2013–14 Conference USA men's basketball season

The 2013–14 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2013, followed by the start of the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November.

2013–14 Conference USA men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams16
TV partner(s)CBS, CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports
2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Regular season championsLouisiana Tech
Tulsa
Middle Tennessee
Southern Miss
Runners-upUTEP
Season MVPShawn Jones
Tournament
ChampionsTulsa
  Runners-upLouisiana Tech
Finals MVPJames Woodard
2013–14 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
Louisiana Tech13–3 .813  29–8  .784
Tulsa †13–3 .813  21–13  .618
Middle Tennessee13–3 .813  24–9  .727
Southern Miss13–3 .813  29–7  .806
UTEP12–4 .750  23–11  .676
Old Dominion9–7 .563  18–18  .500
Tulane8–8 .500  17–17  .500
UAB7–9 .438  18–13  .581
Charlotte7–9 .438  17–14  .548
FIU*7–9 .438  15–16  .484
North Texas6–10 .375  16–16  .500
Florida Atlantic5–11 .313  10–22  .313
East Carolina5–11 .313  17–17  .500
UTSA4–12 .250  8–22  .267
Marshall4–12 .250  11–22  .333
Rice2–14 .125  7–23  .233
† 2014 C-USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll
*Ineligible for postseason play due to APR penalties

Preseason

Preseason polls

C-USA was the only conference not to publish an official preseason poll. However, other publications did publish preseason projections.

Athlon Blue Ribbon ESPN[1] Lindy's NBC Sports[2] USA Today
1. Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech Southern Miss Southern Miss Southern Miss Louisiana Tech
2. Southern Miss UTEP UTEP UAB UTEP Southern Miss
3. UTEP Southern Miss Louisiana Tech UTEP Louisiana Tech Middle Tennessee
4. Charlotte Charlotte Tulsa Louisiana Tech Tulsa Charlotte
5. UAB Middle Tennessee UAB Charlotte Charlotte UTEP
6. Tulsa Tulsa Charlotte Tulsa UAB FIU
7. Marshall UAB Middle Tennessee Marshall Marshall UAB
8. Middle Tennessee North Texas Marshall Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee East Carolina
9. East Carolina East Carolina FIU FIU FIU Tulsa
10. Florida Atlantic Marshall North Texas East Carolina East Carolina Florida Atlantic
11. North Texas FIU East Carolina North Texas North Texas Marshall
12. Tulane Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic Tulane Tulane UTSA
13. Old Dominion UTSA Tulane Florida Atlantic Florida Atlantic Tulane
14. Rice Tulane Old Dominion Rice Old Dominion North Texas
15. UTSA Old Dominion UTSA UTSA UTSA Rice
16. FIU Rice Rice Old Dominion Rice Old Dominion

Although CBS Sports did not rank all the teams, they selected Louisiana Tech as their projected champion and mentioned Southern Miss and UTEP as contenders.[3]

Preseason Players to Watch

C-USA did not name a preseason all-conference team, but each of the coaches selected a player to watch from their team.

Preseason Players to Watch
Pierriá Henry, Charlotte
Akeem Richmond, East Carolina
Tymell Murphy, FIU
Dragan Sekelja, Florida Atlantic
Raheem Appleby, Louisiana Tech
Elijah Pittman, Marshall
Shawn Jones, Middle Tennessee
Jordan Williams, North Texas
Keenan Palmore, Old Dominion
Max Guercy, Rice
Neil Watson, Southern Miss
Tre Drye, Tulane
James Woodard, Tulsa
Rod Rucker, UAB
Julian Washburn, UTEP
Jeromie Hill, UTSA

Preconference schedules

Early-season tournament victories
NameDatesLocationNo. teamsChampion
Puerto Rico Tip-Off November 21–22, 24 Roberto Clemente Coliseum
(San Juan, PR)		 8 Charlotte[4]
Gulf Coast Showcase November 25–27 Germain Arena
(Estero, FL)		 8 Louisiana Tech

Rankings
See also: 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
Legend
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
 Pre/
Wk 1		Wk
2		Wk
3		Wk
4		Wk
5		Wk
6		Wk
7		Wk
8		Wk
9		Wk
10		Wk
11		Wk
12		Wk
13		Wk
14		Wk
15		Wk
16		Wk
17		Wk
18		Wk
19		Wk
20		Final
Charlotte AP RV RV
C RV RV
East Carolina AP
C
FIU AP
C
Florida Atlantic AP
C
Louisiana Tech AP RV RV RV
C RV RV
Marshall AP
C
Middle Tennessee AP
C RV
North Texas AP
C
Old Dominion AP
C
Rice AP
C
Southern Miss AP RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV
Tulane AP
C
Tulsa AP
C RV
UAB AP
C
UTEP AP
C
UTSA AP
C

