1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

The 1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 4–7 at the Myrl H. Shoemaker Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.[2]

1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season1997–98
Teams12
SiteMyrl H. Shoemaker Center
Cincinnati, OH
ChampionsCincinnati (2nd title)
Winning coachBob Huggins (2nd title)
MVPKenyon Martin (Cincinnati)
← 1997
1999 →
1997–98 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
American
No. 9 Cincinnati 14 2   .875 27 6   .818
UNC Charlotte 13 3   .813 20 11   .645
Saint Louis 11 5   .688 22 11   .667
Marquette 8 8   .500 20 11   .645
Louisville 5 11   .313 12 20   .375
DePaul 3 13   .188 7 23   .233
National
Memphis 12 4   .750 17 12   .586
UAB 10 6   .625 21 12   .636
Southern Miss 9 7   .563 22 11   .667
South Florida 7 9   .438 17 13   .567
Houston 2 14   .125 9 20   .310
Tulane 2 14   .125 7 22   .241
1998 Conference USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Top-seeded Cincinnati defeated UNC Charlotte in the championship game, 71–57, to clinch their second Conference USA men's tournament championship.

The Bearcats, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members UNC Charlotte and Saint Louis, who earned at-large bids.

Format

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Prior to the season, Conference USA dropped their old regular season scheduling format of three divisions of four teams (Red, White, and Blue) in favor of two six-team divisions (American and National). Teams were largely divided based on geography.

However, since division standings were not utilized for seeding teams in the conference tournament, no changes were made to the tournament format from the previous year. The top four teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round, and the remaining eight teams were entered into the preliminary round. All seeds were determined by overall regular season conference records.

Bracket

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First round
Wednesday, March 4
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 5
Semifinals
Friday, March 6
Championship
Saturday, March 7
            
1 #14 Cincinnati 64
9 Louisville 50
9 Louisville 75
8 South Florida 64
1 #14 Cincinnati 100
4 UAB 85
5 Saint Louis 71
12 Tulane 53
5 Saint Louis 74
4 UAB 76
1 #14 Cincinnati 71
2 UNC Charlotte 57
3 Memphis 57
6 Southern Miss 85
11 Houston 57
6 Southern Miss 73
6 Southern Miss 53
2 UNC Charlotte 65
7 Marquette 52
10 DePaul 50
7 Marquette 55
2 UNC Charlotte 63

References

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  1. ^ sports-reference.com 1997-98 Conference USA Season Summary
  2. ^ "1997-98 Conference USA Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.