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)
1997–98 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
American
No. 9 Cincinnati †14–2 .875  27–6  .818
Charlotte13–3 .813  20–11  .645
Saint Louis11–5 .688  22–11  .667
Marquette8–8 .500  20–11  .645
Louisville5–11 .313  12–20  .375
DePaul3–13 .188  7–23  .233
National
Memphis12–4 .750  17–12  .586
UAB10–6 .625  21–12  .636
Southern Miss9–7 .563  22–11  .667
South Florida7–9 .438  17–13  .567
Houston2–14 .125  9–20  .310
Tulane2–14 .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

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
  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
  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.
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