2003 Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament

The 2003 Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament was held March 6–8 at the GSU Sports Arena at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.[1]

2003 Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2002–03
Teams8
SiteGSU Sports Arena
Atlanta, GA
ChampionsTroy State (1st title)
Winning coachDon Maestri (1st title)
MVPBen Fletcher (Troy State)
← 2002
2004 →
2002–03 Atlantic Sun men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
North
Belmont 12 4   .750 17 12   .586
Jacksonville State 10 6   .625 20 10   .667
Samford 9 7   .563 13 15   .464
Georgia State 8 8   .500 14 15   .483
Gardner–Webb 2 14   .125 5 24   .172
Campbell 1 15   .063 5 22   .185
South
Troy State 14 2   .875 26 6   .813
Mercer 14 2   .875 23 6   .793
UCF 11 5   .688 21 11   .656
Jacksonville 8 8   .500 13 16   .448
Stetson 4 12   .250 7 20   .259
Florida Atlantic 3 13   .188 7 21   .250
2003 Atlantic Sun Tournament winner
As of March 4, 2003
Rankings from AP Poll

Troy State defeated UCF in the championship game, 80–69, to win their first Atlantic Sun men's basketball tournament.

The Trojans, therefore, received the Atlantic Sun's automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA tournament, their first appearance in the Division I tournament.

Format

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The Atlantic Sun's membership remained fixed at twelve, so no changes to the format were required. As such, only the top eight teams from the conference tournament were eligible for the tournament. These eight teams were seeded based on regular season conference records.

Bracket

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Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 6
Semifinals
Friday, March 7
Championship
Saturday, March 8
         
1 Mercer 73
8 Jacksonville 57
1 Mercer 59
5 UCF 79
4 Jacksonville State 51
5 UCF 68
5 UCF 69
3 Troy State 80
3 Troy State 70
6 Samford 54
3 Troy State 71
7 Georgia State 61
2 Belmont 58
7 Georgia State 76

References

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  1. ^ "2002-2003 Atlantic Sun Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.