Conference USA to Use Divisional Standings for Basketball
Conference USA has a knack for timing when it comes to sports. Just two days before the start of league play in both men's and women's basketball, C-USA announced that they will incorporate divisional standings for the 2020-21 season. The league will divide their 14 schools into an East and West Division, with seven programs making up each side.
East Division: Charlotte, FIU, Florida Atlantic, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion and WKU.
West Division: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, UAB, UTEP and UTSA.
C-USA also announced that the standings will not be based on the number of overall wins. Instead, they will use overall conference winning percentage to seed teams for the Postseason Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments in Frisco. A total of 12 teams will make the C-USA Basketball Championship, with the top two teams in each division receiving first round byes. Then, the league will utilize a cross-division matchup based format. Here is how the first round will look:
#3 East vs. #6 West (Winner meets #2 West)
#3 West vs. #6 East (Winner meets #2 East)
#4 East vs. #5 West (Winner meets #1 West)
#4 West vs. #5 East (Winner meets #1 East)
COVID has already impacted two different series set for this weekend. The UAB men's basketball team postponed their games with North Texas after members of the Blazers tested positive for COVID. The same thing happened today with the Charlotte and Western Kentucky women's basketball games. C-USA had a nightmarish time navigating through their football season and it looks like basketball will be a similar challenge for the conference.