2006 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2006 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 8–11 at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.[1]

2006 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season200506
Teams12
SiteFedExForum
Memphis, TN
ChampionsMemphis (1st title)
Winning coachJohn Calipari (1st title)
MVPShawne Williams (Memphis)
2005–06 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 4 Memphis131 .929  334  .892
No. 25 UAB122 .857  247  .774
UTEP113 .786  2110  .677
Houston95 .643  2110  .677
UCF77 .500  1415  .483
Rice68 .429  1216  .429
Tulane68 .429  1217  .414
Tulsa68 .429  1117  .393
Marshall59 .357  1216  .429
SMU410 .286  1316  .448
Southern Miss311 .214  1021  .323
East Carolina212 .143  820  .286
2006 C-USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded Memphis defeated UAB in the championship game, 57–46, to clinch their first Conference USA men's tournament championship. It would be the Tigers' first of seven C-USA titles in an eight-year period.

The Tigers, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA member UAB, who earned an at-large bid.

Format

Conference USA saw some drastic changes to its membership prior to the season. Eight teams, Charlotte (Atlantic 10), Cincinnati (Big East), DePaul (Big East), Louisville (Big East), Marquette (Big East), Saint Louis (Atlantic 10), South Florida (Big East), and TCU (Mountain West), departed the conference, while six new teams were added, Marshall (MAC), Rice (WAC), SMU (WAC), Tulsa (WAC), UCF (Sun Belt), and UTEP (WAC). Total membership settled at twelve teams.

Even with all of the newly departed and -added teams, the tournament's format remained exactly the same. The top four teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round while the next eight teams were placed into the first round. The two teams with the worst conference records were not invited to the tournament. All remaining tournament seeds were determined by regular season conference records.

Bracket

  First Round
Wednesday, March 8
Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 9
Semifinals
Friday, March 10
Championship
Saturday, March 11
                                     
       
  1 #5 Memphis 75  
    8 Tulane 56  
9 Marshall 58
8 Tulane 64  
  1 #5 Memphis 68  
  4 Houston 54  
5 UCF 65  
12 East Carolina 52  
  5 UCF 52
    4 Houston 71  
     
       
  1 #5 Memphis 57
  2 #24 UAB 46
       
       
  3 UTEP 66
    11 Southern Miss 47  
11 Southern Miss 66
6 Tulsa 61  
  3 UTEP 60
  2 #24 UAB 63  
7 Rice 59  
10 SMU 61  
  10 SMU 55
    2 #24 UAB 69  
     

References

  1. "2005-06 Conference USA Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
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