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Memphis' 19-5 overall record (10-3 in the conference) leads the National Division.
AP
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Marquette
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Memphis
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Louisville
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Cincinnati
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Saint Louis
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UAB
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DePaul
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Charlotte
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Tulane
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South Florida
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Houston
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Southern Miss
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East Carolina
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TCU
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16-6
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The American Division's record against the National Division this season,
continuing the American's six-year dominance. Next year,
C-USA will do away with the divisions and be one 14-team league.
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"It was time to just go relax. There were no beers available. Nobody came and offered me a soft drink. I had just seen enough."
-- Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who drew two technicals with 11 minutes remaining against Cincinnati and was ejected in the Cardinals' 101-80 loss on Feb. 22.
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By Brett McMurphy, Special to SI.com
Last season, Memphis coach John Calipari would tell anyone who asked -- and even those who didn't -- that his Tigers deserved an NCAA tournament bid.
Despite a 22-7 record, the Tigers were bypassed on Selection Sunday and sent off to the NIT, where they reeled off five victories to claim the title.
"Did last year's NIT championship prove we deserved an NCAA bid?" Calipari asked. "It did when we were up 20 with two minutes to go and a lot of people on the [NCAA] Selection Committee shut off their TVs."
This season, the Tigers were tuned in from the start, posting impressive non-conference victories against Syracuse, Ole Miss, Illinois, Arkansas and Villanova. Memphis' 10-2 start had Calipari once again touting the Tigers as a tournament team.
When conference play arrived, Memphis lost three of four, and players began to bicker. The Tigers seemed headed back to defend their NIT title.
However, an 18-point win against Southern Miss on Feb. 1 turned things around. Since then, the Tigers have won eight consecutive games and are in contention for the C-USA regular-season title and the No. 1 seed at the C-USA tournament.
Calipari hasn't had to do much selling about the Tigers' NCAA tournament chances. He has let their play do the talking.
"We're rolling," Tigers senior center Earl Barron said.
During U of M's eight-game winning streak, only one victory has been by fewer than seven points. The Tigers' run earned them a spot in this week's
Associated Press poll at No. 24. Memphis is 19-5, 10-3 in C-USA entering a March 1 home game with Cincinnati.
Forward Chris Massie has played a big part in the Tigers' streak, posting double-doubles in their past seven contests.
"Teams are playing him like Shaq," Calipari said. "They're double-, triple-, quadruple-teaming him, and he's willing to pass. He's so unselfish."
Massie is an example of the Tigers' toughness -- he suffered a broken nose on Feb. 19 at Louisville and continues to dominate. The emergence of point guard Antonio Burks, who has been averaging 13 points, seven assists and only two turnovers during the winning streak, also has been huge.
What impresses Calipari the most, however, is the Tigers' commitment on the defensive end. After a 58-57 win at Tulane on Feb. 13, Calipari remarked: "We shot 36 percent and still won. A year, two years ago, we would have lost by 18. I couldn't convince them it was about defense and rebounding."
Calipari's certainly convinced them. In a nationally televised game at South Florida on Feb. 22, the Tigers shot only 31.8 percent from the field -- and won easily.
"I absolutely, emphatically love winning games when you shoot 31 percent, because that means you guarded, you didn't turn it over and you made free throws," Calipari said. "Because there's no other way to win the game. You can win every game that way."
The Tigers have made a believer of TCU coach Neil Dougherty.
"What you've got basically, if you want to sum it up, is a team that is trying to make a statement and get into the tournament and get a high seed in the tournament," Dougherty said. "We were in way over our heads. I like Memphis' basketball team and its components."
And, this year, so will the selection committee.
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To put a twist on Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine, "Wat's" at guard for Tulane? That's senior guard Waitari Marsh, known as "Wat" by his coaches and teammates.
Led by the 6-foot-3 Marsh, the Green Wave are 14-12 overall and 7-6 in
league play through Feb. 27, the most C-USA wins for Tulane since 2000.
Marsh has scored in double figures in 14 of the past 15 games and leads the team with 17.8 points per game in league games, ranking fifth in C-USA.
Perhaps the biggest evidence of his value, though, came in the eight games he has missed all or parts of due to a nagging ankle injury. Tulane is only 4-4 in those.
He also takes control in Tulane's biggest games. In three contests against
nationally ranked opponents, he averaged 25.3 points on 51.8
percent shooting, including 10-of-19 from 3-point range.
