Steve Logan and the Bearcats don't have to worry about getting an NCAA bid. Jonathan Daniel/Allsport
1
Cincinnati
2
Marquette
3
Charlotte
4
Memphis
5
Saint Louis
6
South Florida
7
Houston
8
Louisville
9
UAB
10
Tulane
11
East Carolina
12
TCU
13
Southern Miss
14
DePaul
42
Points scored by TCU's Junior Blount at Tulane, breaking the C-USA record of 41 set by Cincinnati's Steve Logan . It also was the fourth-best performance in the 70-year history of Fogelman Arena; LSU's Pete
Maravich owns the top three marks.
"Playing them in Cincinnati is like going to a new school and you
walk in the door and the first guy that grabs you asks you for your lunch
money. If you give up your lunch money, you are going to be giving it up
every day. If you say, "I am going to carry my lunch," guys will be saying,
'What are we eating today?'"
-- Memphis coach John Calipari about the Tigers' challenge on Sunday when
they visit No. 4 Cincinnati.
By Brett McMurphy, Special to CNNSI.com
With less than a week left in the regular season, only Cincinnati and
Marquette have established themselves as NCAA tournament worthy.
The Bearcats are fighting for a No. 1 seed. Surprise Marquette appeared
to have an outside shot at a No. 2 seed until Tuesday's upset at East
Carolina.
Regardless of how the Bearcats and Golden Eagles fare at next week's league
tournament, they've secured bids to the Big Dance.
The rest of the league, however, isn't as clear cut.
Charlotte and Memphis believe they should receive an at-large bid. But
there are no guarantees considering C-USA received only two bids last
season.
Charlotte (17-9, 11-4) appears to have the best shot. The 49ers have the
league's third-highest RPI (30 through Monday) and are 10-3 in their last 13
games. The 49ers' schedule also ranks among the nation's 25 toughest.
Charlotte's non-conference schedule included Indiana, Temple, Florida and
Miami. Competing in C-USA's tougher American Division, the 49ers also
played the top four teams from the National Division.
"I can't control who [the NCAA selection committee] is looking at,"
Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "All I know is if you win 10 games in this
division of this league and play the top four in the other division, I think
we've distinguished ourselves. Obviously we have more to do, but I think
we've put ourselves in a great position."
The 49ers opened league play with an impressive victory against
Marquette, but on the season are only 1-6 against Top 50 RPI teams.
Memphis coach John Calipari thinks his Tigers (22-7, 12-3) also are NCAA
worthy, especially since senior Kelly Wise has returned from a knee injury.
The Tigers began league play with 10 consecutive victories. After Wise
went down with a knee injury, the Tigers dropped three straight.
Since his return, Memphis has posted impressive victories against South
Florida and DePaul.
"They should look at this [Wise's return] and say, 'You're not the same
team without Kelly Wise,' and I'll look them in the eye and say 'You are
correct,'" Calipari said. "But he is back, so if we can finish strong it
puts the onus on them."
Calipari said losing Wise for three games is similar to when Cincinnati
lost Kenyon Martin to a knee injury in 2000 and dropped from a No. 1 seed to
No. 2.
Maybe so, but the biggest knocks against the Tigers are their RPI (59th)
and their weak non-conference schedule. Eight of their non-league opponents
don't even rank among the Top 175 RPI teams, including Christian Brothers, a
non-Division I club.
Memphis was 2-4 against Top 100 RPI non-conference teams -- defeating
Tennessee and Temple and losing to Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Iowa.
In league play, the Tigers' most notable accomplishment was sweeping an
underachieving South Florida team that appears headed to the NIT. Memphis
didn't play Marquette and lost at Charlotte by 12.
Memphis has the chance to solidify its NCAA hopes Sunday when the Tigers
visit the Bearcats.
If they don't pull off the upset at Cincinnati, they likely must
reach the conference tournament final to solidify their NCAA hopes.
Unlike past seasons (1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000) when Conference USA
received four NCAA bids, the league might only receive three this season.
If USF, Saint Louis, Louisville or another middle of the road team wins
the league tournament and gets the automatic berth, it's very unlikely
Charlotte and Memphis each would get at-large bids.
Especially not from a league that stands eighth in RPI conference rankings,
behind even the Mountain West.
While Cincinnati and Marquette can compete with anyone in the country,
there is a big drop-off after that. Another factor hurting the league's
chances for more than three bids is a 3-15 record against non-conference
ranked opponents.
Memphis features a projected NBA lottery pick in freshman Dajuan Wagner.
However, when picking the Tigers' MVP this season, look no further than
senior Kelly Wise.
"It's obvious we're a different team with Kelly Wise,"
Calipari said. "We're just not the same team without him. I hate to say
that, that we rely on him that much. It's not what he does for himself, it's for what he does for his
teammates."
With Wise, the Tigers roared to a 20-4 start, including a perfect 10-0
league record. In Memphis' next three games, Wise sat out two contests and
played sparingly in a third with a right knee strain.
Memphis lost all three -- double-digit defeats at UAB and Charlotte and a
three-point home loss to Houston when the Tigers blew a late eight-point
lead.
With the Tigers' season circling the drain, Wise returned last week
against South Florida. He finished with 12 points and nine rebounds as the
Tigers defeated USF.
HOT: UAB's Eric Bush
The Blazers' point guard never left the court in UAB's double overtime
victory against South Florida. Bush played all 50 minutes and finished with
a career-high 18 points.
NOT: Tulane
Since a 3-2 start in league play, the Green Wave have dropped eight of their
last 11, including three straight.
HOT: Southern
Miss' Elvin Mims
In leading USM to consecutive victories for the first time since
mid-December, Mims had 20 points and 11 rebounds at Arkansas-Little Rock and
32 points and 10 rebounds vs. TCU.
