Liberty will face North Alabama in the Atlantic Sun championship game on Sunday, but has already taken a place in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament just before stepping on the field.
The Flames defeated Stetson 77-64 in Friday’s semifinals in Jacksonville, Florida, and since North Alabama – a school that moves to Division I athletics – is ineligible for the NCAA tournament, Liberty has received the league’s automatic starting .
Can we punch ourselves sooner? 🔥
Once UNA defeated FGCU, we got the ASUN automatic offer at the NCAA tournament! pic.twitter.com/KoKRtUKnmv
– Liberty Men’s Basketball (@LibertyMBB_) March 6, 2021
North Alabama joined Atlantic Sun and began moving from Division II to Division I in the 2018-19 season. Under NCAA rules, a Division II program that makes the jump to Division I cannot compete in the NCAA tournament until it has met the four-year transition requirement.
The potential scenario for Liberty was anticipated for entry into the tournament, but most assumed that the regular season champion of the conference will eventually have to go through another ineligible team – Bellarmine, not North Alabama, who passed with 1-7 in his last eight games of the regular season before running to the conference tournament title game, including a win against the Florida Gulf Coast in the semifinals.
Bellarmine, who started her transition from Division II to Division I this season, finished second to Liberty in the regular season title race before losing to Stetson in the first round.
In the back-to-back games against North Alabama last month, Liberty won 74-54 in both games.