The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. Originally established as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) in 1978, it was renamed as the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001, and briefly rebranded as the ASUN Conference from 2016 to 2023. The conference still uses "ASUN" as an official abbreviation. The conference headquarters are located in Jacksonville. On May 8, 2024, the conference announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida in the fall of 2024.
The Kennesaw State Owls fields 16 varsity athletics teams, competing for Kennesaw State University. After spending ten years in Division II's Peach Belt Conference, the university fully transitioned to Division I status in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the beginning of the 2009–10 season. All of Kennesaw State's sports teams competed in the Atlantic Sun Conference through the 2023–24 school year, except that football competed as an FCS independent in the 2023 season only. In July 2023, KSU started a transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision in advance of its move to Conference USA, which happened in 2024. Of its 18 varsity sports, only women's lacrosse is not sponsored by CUSA. The school mascot is Scrappy the Owl.
The North Alabama Lions men's basketball team represents University of North Alabama in Florence, Alabama, United States. The school's team currently competes in the ASUN Conference. On July 1, 2018, they joined the Atlantic Sun Conference. Since joining NCAA Division I, the Lions have not yet appeared in the NCAA Tournament. At the NCAA Division II level, North Alabama won the 1979 and 1991 national championship.
The Eastern Kentucky Colonels men's basketball team is a college basketball team at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), located in Richmond, Kentucky, United States. The Colonels are members of the ASUN Conference, which they joined in 2021 after having been members of the Ohio Valley Conference since that league's founding in 1948. Home games are played at Alumni Coliseum, located on EKU's campus. The team last played in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2014. The Colonels are coached by A.W. Hamilton, who came to EKU in 2018 after previous head coach Dan McHale was fired after 3 seasons.
The Charleston Cougars men's basketball team is an NCAA Division I college basketball team representing the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. The Cougars compete in the Coastal Athletic Association. Home games are played at TD Arena, located on College of Charleston's campus. While a member of the NAIA, they were National Champions in 1983. The Cougars have appeared seven times in the NCAA tournament, most recently in 2024.
The Jacksonville Dolphins are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Jacksonville University, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The Dolphins participate in NCAA Division I athletics, and are primarily members of the ASUN Conference. Some teams in sports that are not sponsored by the ASUN play in other conferences; specifically, the men's and women's rowing teams are in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The men's lacrosse team had played in the Southern Conference (SoCon) from 2015 to 2022, but that sport will return to the ASUN for the 2023 season.
The Mercer Bears are the athletic teams of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, United States. Mercer is the only private university in Georgia with an NCAA Division I athletic program and fields teams in eight men's and nine women's sports. The university competes in the Southern Conference for most sports. In 2013, the football team competed in the Pioneer Football League.
The North Florida Ospreys are the athletic teams of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. The Ospreys compete in the ASUN Conference in NCAA Division I. UNF became a full-fledged member of Division I in 2009; previously, the Ospreys were members of the Sunshine State Conference and Peach Belt Conference in NCAA Division II. UNF fields teams in seven men's sports and ten women's sports.
The ASUN Conference men's basketball tournament is the conference championship tournament in basketball for the ASUN Conference, formerly known as the Trans America Athletic Conference (TAAC) and Atlantic Sun Conference. The tournament has been held every year since 1979, except for 1992–93.
The 2010 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The 73rd annual tournament began on March 16 on campus sites and ended on April 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dayton won their 3rd NIT title over North Carolina, 79–68.
The Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team represents Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky, United States. The school's athletic program began a transition to NCAA Division I in the 2012–13 school year. For the first three seasons of the transition, it was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference. In the final season of the transition in 2015–16, the Norse joined the Horizon League. The Norse were coached by John Brannen until April 14, 2019, when he left to take a job with the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Before him the Norse program's coach was Dave Bezold, who had an overall record of 138 wins and 72 losses. On April 23, 2019 Darrin Horn was hired as head coach by Northern Kentucky. Since joining Division I in 2012–13, the Norse have made three NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2023.
The Lipscomb Bisons men's basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, United States in NCAA Division I. The school's team currently competes in the ASUN Conference. Previously, the Bisons played men's basketball in NCAA Division II and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. The Bisons made their first ever trip to the NCAA Division I tournament in school history in 2018, when they defeated Florida Gulf Coast in the 2018 ASUN men's basketball tournament. In 2019, Lipscomb made history by becoming the first team in ASUN history to make it to the National Invitation Tournament Final.
The North Florida Ospreys represent the University of North Florida (UNF) in men's college basketball. The Ospreys compete in the ASUN Conference (A-Sun) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). They play home games at UNF Arena on the school's campus in Jacksonville.
Karl Wade Smesko is the current head coach of the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) women's basketball team.
The 2014–15 North Florida Ospreys men's basketball team represented the University of North Florida during the 2014–15 college basketball season. The Ospreys competed in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun). They were led by sixth year head coach Matthew Driscoll, and played their home games at UNF Arena on the university's Jacksonville, Florida campus.
The Central Arkansas Sugar Bears basketball team is the women's basketball team that represents the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway, Arkansas. The Sugar Bears compete in the ASUN Conference. They completed a 15-season tenure in the Southland Conference in 2020–21. The Sugar Bears are coached by Tony Kemper.
The Bellarmine Knights men's basketball team represents Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The Knights now compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) at the NCAA Division I level, after being a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) from the conference's founding in 1972 through the 2019–20 season. They are currently led by head coach Scott Davenport and play their home games on campus at Knights Hall.
The 2016–17 Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball team represented Jacksonville University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Dolphins, led by third-year head coach Tony Jasick played their home games at Swisher Gymnasium on the university's Jacksonville, Florida campus as members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. They finished the season 17–16, 5–9 in ASUN play to finish in sixth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament to North Florida. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round to Saint Francis (PA).
The 2017–18 Jacksonville Dolphins men's basketball team represented Jacksonville University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Dolphins, led by fourth-year head coach Tony Jasick played their home games at Swisher Gymnasium on the university's Jacksonville, Florida campus as members of the Atlantic Sun Conference. They finished the season 15–18, 8–6 in ASUN play to finish in third place. They defeated Kennesaw State in the quarterfinals of the ASUN tournament before losing in the semifinals to Lipscomb.
The 2022 ASUN men's basketball tournament was the conference postseason tournament for the ASUN Conference. The tournament was the 43rd year the league has conducted a postseason tournament. The tournament was held March 1, 3, 5, and 8, 2022 at campus sites of the higher seeds. The winner, Bellarmine, did not receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament due to not being eligible because of a transition from Division II. Instead the regular season conference champion, Jacksonville State, was awarded the conference's automatic bid.
