The latest Sagarin Rankings has the Atlantic Sun ranked #17 out of the 33 basketball playing conferences.

This places the ASC ahead of the Southern #18, MAC #20, Big South #23, and Sun Belt #25.

Three ASC schools are in the Top 100. Belmont is #44, JU is #92, and Lipscomb is #94.

I think that the quality of play, players and coaches in this league is underestimated by a lot of folks.

I hope JU and Belmont keep up the hot streaks. They both are looking tough.

I think Belmont, Lipscomb, Jacksonville and Campbell will vie for the championship again this year. The teams in the conference are all improving and anyone can beat anyone else on a given night. Hope we can beat Belmont this year.

Can't argue with those 4 right now.

Warren Nolan has the Atlantic Sun #14 of 33. The conference is currently 30-38 in OOC games vs. Div 1 teams.

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2011/conferencerpi

Comparable conferences: Southern #21, Sun Belt #23, Big South #24, Ohio Valley #30.

Hopefully this is a sign of ASUN teams stepping up their athletic departments lately, plus the Div-II transfer teams are almost all fully eligible now.

EDIT: Also, 4 teams currently in top 100 RPI: Lipscomb 46, Jacksonville 76, Belmont 83, ETSU 98.