs. #5 Kennesaw State
 #2 NJIT vs. #7 Stetson
 #3 Jacksonville vs. #6 Lipscomb 

The first round of this tournament takes place on March 1 and the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament is unlike most as each game will be played at the higher seed’s campus site, so North Florida, NJIT, Jacksonville and Florida Gulf Coast will all host their first-round games.

The bracket is set up as a traditional bracket, though, so the 1 and 4 seeds line up for a potential semifinal clash.

North Florida (10-4 in Atlantic Sun play) has the easy advantage here as they do not have to travel for this tournament as long as they are in it. They’ll stay at home, and we all remember what happened when they played in the title game at home last season.

The Ospreys won both meetings against Jacksonville and NJIT (beat the Highlanders 107-71 just over a week ago) and split with Florida Gulf Coast.

North Florida, FGCU and Jacksonville went a combined 39-7 at home this season, so it seems like a safe bet to have them advancing to the semifinals. NJIT went just 9-5 at home, but had the most road wins in the conference this season, going 8-8. They’ll be a dangerous out in this tournament.

Favorite: North Florida 

The combination of Beau Beech and Dallas Moore is a lethal scoring combination that few teams have figured out. Moore is first in the A-Sun in scoring at 19.7 points per contest with Beech ranking seventh at 15.6.

Given that plus not having to play on the road, the Ospreys should be the favorites.

Next: Summit League