Atlantic Sun
The A-Sun is one of the more enjoyable low-major conferences to bet and follow. The teams in this league play wildly different styles and tempos. It is a conference where two teams ranked in the top 10 in tempo, three teams ranked in the bottom 50, and nobody really plays defense. According to Bart Torvik, one team in the conference ranked higher than 239th in Effective Field Goal Percentage defense.
Very few teams force turnovers, so it is an offense-driven conference with a whole lot of 3-point shooting. The national average 3P Rate was 37.3%. Five teams shot above that, with North Florida first in the nation at 54.7%. Two more teams were right on the national average and four were under it. So, this conference can be chaotic on a nightly basis, but that often makes for good betting opportunities, especially in a league not followed closely at all by the oddsmakers.
This season, the conference loses Kennesaw State to Conference USA, but adds a Division I newcomer in West Georgia. The Wolves made the Division II tournament in three of the last four seasons and won both the regular season and their conference tournament in the Gulf South Conference last season.
Lipscomb projects to be the top dog in this league, as the Bisons were able to hold on to the league’s best player, Jacob Ognacevic, who shot over 70% on 2s in 2022-23 before missing all of last season. They also kept Will Pruitt and Joe Anderson, so Lennie Acuff’s squad comes into the campaign as the clear favorite.
The fight for second place could be a jumbled mess. Florida Gulf Coast, North Alabama, and Eastern Kentucky are among the top contenders. All three teams return some measure of production from last season. FGCU was the best defensive team of the group and they look to be the chief contender to Lipscomb, but the Bisons should roll to the regular season title and it would be a surprise if they don’t get the conference’s lone NCAA Tournament bid.
