Making a case for Florida Atlantic, North Texas or UAB to win the Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament doesn't take a whole lot of digging.
FAU was 18-2 in conference play and comes in with seven wins in the last eight games. The lone late season was a 74-70 setback at Middle Tennessee. North Texas, which finished second in conference play, won nine of its past 10 games, with the lone loss coming at Charlotte. UAB has won six consecutive conference games since an 82-79 double-overtime loss at North Texas on Feb. 9. The Blazers won 10 of their past 11 games.
Barring a considerable upset, one of those three teams should be crowned C-USA Tournament champion on Saturday night. It is the final time in the C-USA Tournament, and presumably the final time in the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, for FAU, North Texas, UAB, Charlotte, Rice and UTSA
The top three seeds, along with No. 4 Middle Tennessee and No. 5 Charlotte, earned byes in Wednesday's first round.
Today's first-round games match No. 8 Western Kentucky against No. 9 UTEP at 5:30 p.m., No. 7 FIU against Louisiana Tech at 8 p.m., and No. 6 Rice against No. 11 UTSA at 8:30 p.m. Quarterfinals will be played on Thursday. UAB will play the winner of Rice and UTSA at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
On the women's side, No. 10 UAB plays No. 7 North Texas on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The winner of that game will play No. 2 Western Kentucky at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
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