JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After winning its first Atlantic Sun Conference men’s basketball tournament championship, Queens earned the No.15 seed in the West Region in the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, announced on the NCAA selection show on Sunday. The Royals will take on the No. 2 seed Purdue on Friday, March 20 in St. Louis, Mo. Tip time will be announced at a later date.
Queens (21-13) earned the automatic bid after defeating Central Arkansas in the program’s first-ever trip to the ASUN Basketball Championship game. The Royals are in just their fourth season as an NCAA Division I program after reclassifying in 2022 while becoming a full NCAA Division I member in July 2025.
This will be Queens’ first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Basketball
2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship
NCAA First Round – Friday, March 20, 2026
No. 15 Queens vs. No. 2 Purdue – St. Louis, Mo., West Region
About the Atlantic Sun Conference
The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN), founded in 1978, is an NCAA Division I conference sponsoring twenty-two (22) sports and championships. Composed of twelve (12) destination-based institutions spread throughout the southeastern United States, ASUN members include Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, Tenn.), Bellarmine University (Louisville, Ky.), the University of Central Arkansas (Conway, Ark.), Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond, Ky.), Florida Gulf Coast University (Fort Myers, Fla.), Jacksonville University (Fla.), Lipscomb University (Nashville, Tenn.), the University of North Alabama (Florence, Ala.), the University of North Florida (Jacksonville, Fla.), Queens University of Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.), Stetson University (DeLand, Fla.), and the University of West Georgia (Carrollton, Ga.).