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Dwayne Wade led Marquette to its first C-USA title. AP
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Marquette
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Memphis
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Louisville
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Saint Louis
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Cincinnati
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DePaul
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UAB
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Tulane
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Charlotte
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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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7
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Number of Cincinnati losses in 16 Conference USA games this season. In the previous three years, the Bearcats lost only seven of 48 regular-season C-USA contests.
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"That’s what made it sweet -- that we beat Cincinnati, the team that’s won it seven years in a row. They came in our house and we beat them. There’s a lot of people that will never forget this championship that Marquette won."
-- Marquette junior Dwyane Wade after the Golden Eagles won their first C-USA regular-season title.
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By Brett McMurphy, Special to SI.com
When the Conference USA tournament begins March 12, league officials will be able to sit back and enjoy the action at Louisville’s Freedom Hall with no worries.
Unlike past seasons when C-USA needed its NCAA tournament bubble teams to make strong C-USA tourney runs to pad their NCAA résumés, C-USA is set to receive a record-tying four NCAA bids on Selection Sunday.
Marquette, Memphis, Louisville and Cincinnati are locks for the NCAA tournament. And if surging Saint Louis can reach the C-USA final, which likely would include victories over Cincinnati and Marquette, the Billikens could give C-USA a record five bids.
The top-seeded Golden Eagles (23-4, 14-2 C-USA) could receive a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament if they capture the C-USA tournament. But Marquette should be seeded no lower than No. 2 regardless.
Red-hot Memphis (22-5, 13-3) continues to climb in the national polls and RPI rankings and should land a top four NCAA seed. Once in line for a No. 1 seed, Louisville (21-6, 11-5) still has enough firepower to remain a top four NCAA seed.
Cincinnati (17-10, 9-7) is in the unfamiliar position of not receiving a first-round bye in the C-USA tournament. However, the Bearcats already have enough quality wins -- Oregon, Oklahoma State and Louisville -- to secure an NCAA bid, likely somewhere between a six and eight seed.
In the latest RPI rankings, C-USA’s fab four all rank in the top 30 --
Marquette (No. 7), Louisville (No. 14), Cincinnati (No. 24) and Memphis (No.
27).
Saint Louis (15-12, 9-7) is next in the RPI rankings at No. 47, but the Billikens are one of the nation’s hottest teams, having won seven consecutive games.
However, Saint Louis coach Brad Soderberg said his team can’t afford to look ahead.
"I’m sure our players have checked the [RPI] Web sites, but we haven’t talked about it as a team," Soderberg said. "We just want to deal with the game at hand."
“The best thing we can do is try to win games. If we get to the [C-USA] finals are we in? I don’t know. For us to to play on Saturday [in the final], we have to win on Thursday and Friday. I would think if we got to the final, with a top-10 ranked schedule [actually No. 15], we would have won nine in a row, so hopefully that stuff will make a difference."
DePaul (16-11, 8-8), which has shown marked improvement from last year, has fallen off the NCAA tournament bubble, but will receive an NIT bid. Saint Louis, if it doesn’t reach NCAAs, and UAB (16-11, 8-8) also should be NIT bound.
Tulane (15-14, 8-8) and South Florida (14-13, 7-9) likely must reach the conference semifinals to garner any NIT attention.
Unless Charlotte (13-15, 8-8) can string together four consecutive victories and win the C-USA Tournament for a third time, the 49ers' streak of six consecutive postseason appearances will end.
In an oddity of C-USA’s past league tournaments, all seven have been won by teams with an odd-numbered seed -- No. 1 Cincinnati in 1996, 1998 and 2002; Charlotte as a No. 5 in 1999 and a No. 3 in 2001; No. 5 Marquette in 1997; and No. 9 Saint Louis in 2000.
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| With teams concentrating on Marquette’s Dwyane Wade when the Golden Eagles begin NCAA tournament play next week, how far the Golden Eagles advance could depend on Scott Merritt.
A 6-foot-10 junior center, Merritt has been more consistent down the stretch. Since registering a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) on Feb. 20 against Charlotte, Merritt is averaging 12 points and six rebounds.
Merritt, who is the Golden Eagles’ second-leading rebounder in conference play, must avoid the inconsistency that plagued him in earlier games against East carolina (no rebounds) and DePaul (two rebounds).
