A week ago, the Queens Royals muscled through an emotional overtime win that stamped their ticket to the NCAA Tournament and launched them into the greater college basketball consciousness.
Since then, it’s all been gravy.
Even when Queens’ opponent came to the fore on Sunday.
The Queens University of Charlotte men’s basketball team learned Sunday evening that it would be a No. 15 seed and play No. 2-seeded Purdue in St. Louis in the first round of March Madness. Tip off is set for Friday at 7:35 p.m. Fans can watch it on TruTV, according to a report from CBS Sports.
The players and coaches received the news just like the rest of us did, via the CBS Selection Show, the television program that sets the bracket for the NCAA Tournament each year. The Royals were surrounded by the hundreds of people who descended on the campus in Charlotte to celebrate the team reaching its NCAA Tournament dreams — including several of the school’s top officials, many of whom know just how far the program has come in such a short amount of time.
“It really does take a village,” Queens head coach Grant Leonard told the crowd on-hand in the Levine Center, referencing the fans as well as the athletic department’s support staff. “Go Royals!”
Queens senior guard Nasir Mann dribbles down the court in the ASUN championship game on March 8, 2026. Queens beat Central Arkansas in overtime, 98-93, and Mann was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Todd Drexler Courtesy of Atlantic Sun conference
The crowd was elated on Sunday. And connected. Everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when they learned Queens wasn’t the No. 16 team tasked with taking on overall No. 1 seed Duke, and the crowd made it clear they are clearly embracing the challenging matchup with Purdue, the Big 10 Tournament champion.
As far as the basketball team is concerned, Queens is up for any challenge, Leonard said. Leonard awarded himself and his team about 90 minutes after Selection Sunday to treasure the moment before the court was cleared and a practice took place.
“Today’s surreal,” Leonard said. “Could be maybe the biggest moment in school history with all the unique things that have happened. But winning that game, and then having Selection Sunday here, and that crowd was amazing. Glad to be a part of it.”
Queens will have its work cut out for itself on Friday. Purdue, after all, is supremely talented — point guard Braden Smith is now second all-time in career assists in NCAA history — and have one of the best frontcourts in the country. The Royals, however, might not be fazed by Purdue’s forwards; that’s the benefit of playing such a difficult non-conference schedule. Among the tougher opponents the Royals played prior to their ASUN season: Villanova, Virginia, Furman, Wake Forest, Arkansas and Auburn.
The Queens University of Charlotte men’s basketball team celebrates while viewing the NCAA selection show on CBS on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at Curry Arena. They are a No. 15 seed and will play Purdue. TRACY KIMBALL
“I think scheduling a difficult (slate) in the non-conference is really important,” said Leonard, who took over the team in March 2022, the same year Queens moved up to Division I. And yes, he acknowledged how rare it is to move from Division II assistant to Division I head coach in the same offseason in Sunday’s presser.
“You learn a lot of lessons early so that you can fix them for conference,” Leonard continued. “Our guys will be prepared. They won’t be shocked by Purdue’s size. But they’re an unbelievable opponent. We’re going to go there not to smell the roses but to really show them how Queens basketball goes.”
Queens head coach Grant Leonard celebrates after the Royals won the Atlantic Sun championship on Sunday, March 8, 2026 in Jacksonville, Fla. The win over Central Arkansas gave Queens its first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament. Todd Drexler Courtesy of Atlantic Sun conference How Queens made it here
At a glance, it might look like Queens didn’t break much of a sweat getting to Sunday’s moment. You’d be wrong — but you’d also be forgiven.
The program, after all, earned its first NCAA Tournament berth as soon it was eligible to do so, in its fourth year as a Division I basketball program. Originally, the school, which made the leap up from Division II dominance in 2023, wasn’t allowed to earn berths in any end-of-season NCAA Tournaments until it served a four-year mandated transition phase. In other words, the basketball program couldn’t partake in March Madness even if it won the ASUN through the 2026-27 season.
Then, in June 2025, Queens University of Charlotte announced it had received full NCAA Division I status after just three years following the Division I Council’s vote in January that shortened the reclassification period for schools going D1. Postseason eligibility, thus, began this fall.
And although the Royals didn’t win the conference tournament in their first three years, there was still no D2-to-D1 precarity. Queens belonged immediately. The program proved so in its first men’s basketball game as a Division I school, in fact, defeating Marshall by one point on its home floor — the night’s delirium nearly bursting the roof off the school’s small gym, on its quaint campus, in Charlotte’s tranquil tree-lined neighborhood of Myers Park.
AJ McKee initiates the offense against Marshall in Queens’ first home men’s basketball game as a Division I program on Nov. 7, 2022, in the Levine Center. Amy Hart Photo courtesy of Queens University of Charlotte
Queens found more victories over the years. Especially this year. There was a massive triumph before the year even began, in fact, when the program landed Jordan Watford, the No. 1-ranked recruit in all of South Carolina. Watford, a 6-foot-5, 185-pound freshman, arrived by way of Lancaster High School and averages 11.9 points and 3.8 assists per game — and does so, even, despite coming off the bench, a flex of the team’s depth.
There were plenty other wins in 2025-26 as well. The team went 18-13 (10-5 ASUN) through the regular season, clinching its third winning season in four years. And then came a run through the ASUN Tournament that featured two drama-free wins and then the most important victory of all — a 98-93 overtime thriller over top-seeded Central Arkansas.
That all led to Selection Sunday, with the coaches capturing the spectacle on their phones; community members who’d been tailgating since 3:30 p.m. waiving pom-poms; and players dressed in gray jumpsuits and their hooping shoes, ready to keep living a dream, one that was realized quickly, maybe, but not easily.
“This moment isn’t just about us,” Leonard said. “It’s for the whole community. The whole school. For us, it’s going to do unbelievable things for the entire institution, from admissions to our athletic department. You’ve seen this steady growth over four years. You’ve seen it with our team, and now the university is going to get rewarded for it.”
Nasir Mann (center, with trophy) celebrates with his Queens teammates after the Royals made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time with a win in the ASUN championship game over Central Arkansas on March 8, 2026, in Jacksonville, Florida. Todd Drexler Courtesy of Atlantic Sun conference
This story was originally published March 15, 2026 at 6:26 PM.
The Charlotte Observer
Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22.
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