KSU Makes A-Sun Tournament

The Kennesaw State Owls will be the number eight seed in the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball Championship. They will take on the number one seed and regular champions, the Belmont Bruins, on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at the University Center on the campus of Mercer University.
The Owls (8-22, 6-14 A-Sun) were locked into the number eight seed by way of the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, 81-65, win over the USC Upstate Spartans on Monday evening. Their win put the Owls into a three-way tie for the seventh seed with Campbell and Stetson, as FGCU, despite finishing the season 7-13 for seventh place in the conference, are ineligible for postseason play due to their still going through NCAA Division I re-classification.

The Black and Gold were 3-1 this season against Stetson and Campbell, having swept Stetson and split with Campbell. Campbell also swept Stetson during the regular season, eliminating the Hatters from the eight-team tournament. Campbell will be the seven seed, as the highest-finishing team that they beat in the conference was number five seed Mercer, with the Owls highest-finishing opponent that they beat having been FGCU.

Belmont (27-4, 19-1 A-Sun) swept the season series against the Owls, winning, 87-60 in Nashville on Dec. 16 and 88-41 in Kennesaw in the two teams’ regular season finale on Feb. 26.

The winner of the tournament will earn the Atlantic Sun Conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.