2018–19 Conference USA men's basketball season

The 2018–19 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in early March.

2018–19 Conference USA men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams14
TV partner(s)CBS Sports Network, Stadium, beIN Sports, ESPN3
2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Regular season championsOld Dominion
Season MVPB. J. Stith
Tournament
ChampionsOld Dominion
2018–19 Conference USA men's basketball standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L PCTW L PCT
Old Dominion †13–5 .72226–9  .743
Western Kentucky11–7 .61120–14  .588
Southern Miss11–7 .61120–13  .606
UTSA11–7 .61117–15  .531
UAB10–8 .55620–15  .571
Marshall11–7 .61123–14  .622
FIU10–8 .55620–13  .606
Louisiana Tech9–9 .50020–13  .606
Florida Atlantic8–10 .44417–16  .515
North Texas8–10 .44421–12  .636
Rice8–10 .44413–19  .406
Middle Tennessee8–10 .44411–21  .344
Charlotte5–13 .2788–21  .276
UTEP3–15 .1678–21  .276
† 2019 C-USA Tournament winner

Old Dominion won the C-USA regular season championship by two games. The conference used a regular season schedule format which the conference hoped will increase NCAA Tournament berths. whereby the 14 teams played each other once with a second game for travel partners in the first seven weeks of C-USA play.[1] After those 14 games, the league standings determined the matchups for the rest of the regular season.[2] The teams were divided into two groups of five (teams in first through fifth place and 6–10) and a group of four (11–14).[3] During the final three weeks, teams played within their respective grouping for the last four games of conference play. Home and away games within the groups were determined by a preset formula. C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said that "With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams' resumes by providing them additional quality games within their conference schedule."[4]

The C-USA tournament was held from March 13–16, 2019 at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. Old Dominion defeated Western Kentucky in the Tournament championship game. As a result Old Dominion received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. No other C-USA teams received an NCAA Tournament bid.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

Following a loss to Lamar on November 27, 2017 that saw UTEP drop to 1–5 on the season, head coach Tim Floyd announced that he was retiring effective immediately.[5][6] The school had previously announced a new athletic director, Jim Senter, a week prior, but Floyd said that had nothing to do with his decision.[7][8] Assistant Phil Johnson was named interim head coach of the Miners the next day.[9] On March 12, 2018, the school hired Fresno State head coach Rodney Terry as the new head coach of the Miners.[10]

On December 14, 2017, head coach Mark Price was fired by Charlotte after a 3–6 start to the season and was replaced by Houston Fancher.[11] Houston Fancher was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.[12] On March 6, 2018, new athletic director Mike Hill fired Fancher.[13] On March 19, the school hired Virginia associate head coach Ron Sanchez as the school's new head coach.[14]

March 16, 2018, Florida Atlantic head coach Michael Curry was fired after four seasons.[15] On March 22, it was announced that the school had hired Florida assistant head coach Dusty May as head coach.[16]

Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis left the school on March 19, 2018 to accept the head coaching job at Ole Miss.[17][18] On March 24, the Blue Raiders named UNC Asheville head coach Nick McDevitt as the team's new head coach.[19]

On April 2, 2018, FIU fired head coach Anthony Evans after five seasons.[20][21] On April 20, the school announced VCU associate head coach Jeremy Ballard was hired as the new head coach.[22][23]

Coaches
Team Head coach Previous job Year at school Overall record C-USA record C-USA championships NCAA Tournaments
Charlotte Ron Sanchez Virginia
(asst.)		 1 8–21 5–13 0 0
FIU Jeremy Ballard VCU
(asst.)		 1 20–14 10–8 0 0
Florida Atlantic Dusty May Florida
(asst.)		 1 17–16 8–10 0 0
Louisiana Tech Eric Konkol Miami
(asst.)		 4 83–49 42–30 0 0
Marshall Dan D'Antoni Los Angeles Lakers
(asst.)		 5 96–77 52–38 1 1
Middle Tennessee Nick McDevitt UNC Asheville 1 11–21 8–10 0 0
North Texas Grant McCasland Arkansas State 2 41–30 16–20 0 0
Old Dominion Jeff Jones American 6 140–67 73–32 1 1
Rice Scott Pera Rice
(asst.)		 2 20–43 12–24 0 0
Southern Miss Doc Sadler Iowa State
(asst.)		 5 56–94 32–57 0 0
UAB Robert Ehsan UAB
(asst.)		 3 57–44 29–25 0 0
UTEP Rodney Terry Fresno State 1 8–21 3–15 0 0
UTSA Steve Henson Oklahoma
(asst.)		 4 51–49 29–25 0 0
WKU Rick Stansbury Texas A&M
(asst.)		 3 62–42 34–20 0 0

Notes:

  • All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
  • Year at school includes 2018–19 season.
  • Overall and C-USA records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2018–19 season.

Preseason

Preseason Coaches Poll

Source[24]

Rank Team
1. Western Kentucky (9)
2. Marshall (5)
3. Old Dominion
4. North Texas
5. UTSA
6. Louisiana Tech
7. Southern Miss
8. UAB
9. Middle Tennessee
10. FIU
11. UTEP
12. Florida Atlantic
13. Charlotte
14. Rice

() first place votes

Preseason All-C-USA Team

Source[24]

Recipient School
Jon Davis Charlotte
Daquan Bracey La Tech
Jon Elmore Marshall
C. J. Burks Marshall
Roosevelt Smart North Texas
Ahmad Caver ODU
B. J. Stith ODU
Zack Bryant UAB
Jhivvan Jackson UTSA
Taveion Hollingsworth WKU
Desean Murray WKU

Regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

  Charlotte FIU Florida Atlantic Louisiana Tech Marshall Middle Tennessee North Texas Old Dominion Rice Southern Miss UAB UTEP UTSA Western Kentucky
vs. Charlotte –1–0 0–1 0–11–02–01–02–02–11–00–1 1–1 1–0 1–0
vs. FIU 0–1–1–20–2 2–00–10–2 1–0 0–1 1–0 1–01–01–00–1
vs. Florida Atlantic 1–0 2–1–1–1 2–00–10–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–00–11–01–0
vs. Louisiana Tech 1–02–0 1–1 –1–1 0–11–11–01–01–10–1 0–10–10–1
vs. Marshall 0–10–20–21–1 –0–11–1 0–11–0 1–0 1–00–1 1–0 1–1
vs. Middle Tennessee 0–2 1–01–01–0 1–0–1–01–0 2–01–0 0–20–3 0–1 1–0
vs. North Texas 0–1 2–0 2–0 1–11–1 0–1–1–00–20–11–00–11–0 1–0
vs. Old Dominion 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–11–00–10–1–0–11–11–1 0–1 1–1 0–2
vs. Rice 1–21–0 1–0 0–10–1 0–22–01–0–0–11–01–1 1–0 1–0
vs. Southern Miss 0–10–1 0–1 1–10–1 0–11–01–11–0–1–1 0–10–22–0
vs. UAB 1–0 0–10–11–0 0–12–00–11–1 0–11–1 –0–1 1–1 1–1
vs. UTEP 1–1 0–11–01–01–0 3–01–0 1–0 1–1 1–01–0 –2–01–0
vs. UTSA 0–1 0–10–11–00–1 1–00–1 1–1 0–1 2–01–1 0–2–1–1
vs. Western Kentucky 0–11–00–11–0 1–10–10–1 2–00–1 0–2 1–10–1 1–1 –
Total 5–1310–88–109–911–78–108–1013–58–1011–710–83–1511–711–7

Postseason

C-USA Tournament
Main article: 2019 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

Only the top 12 conference teams were eligible for the tournament. Old Dominion defeated Western Kentucky in the tournament championship game.

First round
Wednesday, March 13
ESPN+ 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 14
Stadium/Facebook 		Semifinals
Friday, March 15
CBSSN 		Championship
Saturday, March 16
CBSSN
            
1 Old Dominion 57
8 Louisiana Tech 56
8 Louisiana Tech 57
9 Florida Atlantic 56
1 Old Dominion 61
5 UAB 59
4 UTSA 76
5 UAB 85
5 UAB 70
12 Middle Tennessee 61
1 Old Dominion 62
2 Western Kentucky 56
2 Western Kentucky 67
10 North Texas 51
7 FIU 57
10 North Texas 71
2 Western Kentucky 70
3 Southern Miss 59
3 Southern Miss 82
6 Marshall 73
6 Marshall 82
11 Rice 65

* denotes overtime period.

NCAA tournament
Main article: 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
14 South Old Dominion N/A eliminated by (3) Purdue 48–61

References
  1. Martin, Nick. "Conference USA Is Completely Revamping Its Conference Schedule Setup And It's Just Brilliant". Deadspin. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  2. "C-USA basketball schedule altered to match best teams late". USA TODAY. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  3. "To chase NCAA bids, C-USA will shuffle basketball schedule -- with season in progress". charlotteobserver. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  4. "Radical changes coming to Conference USA men's basketball schedule". WTKR.com. May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  5. "UTEP's Tim Floyd, a former coach of the Chicago Bulls, announces his retirement". CBSSports.com. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  6. "UTEP's Floyd retires after Miners fall to 1–5". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  7. "Citing 'new world of college basketball,' Tim Floyd abruptly retires from coaching". kansascity. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  8. Villasana, Jose (November 28, 2017). "UTEP's new athletic director: We are going to engage our community". KVIA. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  9. Dauster, Rob. "UTEP announces that Phil Johnson will replace Tim Floyd". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  10. Broaddus, Adrian (March 12, 2018). "UTEP hires Fresno State's Rodney Terry as their new basketball coach". theprospectordaily.com. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  11. Reed, Steve (December 14, 2017). "Charlotte fires basketball coach, former NBA star Mark Price". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  12. "Charlotte 49ers interim coach Houston Fancher: 'I ... hurt in my heart for Mark (Price)". charlotteobserver. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  13. "Why new 49ers AD's first act was firing interim basketball coach Houston Fancher". charlotteobserver. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  14. Goodman, Jeff (March 19, 2018). "Charlotte hires Virginia assistant Ron Sanchez as head coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 19, 2018.
  15. Richardson, Shandel (March 16, 2018). "Florida Atlantic fires men's basketball coach Michael Curry". Sun-Sentinel. Boca Raton, Florida. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  16. Richardson, Shandel. "FAU names former Gators assistant Dusty May as new men's basketball coach". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  17. "Ole Miss announces Kermit Davis as Rebels' next coach". ESPN.com. March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  18. "Ole Miss formally introduced Kermit Davis as its new men's basketball coach late Monday evening". Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  19. Goodman, Jeff (March 24, 2018). "Nick McDevitt joins Middle Tennessee St. after lengthy run at UNC Asheville". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  20. "FIU parts ways with coach Evans". gwinettprepsports.com. April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  21. Burke, Peter. "FIU parts ways with basketball coach Anthony Evans". www.local10.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  22. Epps Jr., Wayne (April 20, 2018). "VCU associate head coach Jeremy Ballard headed to Florida International". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  23. Times-Dispatch, WAYNE EPPS JR. Richmond. "VCU associate head coach Jeremy Ballard headed to Florida International". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  24. "MBB: WKU Tabbed Preseason Favorite". Conference USA. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
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