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Conference USA Basketball 2023: Final Weekend Watch List

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Conference USA Basketball is wrapping up its conference slate. Here’s where each team stands with two games to go in the regular season.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 104 112 18-11 (9-9)
FAU 19 31 26-3 (16-2)
FIU 225 223 13-16 (7-11)
LA Tech 165 166 13-16 (6-12)
MTSU 110 121 18-11 (11-7)
North Texas 51 55 23-6 (14-4)
Rice 177 188 17-12 (8-10)
UAB 57 59 22-8 (13-6)
UTEP 193 193 13-16 (6-12)
UTSA 302 300 9-21 (3-16)
WKU 171 172 15-14 (7-11)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 2/26/2023

Key Storylines

Locked In

Following Saturday’s games, there are three teams locked into their Conference USA Tournament seeding regardless of how the final two regular season contests transpire. FAU has clinched the top seed and the regular season championship. North Texas will be the No. 2 seed. On the opposite end of the spectrum, UTSA will officially finish at the bottom of the league and has clinched the No. 11 seed.

Final jockeying

UAB and Middle Tennessee have secured a first round bye. UAB is in the driver’s seat for the No. 3 seed and controls its own destiny. If the Blazers do lose, though, there are some tiebreaker possibilities that would enable Middle Tennessee to sneak ahead of them should the Blue Raiders win out.

After the head-to-head record, the record against the next-highest-finishing conference opponent will be utilized. Should Middle Tennesee and UAB finish with the same record, Middle Tennessee would get the No. 3 seed as each program would be 1-1 against No. 1 seed FAU with Middle Tennesee being 1-1 against No. 2 seed North Texas while UAB went 0-2 against the Mean Green.

Then there’s the battle for the No. 5 seed. If Charlotte wins out, the No. 5 seed is theirs. Rice can get the No. 5 seed if one of two things happen:

  • Rice wins out and Charlotte loses out
  • Rice and Charlotte finish with the same record (either at 9-11 or 10-10) and Rice beats No. 1 seed Florida Atlantic in their upcoming game

There’s some fuzziness after that, but FIU is mathematically alive for the No. 5 seed, too. FIU would need to win out and have Charlotte lose out plus get some help from Rice and Western Kentucky too. More than likely the No. 5 seed will go to either Charlotte or Rice.

And more moving and shaking

There’s a two-game gap between the current No. 6 seed, Rice, and the current No. 10 seed, UTEP. That means that at this point, it’s nearly impossible to forecast who might be playing who in the first round of the tournament. We’ll know a lot more after the Thursday games and have some further analysis of the Conference USA Basketball Tournament field once it’s set at the end of the weekend.

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Conference USA Basketball 2023: early-February Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball is in the middle of the conference slate. Here’s where each team stands in early February.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 106 119 13-10 (4-8)
FAU 18 34 22-2 (12-1)
FIU 206 211 12-12 (6-7)
LA Tech 143 141 13-10 (6-6)
MTSU 109 120 15-9 (8-5)
North Texas 57 64 19-5 (10-3)
Rice 152 169 15-8 (6-6)
UAB 72 71 17-7 (8-5)
UTEP 174 175 11-12 (4-8)
UTSA 318 317 7-18 (1-13)
WKU 177 168 13-11 (5-8)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 2/6/2023

Key Storylines

FAU mortal

Florida Atlantic suffered its first and only Conference USA loss this past week to UAB. Not only did it knock the Owls from their unbeaten perch in league play, but they dropped from the AP Top 25 as well and saw their possible NCAA Tournament at-large opportunities take a sizable dent in the process. The Owls are by no means out of the driver’s seat in the league, but they’re no longer untouchable.

Just add Jelly

UAB started slowly in conference play and looked mediocre at times in games without their star Jordan “Jelly” Walker on the court. But he returned against Florida Atlantic, paving the way for the Blazers’ upset of the Owls and subsequent win over FIU two days later. UAB is a different team with him on the court and one that will pose a threat to all comers down the stretch.

Separation starting at the top?

UAB’s big weekend elevated the Blazers to 8-5 in conference play, tied for third in the standings with Middle Tennessee. North Texas (10-3) and FAU (12-1) sit above them, but there’s a multi-win gap between that top four and the rest of the conference. Rice and Louisiana Tech are both at .500, but they each still have multiple games remaining against FAU. After a muddled midseason, an upper-tier may be starting to emerge.

