By Brett McMurphy, Special to CNNSI.com
The Conference USA Tournament begins Wednesday, but the real tournament
won't start until Thursday.
That's when top seeds Cincinnati, Marquette, Memphis and Charlotte play
their opening games against the survivors of Wednesday's bottom feeders.
Although two of the past three champions have been teams seeded fifth or
lower, it's doubtful anyone in the Houston, Saint Louis, Louisville and
South Florida mix have the depth to string together four games in four days.
Thursday's quarterfinal action will take on greater importance with No. 4
seed Charlotte and No. 3 seed Memphis needing another victory or two to
improve their status in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Thursday's quarterfinals and Friday's semifinals may be viewed as NCAA
tournament play-in games by the NCAA Selection Committee.
Regardless of what happens this week at Cincinnati's Firstar Center, No. 1
seed Cincinnati (27-3, 14-2) and No. 2 seed Marquette (24-5, 13-3) already
have secured NCAA Tournament berths.
The only thing a poor showing can do to the Bearcats and Golden Eagles is
possibly effect their NCAA seeding.
Charlotte and Memphis don't have that luxury.
With Conference USA's poor overall RPI ranking (eighth) among the nation's
conferences, there is no guarantee C-USA will earn more than the two bids it
received last season.
The 49ers open against the Saint Louis-Tulane winner, while the Tigers
play the Houston-East Carolina winner.
Charlotte (17-10, 11-5) has played a much stronger schedule than Memphis (22-8, 12-4) and defeated the Tigers 75-63 on Feb. 12. However, the
49ers suffered a costly loss to Louisville on Saturday.
Will the 49ers' strength of schedule (the league's toughest and 21st
toughest nationally) and RPI (37) be able to compensate for upset losses to
Louisville and Saint Louis and a 3-4 record in their last seven games
entering the league tournament?
Charlotte also is carrying the baggage of a 1-6 record against Top 50 RPI
teams.
Memphis could have helped its cause greatly on Sunday, but the Tigers fell
in overtime at Cincinnati 80-75. A victory against the Bearcats
would have given Memphis the quality win it's been without all season.
The highest rated RPI team Memphis defeated this season was No. 64
Tennessee, in addition to two victories against No. 73 South Florida. The Tigers have
not beaten an NCAA caliber team this season and that doesn't exactly help
their NCAA tournament hopes.
Memphis coach John Calipari has said 20-plus wins and the National
Division title warrants an invitation to the Big Dance. However, Southern
Miss accomplished both last season and had to settle for the NIT.
To guarantee an at-large bid, the Tigers likely must reach the C-USA
final, which would mean a semifinal victory against Marquette or Louisville.
If Memphis falls short of Saturday's championship, the Tigers' must hope a
fifth-seed or worse doesn't win the league title.
Of the bottom eight seeds, No. 7 Louisville (17-11, 8-8) is the most
dangerous. The Cardinals are only 5-5 in their last 10, but enter off
consecutive upsets of Cincinnati and Charlotte. First-year Cards coach Rick
Pitino has worked wonders with a team that revolves around Reece Gaines.
Houston (16-13, 9-7) appears the only other darkhorse that could make a
run at the league title. The Cougars have won four of their last five,
excluding one game when they played without three suspended starters. Two of
those starters, Dominic Smith and Louis Truscott, have returned, and the
Cougars already have proven they can win away from home, winning at Memphis
two weeks ago.
Led by Marque Perry, surprising Saint Louis (15-15, 9-7) rallied to earn
the fifth seed and has the defense capable of pulling off a surprise or two.
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Instead of featuring a Rising Star this week, how about one of the
league's most underappreciated stars?
In league play, he ranks among the's conference's top scoring/rebounding
players, yet when Southern Miss senior Elvin Mims didn't earn first-team
all-league honors.
Perhaps the Golden Eagles' poor season and Mims' suspension from USM's
first two conference games contributed to Mims' stellar senior season going
largely unnoticed.
A transfer last year from Okaloosa-Walton Community College, Mims made an
immediate impact in his first game back from his suspension for breaking
team rules. Against UAB on Jan. 12, Mims helped the Golden Eagles hold the
Blazers to 36 points, tying the conference mark for fewest points allowed in
the 50-36 victory.
Since returning on Jan. 12, the 6-foot-5 forward closed out his career
averaging 19.4 points and 8.3 rebounds, being the conference's only player
to rank among the top six scorers and top 10 rebounders.
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HOT: Saint Louis
Two weeks ago the Billikens lost to Georgia Tech 60-40. Since then they've
reeled off four consecutive victories, the league's longest current streak
entering the conference tournament.
NOT: DePaul
The Blue Demons' free fall is finally over -- and so is their season. DePaul
closed on a six-game losing streak and will be watching the C-USA Tournament
from home.
HOT: Louisville
The Cardinals' upset of No. 4 Cincinnati marked Louisville's second victory
against a top five opponent in three seasons. It also improved U of L to
8-5 all-time against No. 4 foes.
