‘A life-changing moment:’ Queens has made it to March Madness for the first time
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Queens wins ASUN tournament in OT over Central Arkansas to earn first NCAA tournament spot
- Head coach Grant Leonard praises his team, says March Madness ‘a life-changing moment’
- Queens sharpshooter Chris Ashby scores 34 with 10 threes; Selection Sunday is March 15
Queens, one of the best-kept secrets in college basketball, is a secret no more.
The Royals won the Atlantic Sun men’s basketball tournament Sunday afternoon by edging Central Arkansas in a thrilling overtime final, 98-93, in Jacksonville, Florida.
“It’s a life-changing moment for us,” Queens head coach Grant Leonard said in a phone interview with The Charlotte Observer following the game. “It’s going to be unbelievable for our admissions (department) and for the publicity for the school. I’m just so proud of everyone for believing.”
As the conference tournament’s No. 3 seed, Queens had to beat both the No. 2 seed (Austin Peay) and No. 1 Central Arkansas on back-to-back days to make it to March Madness in its first year of Division I eligibility. It also had to overcome losing an 11-point lead in the final 3:25 of regulation, as Central Arkansas guard Camren Hunter (49 points) took over the game.
“Hunter had a herculean effort and we took our foot off the pedal,” Leonard said. “Those last four minutes for them might have been my fault. I saw our guys kind of trying to back their way in (to a win). I should have called earlier timeouts and told them to attack, attack, attack. But we were able to do that in overtime and overcome their comeback.”
In overtime Queens (21-13) led from the start, shaking off that shaky final three minutes of regulation and punching its first NCAA Tournament ticket.
“It’s always the plan to go to the (NCAA) tournament in your first year of eligibility,” Leonard said, “but it’s almost impossible to accomplish. And we did. I’m just so proud of everyone — the administration and the entire coaching staff and all the players — for sticking with us through the tough times.”
Nestled in Charlotte’s Myers Park neighborhood, Queens University of Charlotte has an enrollment of fewer than 2,000 students and has announced plans to merge with Elon University. Both schools have said their athletic programs plan to remain separate entities for now.
Under former head coach Bart Lundy, Queens was a perennial Division II contender. It never won a national championship, but once won 30 or more games four times in six seasons.
Queens then decided to move up into the top classification of college sports in 2022, and this is the school’s fourth year of DI eligibility. In the first three seasons, Queens was in a mandated transition phase and couldn’t play in the NCAA’s March Madness even if it had qualified for the showcase event by winning the ASUN (which it didn’t).
But Queens did qualify Sunday, fulfilling a dream the school has long had, as Leonard directed the Royals to a Division I NCAA Tournament berth and the sort of publicity you just can’t buy as the tournament takes over the college sports world for most of March.
Sharpshooter Chris Ashby led the way for Queens, scoring 34 points and hitting an astonishing 10 3-pointers, many of them in transition when Queens attacked the Central Arkansas trap. Freshman Jordan Watford was also big for the Royals, with 19 points off the bench. The ASUN tournament MVP was Nasir Mann.
Queens will learn who and where it plays in the NCAA Tournament on March 15, which is Selection Sunday.
Queens will likely be around a No. 15 seed and face a tough first-round matchup against a No. 1 or No. 2 seed. But it now has more than a week to savor all that comes with an initial NCAA tourney appearance. It will be joined in the 68-team NCAA men’s field by a number of teams from the Carolinas, likely including High Point, Duke, UNC, Clemson and N.C. State.
Leonard said Queens would be totally willing to play in the “First Four” if it has to, but that he thinks the Royals’ seeding will be just high enough to prevent that. Still, he said, it doesn’t really matter who or where they play, only that Queens is in. Queens students are currently on spring break. But most will be back by March 15, and the school tentatively plans to have some sort of watch party in conjunction with the NCAA bids being announced.
“To reference poker, we just want a chip and a chair,” Leonard said, “and an opportunity to put our cards on the table.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2026 at 4:38 PM.