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Conference USA Basketball 2023: Late-January Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball is in the thick of the conference slate. Here’s where each team stands in late January.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 93 107 13-7 (4-5)
FAU 18 36 19-1 (9-0)
FIU 249 249 9-11 (3-6)
LA Tech 158 154 11-9 (4-5)
MTSU 107 115 13-7 (6-3)
North Texas 62 70 16-5 (7-3)
Rice 140 147 14-5 (5-3)
UAB 83 77 13-7 (4-5)
UTEP 167 180 11-9 (4-5)
UTSA 324 327 7-14 (1-9)
WKU 180 168 11-9 (3-6)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 1/23/2023

Key Storylines

Owls up

Winners of three straight and 13 of their last 16, Rice basketball continues to climb upwards in the standings and the ratings. Their most recent victory, an impressive upset of North Texas in Denton, put the rest of the conference on notice. Their continued ascent to sixth in the league in both Kenpom and NET suggests the Owls’ ascent might have some lasting presence and wasn’t just one good night on the road.

Top of the standings tussle

At this point, the top seed in the conference tournament and potentially NCAA berth is Florida Atlantic’s to lose. The Owls remain undefeated in conference play and the schedule is crossing through the halfway point. Can FAU run the table? It will be tough, starting with a matchup this coming Thursday against Middle Tennesee, currently third in the conference standings.

Middle of the pack movement

The end of January and the beginning of February will serve as time to thin the middle of the pack going forward. Only so many teams will be in the race for a first round conference tournament bye in a few weeks time, making the next few games for each all the more important. Keep your eyes on three intriguing matchups over the next few days: LA Tech vs UAB and Charlotte on Rice on Thursday as well as UAB and Rice on Saturday.

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Conference USA Basketball 2023: Mid-January Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball is in the thick of the conference slate. Here’s where each team stands in mid-January.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 95 108 12-6 (3-4)
FAU 12 35 17-1 (7-0)
FIU 243 237 8-10 (2-5)
LA Tech 151 145 10-8 (3-4)
MTSU 125 128 11-7 (4-3)
North Texas 48 63 15-4 (6-2)
Rice 166 184 13-5 (4-3)
UAB 76 70 13-6 (4-4)
UTEP 180 187 10-8 (3-4)
UTSA 319 322 7-12 (1-7)
WKU 160 151 11-7 (3-4)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 1/17/2023

Key Storylines

Above the rest

At 17-1 and the only unbeaten team in conference play. Florida Atlantic deservedly checked in at No. 24 in the AP Poll this week. The Owls own two head-to-head victories over North Texas (6-0 in league games against non-FAU squads) and look to be the class of the conference by a sizable margin. How long that lasts will depend entirely upon their ability to endure the strain of the conference slate.

They’ve got a four-game lead on the middle of the pack, but there’s still plenty of basketball still to be played.

Last Minute Rice

Rice basketball has been anything but boring this season, particularly in the last fortnight which included two buzzer-beaters, three overtime games and a streak of six consecutive games that were within a three-point margin at the end of regulation. Oh, and Max Fiedler just recorded the second triple-double in school history along the way.

Divvying out the middle of the pack

As things currently stand, seven of the 11 teams in the Conference USA Basketball standings are within one game of .500. From Rice to UTEP, there’s a log jam of 3-4 to 4-3 teams with preseason frontrunner UAB smack dab in the middle at 4-4. We’re likely going to see some separation in the next few weeks, but it’s hard to say who will emerge from the chaos at this juncture.

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Conference USA Basketball 2022: Early February Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball is one month away from March and the conference tournament. Here’s where each team stands.

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 182 211 12-9 (5-4)
FAU 122 124 14-9 (7-3)
FIU 242 238 13-10 (3-7)
LA Tech 97 95 17-6 (8-3)
Marshall 249 243 8-15 (1-9)
MTSU 115 120 14-7 (5-3)
North Texas 51 61 16-4 (9-1)
Old Dominion 217 213 9-13 (4-5)
Rice 180 191 13-6 (6-5)
Southern Miss 331 334 6-16 (1-8)
UAB 39 38 18-5 (8-2)
UTEP 159 172 14-8 (7-3)
UTSA 338 329 8-16 (1-10)
WKU 127 110 12-11 (4-6)
Kenpom, NET, and standings reflect games as of 2/5/2022

Key Storylines

Anybody’s… conference

The East was always somewhat of a mixed bag, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past where it seemed like a foregone conclusion one of UAB or Louisiana Tech would win the West. Meanwhile WKU, an early favorite to win the East, is nowhere near the top of the standings on their side of the conference. No matter what happens down the stretch, every game will be meaningful.

Owls’ right the ship

FAU hit a rough patch at the beginning of the year, losing three of four games, a streak that began with a road loss to High Point. Since then the Owls have been on a roll. They’ve won six of seven and have surged back to the top of the East standings. There’s still a month to go, so they’re not out of the woods just yet, but to be back in the picture is a restatement to this team’s tremendous perseverance.

The leftovers

The gap separating those within striking distance of a conference tournament bye and the middle of the pack can is minuscule. A string of good (or bad) games can and probably will probably cause quite the tumult in the standings.

That won’t be the case at the bottom. Marshall, Southern Miss and UTSA all leave the first full weekend of February more than four games removed from first place and have yet to win double-digit games. We might not know who will finish first and second, but we can probably start to ink in the bottom three.

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