NOT: East
Carolina
Yes, the Pirates shocked Marquette at home last week, but Saturday's loss at
TCU dropped ECU to 0-11 on the road. ECU's last win away from Greenville was
Nov. 15 vs. Northwestern and that was at a neutral site (Raleigh, N.C.).
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Maybe this week, this feature should be titled: "And I Was Thinking What?"
With that warning, if you're into trends, tea leaves, magic 8-balls and
The Twilight Zone, have I got a scoop for you -- Cincinnati's Bob Huggins is
coaching his final season with the Bearcats.
Forget his ties to Denver Nuggets' management or the speculation on a
possible return to coach at alma mater West Virginia. Huggins will not return next season because
Cincinnati is hosting this year's Conference USA tournament.
At last year's event in Louisville, Denny
Crum paced the sideline in his Cardinal blazer for the final time as the
school successfully courted Rick Pitino. And two years ago at Memphis? Even though Tigers coach Johnny Jones guided the 11th-seeded Tigers to an opening round upset
of No. 6 South Florida, Jones' stint in Memphis ended the next day when the
Tigers lost to DePaul. Shortly after that, John Calipari was introduced as Memphis' coach.
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Louisville's Ellis Myles
Myles had his fifth double-double (18 points, 12 rebounds) as the Cardinals
upset Cincinnati. Myles, who entered the game hitting less than 45 percent
of his free throws, also made six of nine free throws vs. the Bearcats.
East Carolina's Moussa Badiane
Badiane blocked five shots in the Pirates' upset of Marquette. It marked the
eighth time this season the 6-foot-10 freshman had at least five blocks. His
84 blocks this season rank as the third-best total in league history.
South Florida's B.B. Waldon
In his final home game, Waldon had 26 points and 18 rebounds against
Houston. Waldon, who will undergo surgery on both knees after the season,
passed Hakim Shahid as the school's all-time leading rebounder. "Maybe
there's some magic left in those knees," USF coach Seth Greenberg said.
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Can't wait until Saturday's final to find out who will win this year's
league tournament? Don't worry, we've done all the homework to provide this
year's tournament champion.
First let's eliminate the teams with absolutely no chance. Take the six
National Division clubs that qualified -- Memphis, Houston, South Florida,
UAB, TCU and Tulane -- and cross them off.
Yes, Memphis features center Kelly Wise and freshman of the year Dajuan
Wagner and is coming off an impressive overtime showing at Cincinnati on
Sunday. However, that is enough to end the American Division's stranglehold
on the league tournament.
Since 1998 when C-USA went to the American-National Division format, an
American Division team has won the league title each year. In fact, a
National Division team has never even reached the final.
With the prospective champions now reduced to the six American teams --
Cincinnati, Marquette, Charlotte, Saint Louis, Louisvile and East Carolina
-- let's toss out East Carolina. The Pirates are a lowly 11 seed and just
happy to be here.
Saint Louis? If the Rams can't win the big one, neither can the Billikens.
The easy pick would be Cincinnati, but the Bearcats have looked especially
vulnerable in the last two weeks. Although it's playing in its home city,
Cincinnati has its sights focused on the bigger picture (NCAA tournament).
That leaves Charlotte, Marquette and Louisville. Although Charlotte has
won two of the last three league tournaments and needs a deep run to
strengthen its NCAA hopes, there has never been a repeat tournament
champion. There won't be one this year.
So we're left with Marquette and Louisville. Since the Golden Eagles and
Cardinals are slated to meet in Thursday's quarterfinal, we'll take the
Marquette-Louisville survivor to roll to the league tournament.
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If there are any first-round upsets on Wednesday, don't expect those
Cinderellas to hang around much longer. Excluding Saint Louis, which upset a
Kenyon Martin -less Cincinnati in 2000, lower-seeded teams that win their
opening game are 0-8 on the tournament's second day. In the league's
six-year history, the higher seeded teams are 41-24. Only in 2000 when No. 9
seed Saint Louis won the league tournament have lower seeded teams finished
with a winning record against the higher seeded teams. ... Wondering why
DePaul didn't advance to the C-USA Tournament? In league road games, the
Blue Demons allowed C-USA teams an average of 13 points more than their overall season average, including league-highs scored by Cincinnati (89 points),
Louisville (97) and Saint Louis (92). ... Cincinnati is the only school that
hasn't been jinxed by hosting the league tournament. In the tournament's
six-year history, Cincinnati (in 1998) is the only host team to reach the
final, capturing the title that season. ... Memphis coach John Calipari and
Kansas coach Roy Williams have agreed to a home-and-home series beginning
with the 2003-04 season. Calipari started his college coaching career as a
Kansas graduate assistant under Ted Owens and later was an assistant under
Larry Brown at KU. ... After a 7-0 start, this appeared to be the
year South Florida seniors Altron Jackson and B.B. Waldon would finally reach the
NCAA tournament. However, the Bulls split their final 22 regular-season
games, including a 1-8 mark against Top 100 RPI teams. More damaging is
coach Seth Greenberg's six-year 2-11 record in March. ... Since the inception of the American-Division
format in 1998, the American Division owns a whopping 117-54 record against
National Division clubs, including a 19-8 advantage this season.
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