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You know all about the Power 5 conferences in college basketball. You hear about those more than any other, and those groups often dominate the March Madness conversation. There are 26 other conferences out there, however, and our goal is to get you up to speed on the teams, players and fights in the standings to know before the conference tournaments, Selection Sunday and the official start of March Madness.
It’s time for you to get to know a mid-major: this time, it’s Conference USA.
As far as conferences go, Conference USA is relatively new, in that this season marks its entry into its fourth decade. It’s in a state of flux at present, as it had 10 members in 2024-2025, shot up to 12 members for this academic season, and will drop to 11 and then 10 teams in the next two as it loses schools to Mountain West and then the Sun Belt. Those are tomorrow’s problems, though! In 2026, Conference USA is a dozen strong, and any analysis of it should center around that.
Like how, for instance, the conference tournament hasn’t actually changed its format from last year to this one despite the addition of two teams. Rather than including all 12 teams like how all 10 were invited to the Conference USA tournament a year ago, this time, it’s just the top 10 making it, with the bottom two staying home. The top six seeds start out in the quarterfinals, while the other four have to make it through a play-in first round for a chance at the Conference USA championship and the automatic bid that comes with it.
That automatic bid is the only way to get to March Madness, too: none of these teams have pushed the at-large issue, on either the men’s or women’s side, and historically the auto bid was the only one to go around, anyway.
Leaders:
- Points Per Game: Mostapha El Moutaouakkil, Jacksonville State, 19.1
- Rebounds Per Game: Julius Mims, New Mexico State, 8.9
- Assists Per Game: Zach Cleveland, Liberty, 6.9 (T10th in D-I)
- Steals Per Game: Kashie Natt, Sam Houston, 2.1
- Blocks Per Game: Melian Martinez, Louisiana Tech, 1.9
Whereas Liberty has what must be an insurmountable lead within the Convention USA standings at 15-2, there are three video games left within the season, so technically the Flames haven’t clinched the highest seed but. They’re adopted by 12-5 Sam Houston, 10-7 Western Kentucky, 9-8 Kennesaw State, Jacksonville State (JSU) and Louisiana Tech. Center Tennessee is 8-9 and Missouri State 7-10. After that, you get into failure to qualify for the tourney territory: all three of FIU, New Mexico State and UTEP are 6-11, with Delaware 5-12: two of these groups will play within the Convention USA tourney, and the opposite two won’t.
Liberty and Sam Houston may need just a few video games between them within the standings, however are 94th and ninety fifth within the NCAA Analysis Device. Additionally they have fairly the lead on the remainder of the bunch: Western Kentucky is the one different Convention USA workforce within the high 150, with three others within the high 200. Only one, Delaware, is within the bottom-100 in Division I, nevertheless — Convention USA would possibly lack any bubble groups, nevertheless it additionally doesn’t have any members on the opposite excessive.
Liberty has been the perfect in Convention USA, however nonetheless wants the automated bid to March Insanity. (Picture by Mitchell Layton/Getty Pictures)
As stated, it’s automated bid or bust right here: Liberty is the highest workforce in Wins Above Bubble, however ranked 62nd there with a rating of -1.48 — there simply aren’t sufficient high groups within the convention and even video games left for the Flames to push towards a optimistic rating. Sam Houston is even additional out of the query, at -4.24, and that’s it for top-100 groups in WAB. So, whereas certainly one of these two because the convention winner and March Insanity consultant isn’t a assure with a number of the clustering of expertise happening right here, Liberty and Sam Houston are clearly the highest choices to win all of it.
What makes it an open query, even when it’s one the place you may lean within the course of a probable appropriate reply, is that Liberty simply hasn’t dominated regardless of its file. In convention play, the Flames are scoring 77.6 factors per sport, however permitting 72.5. And but, these are ok charges for the second- and fourth-best in Convention USA, so the competitors hasn’t been persistently difficult Liberty right here even when there’s a clear vulnerability to use. Sam Houston has an identical subject, however a little bit extra excessive: it’s first in factors per sport (79.7), however simply eighth within the convention in factors allowed (73.8). Each of those groups can rating, however by no means can defend overly a lot, and it might be their undoing.
Leaders:
- Points Per Game: Kaemyn Bekemeier, Missouri State, 17.4
- Rebounds Per Game: Ify Nwaobi, Liberty, 9.8
- Assists Per Game: Fanta Kone, Sam Houston, 4.7
- Steals Per Game: Fanta Kone, Sam Houston, 3.6 (8th in D-I)
- Blocks Per Game: Rhema Collins, Florida International, 1.6
Louisiana Tech misplaced its first sport in convention play. It has received 14 video games in a row since. Nobody else is even near it within the standings: Missouri State and FIU are each 10-6, Center Tennessee and Sam Houston 9-6, then Liberty 9-7. JSU is 7-9, Delaware 6-10 and each UTEP and New Mexico State are 5-10. As of now, Kennesaw State and Western Kentucky are each out of the Convention USA event, at 5-11 and 4-11, however the standings on the backside are bunched up sufficient that this might change between now and the tip of the common season.
The Bulldogs are fascinating on this convention, as they’re simply properly forward of the remainder. Louisiana Tech is first in factors scored per sport (70.4) and factors allowed (56.3) throughout convention play, and its season-long figures in opposition to all competitors are each almost top-50. It’s first in subject targets in Convention USA play regardless of being fifth in makes an attempt, because of taking pictures 50.9% on 2-pointers and 37.5% from 3 — each tops within the convention. The rebounding is just not there, however the Bulldogs common slightly below 17 assists per sport and put themselves in place to make good pictures, which has helped — an issue in opposition to a greater protection and on an evening when the taking pictures goes chilly, however this has not been a problem in convention play, at the very least.
Junior guard Kaemyn Bekemeier has helped Missouri State to second place within the convention and 123rd in NET by main Convention USA in scoring, at 17.4 factors per sport. Per Participant Effectivity Ranking (PER), nevertheless, the Bears have a greater participant on the roster, in sophomore ahead Lainie Douglas (2nd in PER, 27.2). The difficulty is an absence of depth behind this pair: the remainder of the bunch does one factor properly however nothing spectacularly, whereas Bekemeier and Douglas mix for 31 factors and 14.1 rebounds per sport, in addition to each being top-10 in PER.
Florida Worldwide’s Rhema Collins is tops within the convention in PER, at 28.5. She’s third in Plus/Minus, fourth in Offensive Ranking and sixth in Defensive Ranking — only a well-rounded participant. The issue for the Ole Miss switch is that, much like Missouri State, there isn’t anybody who persistently takes over moreover her and senior guard Parris Atkins, who’s main the workforce in scoring at 16.8 factors. FIU is fourth in Convention USA in factors scored — 64.4 — however mediocre in factors allowed, at 62.0.
The workforce charges a lot increased within the precise standings than in NET, the place the Panthers are a hundred and eightieth general and sixth within the convention; given the 10-6 file in convention play, although, it’s additionally clear that FIU can win in opposition to CUSA groups, and that’s the one purpose for the subsequent couple of weeks.
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