NOT: South
Florida
In coach Seth Greenberg's six seasons at USF, the Bulls have wilted after
Valentine's Day, going 14-26. The Bulls are also 1-8 vs. Top 100 RPI teams
since Dec. 1 this year.
Houston's postseason hopes took a huge hit when four Cougars,
including three starters, were suspended Sunday. Sophomore guard Kevin
Gaines, senior guard Dominic Smith, junior guard Marcus Oliver and junior
forward Louis Truscott were suspended by coach Ray McCallum.
Gaines will not return this season following his arrest in Greenville,
N.C., where the Cougars lost to East Carolina on Saturday. The length of suspensions for Smith, Oliver and Truscott is unknown.
A transfer from Michigan, Gaines was averaging 10 points and a team-high
5.5 assists. Police records indicate he was arrested early Sunday morning and
charged with assaulting a female in Greenville.
Truscott, who was named C-USA's co-player of the week last
week, was averaging 13.1 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds. Smith, who hit
game-winning shots the last two weeks against Memphis and Tulane, was
averaging a team-high 15.6 points along with 2.8 assists.
Police records indicate Gaines was arrested early Sunday morning and
charged with assaulting a female in Greenville.
East Carolina's Travis Holcomb-Faye
Holcomb-Faye had 12 of his 15 points in the second half, sparking the
Pirates to an upset of No. 9 Marquette on Tuesday. It was East Carolina's
first victory against a Top 10 team since the program's inception in 1960.
Charlotte's Cam Stephens
Stephens had 18 points and seven rebounds against Marquette and then notched
his 12th double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds against Tulane. In the
past week, Stephens shot 72 percent from the floor. His is averaging 14.7
ponts and 10 rebounds in league play.
Memphis' Antonio Burks
With South Florida giving Burks uncontested shots, the sophomore point guard
scored a career-high 26 points. "I knew I was due for a game like that,"
Burks said. Ironically, Burks previous career high was also set against USF
(16 points in January).
Although the Conference USA tournament isn't until next week, DePaul and
Southern Miss have already started looking toward next year.
With league's expansion to 14 teams, only 12 teams advance to the
conference tournament. For the first time in league history, not every team
qualifies for the league tournament.
On Tuesday, DePaul and Southern Miss were eliminated.
The Blue Demons lost at home to Saint Louis, while the Golden Eagles fell at
UAB.
DePaul (9-18, 2-13) has been a mystery all season. The Blue Demons shocked
then-No. 10 Missouri on Dec. 29, but have since lost 13 of 15 conference
games. DePaul has had a lot of adversity -- player suspensions, coach Pat
Kennedy 's back injury, even a fan walkout to protest the direction of the program.
"This year I'd have to classify as one of the strangest I've ever had,"
Kennedy said.
Still it's mind-boggling a team of DePaul's tradition could finish in the
C-USA cellar.
For Southern Miss, coach James Green's club was cutting
down the nets just a year ago, celebrating the school's first C-USA regular season title.
Now a year later, they've struggled to a 3-12 league record, 9-17 overall.
Sure, the Golden Eagles, who lost several seniors off that team, had been expected to slip this season. But finishing with their worst record since
1985? No way.
The Blue Demons conclude their season Friday at Marquette, while the
Golden Eagles host South Florida.
"It's one of those fears whenever we play a Chicago kid coming back. He kind
of took the game over for them. No matter who we threw at him, he handled
it," said DePaul's Kennedy after Saint Louis' Marque Perry, who
played at Chicago's Prosser High School, scored a game-high 27 points at
DePaul. ... Memo to ABC/ESPN: It's D-w-y-a-n-e Wade, not Dwayne Wade of
Marquette. For the second consecutive game, ABC/ESPN misspelled Wade's
unique first name. ... Cincinnati's Bob Huggins and Marquette's Tom Crean
are among 20 finalists for the Naismith College Basketball Coach of the Year
Award. The winner will be honored in Atlanta on April 5. Cincinnati's Steve
Logan is a finalist for the Wooden and Naismith awards as the college player
of the year. Huggins was miffed that Logan, last year's C-USA player of the year,
was omitted from most preseason first-team All-American lists. "I can't find
five guys better than Steve," Huggins said. ... Houston's McCallum
picked up career win No. 150 last week vs. Tulane. ... Dick Vitale's all-league team: Logan, Wade, Wise, South Florida's Altron Jackson and Charlotte's Jobey Thomas. Notable
omissions: Memphis' Wagner, Louisville's Reece Gaines and Marquette's
Cordell Henry. ... USF is 0-4 on ESPN/ESPN2 this season prompting Greenberg to joke: "My friends think I can't coach worth a [crap]."
Against Houston on Tuesday, USF senior B.B. Waldon passed Hakim Shahid as
the school's all-time leading rebounder. PG Reggie Kohn also broke Chucky
Atkins' season assist record. ... Without any seniors to recognize on Senior
Night, Saint Louis honored senior student manager Declan O'Neill before
Friday's game with Louisville. The Billikens start four juniors and a
sophomore. ... Louisville coach Rick Pitino would welcome the chance to play
in the NIT. "I'm of the opinion if somebody said we could play games on the
outdoor courts across the street against the Outback All-Stars, I would do
it," he said. "Anytime you can play and get that experience, you do it." ...
Tulane has allowed more than 96 points in consecutive games for the first
time since 1980. "I'm dumbfounded," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said. "I can't
explain it and I'm extremely bothered by it."
Brett McMurphy covers Conference USA for The Tampa Tribune. His
"This Week in Conference USA" column will appear weekly during the season.
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East Carolina's Travis Holcomb-Faye