Merritt, along with senior forward Robert Jackson, have to continue providing the interior strength that helps open up the outside game for Wade and 3-point specialist Travis Diener.
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| HOT: Memphis For the third consecutive week, the Tigers occupy this position. The Tigers finished the regular season on an 11-game winning streak, with only three of those victories by fewer than 10 points.
NOT: South Florida The Bulls’ loss at TCU on March 8 dropped them to 1-11 on the road, leaving coach Seth Greenberg at a loss for words. “I can’t put my finger on it," he said.
HOT: Marquette
The Golden Eagles closed the regular season on a five-game winning streak to capture their first Conference USA title.
NOT: East Carolina The Pirates concluded their season on a six-game losing streak.
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| With retro jerseys being the hottest fad, Conference USA’s tournament goes retro this week. Well, it's turning back the clock two years, to the good old days of 2001.
The league, which expanded to 12 teams by adding Houston in 1996-97, expanded to 14 last season with the addition of East Carolina and TCU.
But since the Pirates and Horned Frogs failed to qualify, the conference tournament will look like C-USA circa 1996-2001.
That is, with one exception -- league juggernaut Cincinnati, winner of all seven of the league’s regular-season titles and the tourney’s No. 1 seed each year, did not receive a first-round bye for the first time. The fifth-seeded Bearcats open against No. 12 Southern Miss on March 12.
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 Memphis’ Chris Massie
Massie was a monster down the stretch, finishing the regular season with 14 double-doubles, including 27 points and 11 rebounds at UAB on March 8.
DePaul’s Sam Hoskin
Hoskin led the Blue Demons with 23 points and 12 rebounds in a victory against Houston on March 8. Behind Hoskin, DePaul won 16 games after last year’s 9-19 record.
Marquette’s Dwyane Wade
Likely playing in his final home game, Wade had 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Golden Eagles beat Cincinnati on March 8 to claim their first C-USA regular season title.
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Instead of looking ahead, let’s take a quick look back at the biggest improvements and largest dropoffs by the league’s teams entering the C-USA tournament.
Louisville grabbed the national spotlight during its impressive midseason run -- and deservedly so -- but DePaul actually made the biggest improvement in league play.
The Blue Demons improved from last year’s 2-14 record to 8-8. Louisville and Tulane each had the next biggest jump of three wins. The Cardinals went from 8-8 to 11-5, and Tulane went from 5-11 to 8-8.
The seven-time champion Bearcats finally proved they're human. Cincinnati's 9-7 record was five games off last year’s 14-2 mark. Charlotte (from 11-5 in 2002 to 8-8 this year), Houston (from 6-10 to 3-13) and TCU (from 6-10 to 3-13) tied for the second biggest dropoff with three fewer wins.
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For the third consecutive season, Tulane improved its win total under coach Shawn Finney. In Finney’s three seasons, Tulane increased its win total from nine to 14 to 15. ... The only league teams to lose their final home games were East Carolina, Houston and UAB, as C-USA home teams were 11-3 on Senior Night. ... Tenth-seeded South Florida has never reached the tournament semifinals. Senior PG Reggie Kohn has 245 career 3-pointers, passing Chucky Atkins as the all-time leader in USF history. Kohn also is C-USA’s all-time leader in assists. ... Louisville senior Marvin Stone sat out the Cardinals’ final regular-season home game on March 8 after he and school officials were questioned about wire transfers of money sent to Stone from his mother and two sisters in Huntsville, Ala. ... DePaul won 13 home games for the first time since 1986-87. “I think it was like a pile of clay; nothing was formed," DePaul’s Sam Hoskin said. “[Coach Dave Leitao] just turned us and molded us into a team and something special. I think if we continue to stay together and play hard, we can still make the NCAA tournament." ... Saint Louis has announced plans to build an on-campus arena, coach Brad Soderberg said. ... The C-USA tournament will feature all three of the league’s Diener family members from Fond du Lac, Wisc.: Travis (Marquette) and brothers Drew (Saint Louis) and Drake (DePaul).
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Brett McMurphy covers Conference USA for the Tampa Tribune. His “This
Week in the C-USA" column appears Thursdays during the season.