Conference schedules

Conference matrix

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

  Charlotte ECU FIU FAU LaTech Marshall MTSU UNT ODU Rice USM Tulane Tulsa UAB UTEP UTSA
vs. Charlotte –1–00–10–11–01–11–00–10–11–01–01–00–11–00–11–0
vs. East Carolina 0–1–1–01–00–11–01–01–02–00–11–01–01–00–11–00–1
vs. FIU 1–00–1–0–21–01–01–01–01–00–11–00–11–00–11–00–1
vs. Florida Atlantic 1–00–12–0–1–00–11–01–01–00–11–01–01–00–10–11–0
vs. Louisiana Tech 0–11–00–10–1–0–10–10–10–10–21–00–10–10–11–00–1
vs. Marshall 1–10–10–11–01–0–1–01–01–00–11–01–01–01–01–01–0
vs. Middle Tennessee 0–10–10–10–11–00–1–0–10–10–10–10–11–00–21–00–1
vs. North Texas 1–00–10–10–11–00–11–0–1–01–01–01–02–00–11–00–1
vs. Old Dominion 1–00–20–10–11–00–11–00–1–0–11–00–11–01–01–00–1
vs. Rice 0–11–01–01–02–01–01–00–11–0–1–01–01–01–01–01–0
vs. Southern Miss 0–10–10–10–10–10–11–00–10–10–1–0–21–01–00–10–1
vs. Tulane 0–10–11–00–11–00–11–00–11–00–12–0–1–00–11–00–1
vs. Tulsa 1–00–10–10–11–00–10–10–20–10–10–10–1–1–00–10–1
vs. UAB 0–11–01–01–01–00–12–01–00–10–10–11–00–1–1–00–1
vs. UTEP 1–00–10–11–00–10–10–10–10–10–11–00–11–00–1–0–2
vs. UTSA 0–11–01–00–11–00–11–01–01–00–11–01–01–01–02–0–
Total 7–95–117–95–1113–34–1213–36–109–72–1413–38–813–37–912–44–12

Player of the week
Players of the week

Throughout the conference regular season, the C-USA offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.

Week Player of the week Freshman of the week
November 11, 2013 Rakeem Buckles, FIU Matt Willms, UTEP
Elijah Pittman, Marshall
November 18, 2013 Louis Dabney, Tulane Jonathan Stark, Tulane
C. J. Washington, UAB
November 25, 2013 Chad Frazier, UAB Sean Obi, Rice
December 2, 2013 Chad Frazier (2), UAB Kareem Canty, Marshall
December 9, 2013 Pablo Bertone, Florida Atlantic Kareem Canty (2), Marshall
December 16, 2013 Shawn Jones, Middle Tennessee Kareem Canty (3), Marshall
December 23, 2013 Jonathan Stark, Tulane Jonathan Stark (2), Tulane
December 30, 2013 John Bohannon, UTEP Vince Hunter, UTEP
January 6, 2014 Alex Hamilton, Louisiana Tech Ryan Taylor, Marshall
January 13, 2014 John Bohannon (2), UTEP Jonathan Stark (3), Tulane
January 20, 2014 Michael Craig, Southern Miss Vince Hunter (2), UTEP
January 27, 2014 Speedy Smith, Louisiana Tech Ryan Taylor (2), Marshall
Neil Watson, Southern Miss
February 3, 2014 Shawn Jones (2), Middle Tennessee Vince Hunter (3), UTEP
February 10, 2014 Akeem Richmond, East Carolina Marquan Botley, Florida Atlantic
February 17, 2014 Kerry Hammonds, Middle Tennessee Vince Hunter (4), UTEP
February 24, 2014 Aaron Brown, Southern Miss Vince Hunter (5), UTEP
March 3, 2014 Daveon Boardingham, Southern Miss Caleb White, East Carolina
March 7, 2014 Shawn Jones (3), Middle Tennessee Marquan Botley (2), Florida Atlantic

Honors and awards

All-Conference USA Awards and Teams
Honor Recipient
Player of the Year Shawn Jones, Middle Tennessee
Coach of the Year Danny Manning, Tulsa
Freshman of the Year Vince Hunter, UTEP
Defensive Player of the Year Speedy Smith, Louisiana Tech
Newcomer of the Year Chad Frazier, UAB
Sixth Man of the Year Kenyon McNeail, Louisiana Tech
All-Conference USA First Team Pablo Bertone, Florida Atlantic
Chad Frazier, UAB
Shawn Jones, Middle Tennessee
Speedy Smith, Louisiana Tech
Neil Watson, Southern Miss
All-Conference USA Second Team Vince Hunter, UTEP
Tymell Murphy, FIU
Akeem Richmond, East Carolina
Julian Washburn, UTEP
James Woodard, Tulsa
All-Conference USA Third Team John Bohannon, UTEP
Kareem Canty, Marshall
Michael Craig, Southern Miss
Alex Hamilton, Louisiana Tech
Pierriá Henry, Charlotte
All-Freshman Team Marquan Botley, Florida Atlantic
Kareem Canty, Marshall
Ryan Taylor, Marshall
Sean Obi, Rice
Jonathan Stark, Tulane
Vince Hunter, UTEP
All-Defensive Team Pierriá Henry, Charlotte
Michale Kyser, Louisiana Tech
Speedy Smith, Louisiana Tech
Tweety Knight, Middle Tennessee
Julian Washburn, UTEP
All-Academic Team Ben Cherry, Charlotte
Justin Raffington, Florida Atlantic
Jackson Trapp, Florida Atlantic
Vertrail Vaughns, North Texas
Austin Ramljak, Rice