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HOT: Memphis
Since stumbling through a 1-3 stretch in January, the Tigers completed a
perfect 8-0 February by defeating TCU on Feb. 26.
NOT: East Carolina
The Pirates' 7-0 start is nothing but a long, distant memory. East Carolina has lost four consecutive games, six of its past seven and 11 of its past
13.
HOT: Saint Louis
Since losing consecutive games at Marquette and South Florida by a combined 11 points, the Billikens have won four in a row, including upsets of then No. 2 Louisville and Cincinnati.
NOT: TCU
A tough debut season for coach Neil Dougherty hasn't gotten any easier. The Horned Frogs have lost four consecutive games and nine of their past 10 contests.
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Maybe two seasons isn't enough time to judge a team, but perhaps Conference USA made a huge mistake by admitting East Carolina into the league.
C-USA announced in 1999 that ECU, already a football member, would join as a basketball member. A lot of C-USA coaches privately complained.
Apparently they were right. The Pirates are 8-22 in league play. All eight
wins have come at home with only one by more than 10 points. ECU is 0-15 on the road -- losing by an average margin of more than 18 points.
ECU's only league victories this season were a three-point upset of
Marquette (quality win), a six-point double-OT win against South Florida,
playing without its leading scorer and rebounder (lucky win) and a
three-point win of Southern Miss (ho-hum win).
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 Saint Louis' Marque Perry
Perry is quickly turning into one of college basketball's top clutch
performers. A week after hitting the game-winning basket with 3.2 seconds
left to beat Louisville, Perry hit the game-winner with two seconds left to beat DePaul on Feb. 22.
Marquette's Dwyane Wade
Wade had two solid all-around games -- averaging 21.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, five assists and three steals -- leading the Golden Eagles to wins against Charlotte and TCU and into sole possession of first place in C-USA.
Cincinnati's Leonard Stokes
A senior guard, Stokes scored a season-best 31 points, 16 in the first half, to spark Cincinnati's 101-80 win vs. Louisville. Stokes also had 18 points against Saint Louis on Feb. 18.
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Less than two weeks ago, Louisville was riding the nation's longest winning streak at 17 games. The Cardinals also looked to be closing in on an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed.
Then the Cardinals blew a seven-point lead in the final two minutes to fall at Saint Louis 59-58 on Feb. 12. Louisville rebounded with a 73-70 victory at Marquette three days later on Reece Gaines' game-winner.
On Feb. 19, though, Memphis handled Louisville 80-73 in Freedom Hall, and on Feb. 22, the Cardinals were routed at Cincinnati 101-80.
That gives the Cardinals' rematch with Marquette on Feb. 27 added significance if Louisville is going to avoid a fourth loss in its past
five games.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he won't judge his team based on the poor showing at Cincinnati.
"Now our backs are to the wall for the first time this year," Pitino said.
"We were No. 1 in the Sagarin [ratings] for most of the year and No. 1 in
the RPI, and everybody was telling our guys how great they were.
"Now it's going to be a lonely corridor in your dormitory. It's going to be lonely at my house. My wife won't speak to me. I'll be on the couch tonight and we'll see what happens and have a big game on [Feb. 27]."
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Cincinnati's Tony Bobbitt scored 25 points in the Bearcats' 101-80 victory against Louisville. It was Bobbitt's best game since scoring 29 points against Oregon on Dec. 17. "We can count on Tony about once a month," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. ... Marquette's Tom Crean and Louisville's Rick Pitino have been named among the 25 finalists for the 2002-03 Naismith National College Basketball Coach of the Year Award. ... For the first time this season, C-USA has three teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll -- No. 10 Marquette, No. 11 Louisville and No. 24 Memphis. ... In DePaul's past six games, Sam Hoskin is averaging 18.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. ... Houston's Louis Truscott had his conference-leading 13th double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds), but it wasn't enough in a loss at UAB on Feb. 22. ... Despite playing with a broken right (shooting) thumb, South Florida center Will McDonald had 21 points and 11 rebounds against
Memphis. He also had eight turnovers, though. ... UAB's Morris Finley needed only 22 minutes to hit a career-high seven 3-pointers in the Blazers' rout of Houston. UAB had 15 steals, increasing its season total to 286, the most in the nation. ... Through Feb. 25, C-USA has six of the nation's top 54 teams in the RPI ratings -- Louisville (10), Marquette (14), Cincinnati (23), Memphis (30), DePaul (42) and Saint Louis (54).
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