JACKSONVILLE, Fla., - After taking over the Men’s Basketball program in 2022, head coach Grant Leonard has steered Queens University of Charlotte through a masterclass in reclassification. Now, in the 2025-26 season, the Royals' first as full, postseason-eligible Division I member, the program is living up to the expectations placed on them by their peers.
Queens University of Charlotte entered the reclassification period in July 2022 after being a national powerhouse at the Division II level. Queens completed the transition period in three years as opposed to the traditional four year window. Coach Leonard credits this to the NCAA’s effectiveness.
“Hats off to the NCAA," said Leonard. “They get a lot of bad publicity, but thank you to them for giving us some light at the end of the tunnel.”
An opportunity to play in the postseason is every student-athletes dream, a dream that was not attainable for Royals student-athletes until this season.
“The last couple of years, our guys weren't able to even have that as a dream. But they stayed disciplined and stayed with the process and worked really hard and got better and prepared us for this moment now”, said the Royals head coach.
In their first postseason-eligible year, Queens was named preseason favorites in the coaches poll, voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches, last October. Leonard uses this to keep his team motivated and focused.
“I think it starts as a target, " said Leonard. “When you're voted to be number one and then you're in first place, you're going to get everyone's best shot.”
The Royals have picked up some gritty road wins this season with guys like graduate student Chris Ashby, leading the way. Ashby was unanimously named Preseason Player of the Year but has faced some adversity this season.
“Chris has had a couple of tough shooting nights this year, " said Leonard. “It hasn't affected our overall performance because we have enough offensive talent behind him like Nasir Mann and Yoav Berman, it doesn't just have to be Chris making threes to get us over the hump”.
The Queens Men’s Basketball program has been built on the “street dog mentality”. A mentality that embodies exactly what Coach Leonard wants to see out of his team each time they step onto a court. Leonard asked his team an important question over the summer: “Are you guys a street dog? Are you really hungry? Or are you a pet-grown dog where every meal gets fed to you.”
Naturally, the team decided they were street dogs leading Leonard to “adopt” a small dog statue known around Charlotte as Street Dog Buddy. Leonard awards Buddy to “the guy who goes after the ball, the guy who does all the tough stuff. It's not the guy who scores the most points. It's the guy who does the toughest stuff."
Coach Grant Leonard loves to see his team do the “tough stuff” because the “tough stuff” is what will get the Royals in position to win their first Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) tournament title. Queens will make the trip to Jacksonville to compete in the 2026 ASUN Basketball Tournament which will mark the first time the event has been held at a neutral-site. VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in downtown Jacksonville, will serve as the host of the event taking place March 3 through March 9.
Leonard knows this is a big opportunity for his team that currently sits at 10-4 in conference play, but the Queens program is no stranger to the ASUN Tournament. They have earned wins in the Tournament for three consecutive years (2023-25), but this years’ tournament is the first time the Royals can break through the so-called "glass ceiling" with their newfound postseason eligibility.
Leonard has expressed immense enthusiasm for this shift, “We’re super excited about the first-time neutral site ASUN Tournament in Jacksonville,” said Leonard. The neutral environment provides a fresh stage for the Royals to showcase the winning culture they have carefully cultivated throughout their journey to the Division I level.
“It could be our first opportunity to win a regular season title," said Leonard “We're putting ourselves in a position to do that.”
The ASUN’s shift to a neutral-site tournament in Jacksonville levels the playing field at the exact moment Queens is permitted to chase the ultimate prize. For a program that has spent years disciplined in the shadows of transition, this neutral stage offers a chance to join the short list of teams that have punched their ticket to the big dance in their very first year of eligibility.
Reflecting on the gravity of this moment, Coach Grant Leonard noted, "There's a season of firsts here, and our guys are handling it incredibly well". With the "Street Dog" mentality firmly intact and a chance to make history on a neutral floor, the Royals aren't just participating in their first eligible postseason, they are positioned to redefine the expectations of what a transition program can achieve.