Ahhh yes, I can smell it in the air. It’s champ week and the conference tournaments are giving you that sniff of March Madness that you have been trying to get a whiff of since last year. The 2020 Atlantic Sun Conference tournament will help you get right going into this final stretch of the season, here’s what you need to know.

2020 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Bracket

Favorite to Win: Liberty Flames

Coming into this season, the Flames were one of the upset favorites in last years’ NCAA Tournament when they knocked off Mississippi State by 4, and lost to Sweet 16 bound Virginia Tech. The Flames are back and Ritchie McKay has them hungry for more success. At 26-3, Liberty is on pace to have their best season ever. This is all due to the success of their smothering defense. Nationally they rank first in points allowed per game at 52.4.

If they can continue the streak that they are on, not only will they be a favorite to win the Atlantic Sun conference tournament, but they’ll be one of the favorite Mid-Majors to pull off an upset (or two.)

Team to Watch: North Florida

If there is to be a team that challenges Liberty, it is the Ospreys. They are the only team within two games of the Flames in the conference standings. They split the season series with Ritchie McKay’s team, with the point differential being -4.

It is all very dependent on the play of their bench. In their first meeting, the Ospreys bench only had three points TOTAL. The fact that they won that meeting is shocking in itself considering all five of their starters were in double digits. In their second meet up the bench scored five points total. Matthew Driscoll will need to have better bench play going forward.

Another sneaky team that I could see pulling off an upset is the Lipscomb Bison. In the regular season they have already beaten North Florida and the one game they played against Liberty they lost by seven. They get up and down and are not afraid to go tit for tat with you in the scoring department.

Player to Watch: Caleb Homesley Liberty

This is someone we would like to call a PTPer, Prime Time Player. Homesley leads the Flames in four categories and that is why I think he will win the conference tournament MVP in the A-Sun.

I think another player to watch is Ivan Gandia-Rosa from North Florida. He averages 14 points and 6 assists per game. In their two giant games against Liberty, he came up huge with 19 and 17 points respectively, with 3 and 9 assists.

Dancing Teams: Conference Winner

The conference winner will be the only team going dancing unfortunately. It is a shame though as this conference can be one that has the possibility to be a lot of fun in the “Big Dance.”

You can view the rest of our conference tournament previews here.