March Madness: Mercer and Florida Gulf Coast on Course to Clash in Atlantic Sun

Since Florida Gulf Coast stunned Miami early this year, everyone has anticipated a Mercer vs. Florida Gulf Coast championship game on Saturday to determine which Atlantic Sun team goes to the tournament. Mercer is rated slightly higher at 129th at www.kenpom.com, but www.valueaddbasketball says Florida Gulf Coast has three of the top 100 Low-Major players in the country and could be a sleeper to pull an NCAA upset. The top eight players and teams are listed below.

Four teams from the conference have been eliminated, including North Florida, who lost to Florida Gulf Coast 73-63 Wednesday, and Lipscomb, which was blown out by Mercer Wednesday. Northern Kentucky was ineligible this year due to changing divisions, and Kennesaw State failed to make the conference tournament. Follow all tournament results by clicking here.

Conf Rnk	Low-Maj Rnk	Elite 8 Players/Teams	Atlantic Sun	Ht	LM Val Add
1	56	Thompson, Bernard	Florida Gulf Coast	6-03	7.47
2	75	Brown, Sherwood	Florida Gulf Coast	6-04	6.96
3	78	Fieler, Chase	Florida Gulf Coast	6-08	6.89
4	83	Jones, Eshaunte	Northern Kentucky	6-04	6.76
5	120	Wallace, Travis	North Florida	6-06	6.12
6	125	Hall, Langston	Mercer	6-04	6.06
7	147	Craig, Torrey	South Carolina Upstate	6-06	5.75
8	152	Smith, Travis	Mercer	6-03	5.69
1	129	Team Rank	Mercer
2	144	Team Rank	Florida Gulf Coast
3	214	Team Rank	South Carolina Upstate
4	242	Team Rank	Stetson
5	252	Team Rank	Northern Kentucky
6	262	Team Rank	North Florida
7	287	Team Rank	Jacksonville
8	291	Team Rank	Lipscomb