Overview

Few teams have had the stretch of dominance over one particular conference that Florida Gulf Coast has had over the Atlantic Sun conference. The Eagles have six tournaments in a row, eight of the last nine and nine of the last 11 tournaments. This year, they captured ten of 12 first place votes in the preseason poll, and then proceeded to go undefeated in conference play. Four teams trail the Eagles by between four and five games, setting the conference up for an entertaining tournament.

Favorite: Florida Gulf Coast

Led by transfer Emani Jefferson, Florida Gulf Coast has rolled through conference play with a scoring differential of +24.5 PPG. Jefferson didn’t clear transfer waivers until nine games into the season, but has made an immediate impact once she returned, averaging 16.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game for the Eagles. According to HerHoopStats, she is the most efficient player in the conference by box score stats, and was also named as a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award.

Behind Jefferson are forward Uju Ezedu and guards Dolly Cairns and Maddie Antenucci, who are combining to average 34.0 points per game between the trio. They also stepped up in Jefferson’s absence early in the year, with Cairns scoring 18 points in a win over No. 18 North Carolina in late November. 

Dark Horse: Central Arkansas

Lipscomb was the team to take the other two first place votes in the preseason poll, and Stetson is the team who has played FGCU the closest (average margin of defeat: 16.5 points) and is closest to them in the standings (4 games back ), but the dark horse candidate to win the conference is the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears. Central Arkansas is the most efficient scoring team after Florida Gulf Coast and sports  one of the better defenses in the league. Led by Jade Upshaw, the best three-point shooter by percentage in the conference, the Sugar Bears could turn the ASUN upside down, but it remains a massive undertaking.

Prediction: Florida Gulf Coast over Lipscomb

Unseating the Eagles as kings of the ASUN will not be easy, and it likely won’t happen this year. Neither Stetson or Central Arkansas has the scoring balance or experience of Lipscomb. The Bisons start five players who are averaging more than 10 points per game, the only team in the conference who can claim that feat. Additionally, four of their five starters are juniors or older. In tandem with the scoring balance, this gives them the tools to make a run to the title game, their first trip since 2004 when they cut down the nets.

Charlie Creme Bracketology:

Florida Gulf Coast: Automatic Qualifier, No. 11 seed in the LSU (Baton Rouge) pod.