Liberty will face North Alabama on Sunday in the Atlantic Sun tournament championship game, but has already secured a place in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament even before stepping on the court.
The Flames beat Stetson 77-64 in Friday’s semifinals in Jacksonville, Florida, and since North Alabama (a school that moves to Division I athletics) is not eligible for the NCAA tournament, Liberty will granted him the automatic mooring of the league.
Can we hit the ticket early? 🔥
With UNA’s defeat at FGCU, we got ASUN’s automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. pic.twitter.com/KoKRtUKnmv
– Liberty Men’s Basketball (@LibertyMBB_) March 6, 2021
North Alabama joined Atlantic Sun and began its transition from Division II to Division I in the 2018-19 season. Under NCAA rules, a Division II program that makes the leap to Division I cannot compete in the NCAA tournament until it has met the four-year transition requirements.
The potential scenario that developed for Freedom was expected to enter the tournament, but most assumed that the regular season champion of the conference would eventually have to go through a different team that was not eligible: Bellarmine, not North Alabama, who were going 1-7 in their last eight games. of the regular season before running in the conference tournament title match, including a win against Florida Gulf Coast in the semifinals.
Bellarmine, who began his transition from Division II to Division I this season, finished second in the Freedom in the race for the regular season of the conference before losing to Stetson in the first round.
In consecutive games against North Alabama last month, Liberty won 74-54 in both clashes.