NABC

The National Association of Basketball Coaches announced their Division I All‐District teams on March 12, recognizing the nation’s best men’s collegiate basketball student-athletes. Selected and voted on by member coaches of the NABC, 252 student-athletes, from 25 districts were chosen. The selections on this list were then eligible for NABC Coaches' All-America Honors. The following list represented the District 11 players chosen to the list.[5]

Postseason

Conference USA Tournament
Main article: 2014 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament
2014 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament seeds and results
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First round
March 11		 Second round
March 12		 Quarterfinals
March 13		 Semifinals
March 14		 Championship
March 15
1 Louisiana Tech † 13–3 27–7 2–1 vs Tul/MT/SM; 1–0 vs Tul Bye Bye Defeated Charlotte 86–65 Defeated Southern Miss 88–70 Eliminated by Tulsa 69–60
2 Tulsa † 13–3 21–12 2–1 vs LT/MT/SM; 0–1 vs LT Bye Bye Defeated Tulane 70–49 Defeated Middle Tennessee 76–69 Defeated Louisiana Tech 69–60
3 Middle Tennessee † 13–3 24–9 1–2 vs LT/Tul/SM; 1–0 vs. SM Bye Bye Defeated Old Dominion 62–48 Eliminated by Tulsa 76–69
4 Southern Miss † 13–3 27–6 1–2 vs LT/Tul/MT; 0–1 vs. MT Bye Bye Defeated UTEP 64–56 Eliminated by Louisiana Tech 88–70
5 UTEP # 12–4 23–10 Bye Defeated East Carolina 77–68 Eliminated by Southern Miss 64–56
6 Old Dominion # 9–7 16–17 Bye Defeated Marshall 78–58 Eliminated by Middle Tennessee 62–48
7 Tulane # 8–8 17–16 Bye Defeated North Texas 66–61 Eliminated by Tulsa 70–49
8 UAB # 7–9 18–13 1–0 vs Charlotte Bye Eliminated by Charlotte 80–70
9 Charlotte # 7–9 17–14 0–1 vs UAB Bye Defeated UAB 80–70 Eliminated by Louisiana Tech 86–65
10 North Texas 6–10 16–16 Defeated Rice 63–62 Eliminated by Tulane 66–61
11 Florida Atlantic 5–11 10–22 1–0 vs East Carolina Eliminated by Marshall 63–59
12 East Carolina 5–11 17–16 0–1 vs Florida Atlantic Defeated UTSA 79–76 Eliminated by UTEP 77–68
13 UTSA 4–12 8–22 1–0 vs Marshall Eliminated by East Carolina 79–76
14 Marshall 4–12 11–22 0–1 vs UTSA Defeated Florida Atlantic 63–59 Eliminated by Old Dominion 78–58
15 Rice 2–14 7–23 Eliminated by North Texas 63–62
† – C-USA regular season co-champions and received a double-bye in the conference tournament.
# – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament.
Overall records include all games played in the C-USA Tournament.
FIU is ineligible due to Academic Progress Rate violations.

NCAA tournament
Main article: 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Seed Region School First Four Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
13 South Tulsa n/a Eliminated by UCLA 76–59
W–L (%): 0–0 – 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 –Total: 0–1 .000

National Invitation Tournament
Main article: 2014 National Invitation Tournament
Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
3 Florida State Louisiana Tech Defeated Iona 89–88 Defeated Georgia 79–71 Eliminated by Florida State 78–75
3 Minnesota Southern Miss Defeated Toledo 66–59 Defeated Missouri 71–63 Eliminated by Minnesota 81–73
W–L (%): 2–0 1.000 2–0 1.000 0–2 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – Total: 4–2 .667

College Basketball Invitational
Main article: 2014 College Basketball Invitational
School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
Old Dominion Defeated South Dakota State 72–65 Defeated Radford 82–59 Eliminated by Fresno State 71–64
Tulane Eliminated by Princeton 56–55
UTEP Eliminated by Fresno State 61–56
W–L (%): 1–2 .333 1–0 1.000 0–1 .000 0–0 – Total: 2–3 .400

CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
Main article: 2014 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
East Carolina Eliminated by Wright State 73–59
W–L (%): 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – Total: 0–1 .000

References
  1. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9630278/2013-14-college-basketball-preview-tulane-green-wave
  2. http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/25/conference-usa-2013-14-preview/
  3. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24063357/college-basketball-conference-previews-best-of-the-rest
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2013-12-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "National Association of Basketball Coaches Announces 2013-14 Division I All-District Teams" (PDF). National Association of Basketball Coaches. 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
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