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ATLANTIC SUN
The Stetson Hatters were not supposed to make any noise at all last season. The team was on a postseason ban due to their APR score and finished tied for last place in the regular season standings at 4-10. The conference did allow the Hatters to play in the conference tournament, where they were expected to lose easily to #2 seed NJIT and begin their offseason. Instead, it was the Hatters that beat NJIT by 15 points, and then knocked off #6 seed Lipscomb by 21 points to advance to the finals against Florida Gulf Coast. The Hatters forced FGCU to overtime before finally falling, 80-78, to end their season and amazing conference tournament run. The Eagles got the automatic bid, defeated Fairleigh Dickinson in a First Four game and fell to #1 seed North Carolina in the Round of 64. North Florida, the conference’s regular season champion, got an NIT bid while NJIT played in the CIT for the second straight season and, also for the second straight season, advanced all the way to the semifinals before falling.
Stetson brings almost their entire roster back from last season and the Hatters have a chance to contend in an A-Sun conference that could feature a ton of parity this year. North Florida and NJIT both lost key players in the offseason, meaning both teams will struggle to match last year’s success. Stetson joins Jacksonville and Lipscomb as teams bringing back some key talent, and all three teams have a good chance to rise in the standings. However, everyone will likely be chasing Florida Gulf Coast, as the defending conference tournament champions return all of their key players and add in a couple new pieces that will just make them that much deeper and tougher to beat.
Predicted Order of Finish
1. Florida Gulf Coast – The Eagles return virtually all of their key players led by Marc-Eddy Norelia. UCF transfer Brandon Goodwin could be a major addition as well as Dunk City looks to return to the Big Dance for the second straight season.
2. NJIT – Ky Howard and Winfield Willis may be gone, but Damon Lynn, Tim Coleman and Rob Ukawuba are all back. New head coach Brian Kennedy should have this team in contention for top of the league.
3. North Florida – Without Beau Beech and Trent Mackey, the entire offense looks like it will have to run through Dallas Moore. Moore may arguably be the best player in the entire conference, but the Ospreys will need to find him some help if they want to contend again.
4. Stetson – The Hatters return their top seven scorers from last season’s team that got hot late. A lack of size down low will be an issue, but don’t be surprised if they are in contention all season long.
5. Jacksonville – The Dolphins will be without the services of Kori Babineaux this season, but they still have Marcel White and add in East Tennessee State transfer Devin Harris. Head coach Tony Jasick has been doing a great job revitalizing this program and they should remain tough to defeat this season.
6. Lipscomb – The Bisons should be improved this year with several of their key players back and Josh Williams healthy in the backcourt. He is joined back there by Nathan Moran, giving the team scoring options.
7. Kennesaw State – Kendrick Ray (18.7 points per game) and Yonel Brown (18.6 points per game) were a dynamic backcourt last season. Brown is gone however, and someone else will need to step up to help Ray if the Owls want to succeed.
8. South Carolina Upstate – The good news in Spartanburg is that the team’s best player, Deion Holmes, is only a sophomore. The bad news is that the Spartans lost 20 games last season and may not be much better than that this one.