The upstart Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (15-16, 8-10 A-Sun) will be making a surprise appearance in the 2012 Atlantic Sun Championship Game when they take on the top-seeded Belmont Bruins (26-7, 16-2) on Saturday night.
Florida Gulf Coast beat No. 2 seed Mercer 62-58 on Friday to advance to the title game. The Eagles are the third straight No. 6 seed to reach the Atlantic Sun Championship Game, joining last year's North Florida team and Mercer in 2010.
Belmont, the best team in the Atlantic Sun all season long, topped East Tennessee State 69-61 on Friday to face Florida Gulf Coast in the title game. The Bruins are now 8-0 as the No. 1 see in the conference tournament, and this will be their fifth championship final. Belmont is 4-0 in their previous final appearances.
The Bruins are 7-2 all-time against the Eagles, including a Belmont season sweep of Florida Gulf Coast this season.
The championship game is set to tipoff at 7:00 PM EST, and can be seen on ESPN2.
We'll have more on the Atlantic Sun Championship Game here at SB Nation Tampa Bay, so keep it locked for all the latest news and updates. For more on this and every NCAAB game, please head over to the SB Nation College Basketball hub page.