Add the Atlantic Sun to the list of conferences spiking the single-site format and putting all games at campus sites. This means the 818-seat Hodge Center at USC-Upstate will get to host a tournament game, so citizens of Spartanburg, get your tickets fast. (Though the Spartans drew 866 to their season opener, so if you really want to go, they’ll probably let you stand in the corner of the gym.)

The conference has also allowed Northern Kentucky to participate in the tournament despite the fact the Norse aren’t eligible for the NCAA tournament while transitioning to full Division-I status. Should NKU make the championship game, its opponent will automatically win the bid. I haven’t calculated the chance of each team winning the auto-bid – I’ll leave that to the A-Sun enthusiasts out there – but this (very slightly) helps the good teams on the opposite side of the bracket, Florida Gulf Coast and USC-Upstate, since there’s a 17% chance they only need to win twice to go dancing. Disregard the previous information. UNF would have won the auto-bid by virtue of its regular-season title.

North Florida is the clear favorite thanks to the format, but its 12-2 record included two losses to third-seeded USC Upstate, while Upstate lost twice to second-seeded FGCU, who of course lost twice to UNF.

Mercer is not around to defend it’s tournament title, having moved on to the Southern Conference. And that’s one reason why the A-Sun’s conference ranking plummeted to 30th this season. These teams are battling for a 16-seed, and unless the champ is North Florida, a spot in Dayton.

Atlantic Sun
All-kenpom.com: Ty Greene, USC-Upstate (kPOY); Brett Comer, Florida Gulf Coast; Dallas Moore, North Florida; Jalen Nesbitt, North Florida; Chris Davenport, North Florida.

March 3, 5, 8. All games at higher-seeded team.

                    Semis Final Champ
1 North Florida      95.2  79.7  61.0
2 Florida Gulf Coast 89.8  62.3  21.7
3 USC Upstate        92.1  35.4  11.8
4 Northern Kentucky  78.4  16.7   4.7
5 Lipscomb           21.6   2.9   0.5
7 Jacksonville       10.2   1.4   0.1
6 Kennesaw St.        7.9   1.0   0.06
8 Stetson             4.8   0.6   0.05