The 2018 Conference USA Tournament gets underway this week at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. Reigning champion and NCAA Tournament representative Middle Tennessee State looks to reclaim the throne for a third consecutive time.
The battle for Conference USA’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid begins Wednesday, March 7th, with the first round games. You can find your printable Conference USA Tournament bracket here.
Middle Tennessee is once again in the driver’s seat for the automatic Big Dance bid after sprinting through the conference season with a 16-2 record, to finish 24-6. The Blue Raiders are ranked for the first time in school history, and have a suffocating perimeter defense that allows their offense, which flows through former Memphis and Alabama forward Nick King, to thrive. If MTSU wins the tournament, they could be looking at a No. 9 or No. 10 seed, which the Conference USA hasn’t pulled off since Memphis was in the conference in 2013.
MTSU obviously wants to secure another conference title, but if someone were to knock them off, it might be good for the league, as MTSU might still be good enough to earn an at-large bid. The most likely teams to knock off the Blue Raiders are No. 2 seed Old Dominion, No. 3 seed Western Kentucky, and No. 4 seed Marshall. Old Dominion has the best defense in the conference, ranking ninth in the country in defensive efficiency. WKU would likely be the runaway favorite if they still had potential lottery pick Mitchell Robinson, but the Hilltoppers still have had a nice season behind the energy of forwards Justin Johnson and Dwight Coleby. Marshall is the most entertaining team in the conference, playing a variant of the Seven Seconds or Less offense with Mike D’Antoni’s brother Dan at the helm. Watch for Bosnian forward Ajdin Penava, who is the league’s best shot-blocker and passer from the forward spot.
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The Conference USA tournament will begin on Wednesday, March 7th, with games on Facebook live. The championship will be on Saturday, March 10th, at 7:30pm CT on CBS Sports Network.