After winning the program's third consecutive Atlantic Sun title and becoming one of only six schools to earn automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament the past three years, Belmont nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tourney history. The 15th-seeded Bruins lost 71-70 to second-seeded Duke in the first round.

Belmont was the talk of the tournament's first weekend for a near-win. Now the question is: Can the Bruins get over the hump?

"The fact that we're now a team that everybody's going to shoot for a little bit, we're more likely to get everyone's best, and so you have to be a little bit better team," said Belmont coach Rick Byrd, in his 23rd year at the Nashville school.

Byrd's bunch remains the favorite to claim its fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, but the gap in the conference is shrinking. Jacksonville, last year's runner-up, returns all five starters, as does Stetson. And East Tennessee State and Lipscomb both figure to improve.

"It's going to be the best year (for the Atlantic Sun)," said Byrd. "It's probably the best overall our conference has been in some time. Our level of play has to rise."

Replacing leading scorer and first-team all-conference guard Justin Hare (14.7 points per game) will be the biggest challenge, though guard Shane Dansby (13.4 ppg), a preseason all-conference selection, and senior forward Matthew Dotson (11.4 ppg, 72 3-pointers made) are more than capable of picking up the slack.

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