The Atlantic Sun conference has taken the college basketball world by storm over the last couple of years.
In 2013, A-Sun member Florida Gulf Coast went on a magical run to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament, and in March, the Mercer Bears upset heavily favored Duke in the first round of the tourney.
To Lipscomb Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson, the success of fellow A-Sun teams provides a good reputation to the other members of the conference.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” Hutcheson said. “When teams from this conference win, it makes everybody look good.”
The good news for Lipscomb fans is that the Bisons have been very competitive with the conference’s top teams.
“This year, we were right there,” Hutcheson said. “We split with FGCU and swept or split with most of the teams in the conference. We aren’t far from the top.”
One of the problems that face teams from the A-Sun is that it is considered a non-power conference. The A-Sun is not in the same conversation as the ACC, SEC or Big Ten, but Hutcheson said he believes that with the recent success, the conference will not go unnoticed for long.
“The thing about our conference is that only the conference tournament champion gets in the NCAA tournament,” Hutcheson said. “If teams from this conference continue to get in the tournament and advance, that could open the door for other teams that have good years in this conference to get an at-large bid.”
This past season in men’s basketball was the first for Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander. He led the Bisons to a fifth place finish in the A-Sun, and Hutcheson says he is the right man to guide Lipscomb to the top of this rising conference.
“The guys responded well to him,” Hutcheson said. “He made us hard to game plan for because we had a number of guys who could score 20 or more points on any given night.”
However, some teams that have had success in the conference can tend to leave fairly quickly.
Mercer will not return to the conference next season, and rival Belmont recently joined the Ohio Valley Conference.
To Hutcheson, the grass may not be as green on the other side as the teams thought it would be.
“The A-Sun conference has a better RPI than the conferences these teams are switching to, and in some of their sports, they are moving to a less competitive conference,” Hutcheson said.
The A-Sun is one of college basketball fastest risings conferences, and Hutcheson said Lipscomb is proud to be a part of it.
“We are in a good conference,” Hutcheson said. “As long as we consistently improve, we will give ourselves a chance to succeed.”