ASUN Preview: 2026-27 College Basketball Predictions & Best Bets Recap
Ryan McIntyre (@Moneyline_Mac), Troy Chewning (@Troychewning) and Michael Huffer (@michael_huffer3) break down the ASUN college basketball preview for 2026-27, with an eight-team league after five programs left. Queens is the regular season pick, but nobody agrees on who wins the conference tournament.
Queens Finally Broke Through, Then Half The League Left
The Queens Royals finished third in the regular season last year and still won the ASUN tournament. That got Grant Leonard’s program to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. Austin Peay and Central Arkansas tied atop the standings at 15-3. But Queens beat Central Arkansas when it counted. Ryan McIntyre wasn’t surprised, because Queens dominated Division II for years before making the jump. Then the membership fell apart. Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama and West Georgia all left, and West Florida is the only newcomer. So the ASUN is down to eight teams playing a 14-game double round robin. As Mac pointed out, the league also lost its last three champions.
Troy Chewning had an early read on Queens. When Elon and Queens merged athletic programs, he figured the Royals would have more money and talent. He called it a herp derp offseason angle, and it worked out anyway. Huff, from the Pump Fake pod, looked at Stetson instead. The Hatters put together back-to-back strong seasons, including a 22-win year, after being perennial losers here. Then they came back to earth last year. But with Austin Peay and Central Arkansas gone, Huff expects Stetson to get better. Also, a good core group stayed, so the league keeps plenty of regionality.
A New Look League And A Bunch Of Second-Year Coaches
Donnie Jones at Stetson is now the longest-tenured coach in the league. Grant Leonard is in year five as Queens head coach, and he was an assistant there before that. Jordan Mincey, a former Mike White assistant, enters year six at Jacksonville. Pat Chambers, who coached Penn State, starts year five at Florida Gulf Coast. Then comes a wave of second-year coaches. Kevin Carroll took over for Lenny Acuff at Lipscomb. Davenport replaced his old man at Bellarmine, so the pass, pivot and back-cut offense isn’t going anywhere. Bob Kennon also runs North Florida after Coach Driscoll left to join Jerome Tang’s staff.
Tanner Smith is the one true unknown. The former Clemson guard gets his first head job at West Florida. His resume includes stints at App State, Stephen F. Austin, Kennesaw, Mississippi State and Charlotte. Troy is most curious about Kevin Carroll, though. Lipscomb started hot last season and then hit the doldrums, which smells like first-year head coach stuff. So a full second season matters for a program that, like Lehigh, keeps sneaking into the NIT and NCAA Tournament. Huff, meanwhile, is excited about year two for Davenport and wants Bellarmine out of the cellar. He also likes how these coaches play fast and run good offense.
Stock Up On The Dolphins, Stock Down On Gulf Coast
Troy joked about taking Bellarmine as his stock up pick, since he is sure everybody on that roster trades stocks. Then he went with Lipscomb for real, because a second full season makes a big difference in this league. Huff took Jacksonville. He credited the Dolphins with a 12-6 league record last season, and Mac pointed out that came two years ago. But Mac had the same nugget circled anyway. Jacksonville came together two years ago, then took a step back last year by dropping close one-possession games. Bad injury luck hasn’t helped either. So Mac thinks the Dolphins have some boomerang in them, and he likes Mincey and company to take a step.
Stock down is harder to call when five teams just walked out the door. Troy first wrote down Eastern Kentucky, which is now somebody else’s problem in the United Athletic Conference. Huff landed on Florida Gulf Coast, and Mac was right there with him. Gulf Coast went 8-10 in league play last year. So Mac’s bar is simple. If they only go .500 in this new-look league, that is a disappointment, even if it’s technically one game better. They have the facilities and the money to compete for the title. But a program that went to the Sweet 16 a decade ago keeps swinging up and down under Chambers. Troy also sees a slide to four or five conference wins.
Queens On Top In The ASUN College Basketball Preview
All three guys put Queens first, and it wasn’t close. Troy likes the money and resources flowing in from the Elon merger, and he doesn’t see the top two changing. Huff thinks Queens builds off its momentum and finally grabs a regular season title. And Mac made the cleanest case. Leonard took over for Bart Lundy, now at Milwaukee, and that program was used to winning regular season titles. But Leonard is in year five and hasn’t won one yet. So after breaking through in the conference tournament, the Royals take the regular season next. Behind them, Troy and Mac both have Lipscomb second. Huff flips it, with Jacksonville second and Lipscomb third.
Mac also has Jacksonville third, leaning on Mincey’s defense. Troy went emotional with Bellarmine third, since he hated them in Division II long enough to love them. That pushed Jacksonville to fourth on his card. Huff took a stab on Stetson at four, and Mac put Bellarmine there on Davenport’s year-two jump. So the middle is basically a coin flip. Stetson and Bellarmine both went about 7-11 in league play and bring back a good amount of production. Then everybody slotted Gulf Coast sixth. Huff and Mac both have West Florida seventh and North Florida last, while Troy calls that pick personal preference. West Florida went 25-9 last season yet still moved on from Justin Mann, so nobody has film on this group.
Tournament Champ, Player Of The Year And Coach Of The Year
Mac doesn’t see Queens going back to back, and nobody on the panel picked them to. Troy went contrarian and took Florida Gulf Coast to win the conference tournament, right after the guys trashed them. His logic holds up better than it sounds. Gulf Coast has dudes and gets reps in its own preseason tournament. And inconsistent, talented teams are exactly the kind you don’t want to see in a bracket. Huff rode Lipscomb’s offense and roster to the title. Then Mac took Jacksonville in Mincey’s sixth year, because the Dolphins reached the championship game a couple of years ago. They were right there to win it, and Mac thinks this experienced group knocks the door down.
Player of the Year is wide open because last year’s first-team guys all play in other leagues now. Huff floated Jordan Wofford, a Queens sophomore, and Lipscomb guard Mateo Esmeraldo. Mac went with Avonte Parker, the 6-foot-9 Queens big who came over from Georgia Southern. For Coach of the Year, Troy took Kevin Carroll if Lipscomb can beat out Queens. But Huff and Mac both went with Leonard, who won the tournament but not the award last year. Also, Mac warned this could be Leonard’s last year at Queens before he’s on the move. As for the winning record over 14 games, Mac says 10-4 takes the regular season. Troy agreed 10 sounds right, and Huff called 10 or 11 the ceiling.
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Download the SGPN App Today!
01:29 Welcome to the College Basketball Experience
05:13 Queens Royals Get It Done Last Year
08:49 New Look League and Coaches
15:09 Stock Up and Stock Down
21:11 Top Three Regular Season Picks
30:43 Conference Tournament, Player of the Year and Coach of the Year
35:45 Sign-Off & Socials
