HAS Conference USA basketball really sunk this far?
'Fraid so.
On Sunday, as the two major postseason brackets were unveiled, the 21-year-old league took a roundhouse slap in the face. The NCAA tournament and its early-week sideshow, the National Invitation Tournament, come with seedings that give a snapshot of where teams/conferences stand.
Particularly the mid-majors. And C-USA doesn't look so good.
Middle Tennessee, second place in the C-USA regular season, won the league tournament last week, but was slotted 15th in the Midwest, tangling with Michigan State in St. Louis.
That wasn't surprising. A few of the bracket hobbyists had regular-season champion Alabama-Birmingham that low if it won the C-USA tournament, though most had the Blazers 14th.
Still, the 24-9 Blue Raiders are slotted behind Buffalo, 10-8 in the Mid-American Conference; and Green Bay, fourth in the Horizon and packing a marvelous Rating Percentage Index of 112. Those are 14th seeds, along with Stephen F. Austin and Fresno State.
Ah, feel the disrespect seep for El Paso to Norfolk, in a league with only three members from the Louisville/Memphis/Marquette days.
But wait, that's not all.
Check the NIT bracket, where UAB is being shipped off to face Brigham Young. Even worse, the Blazers aren't the fifth seed that outraged Marshall fans a few years back - they are seventh!
UAB was among 15 automatic qualifiers - those who won their league's regular-season championship but faltered in the league tournament and were told to pound sand by the NCAA selection committee.
Such teams slotted ahead of of UAB include Belmont, Hofstra and Akron. Other seventh seeds are New Mexico State, Indiana/Purdue-Fort Wayne and North Florida.
The Mastodons? The Ospreys?
This issue of raising the league's profile was raised at the C-USA tournament. When the question was put to a coach or two, I just wanted to stand up and yell, "Play better!"
Or maybe, "EVERYONE play better!"
The league was top-heavy, with five teams at 12-6 or above and one at 10-8. The Rating Percentage Index wasn't kind - MTSU was 78 and UAB is 83, but everybody else goes three digits.
Three more are in the top 150, including Marshall (128). Only one more is in the top 200 and there are three at 300 or worse. Texas-San Antonio, now looking for a new sucker to take the coaching job, was 347.
The Roadrunners were ahead of Chicago State, Florida A&M, Grambling and Central Connecticut State. That's all, folks.
Some of these teams will improve next year, such as Charlotte, Western Kentucky and Rice. But these teams are going to have to improve their nonconference schedules, staying away from wasteful sub-Division I games, and pick off some nice wins.
Bear in mind that basketball scheduling is excruciating. For spots you haven't yet filled by now, schools are happy to help - at their place. Shoot, Chicago State is trying to squeeze out a home game with somebody, I'm sure.
MTSU played two top-50 teams, one more top 100 and two more top-150 in non-league play. UAB played no top-50s, one top-100 and two more in the top 150. Even if they won most of those, they couldn't have built even a bubble-worthy resume.
Marshall set a balanced example: two poll inhabitants, one more top-50, two more top-100s, a 103 twice and two more top-150s. The Herd didn't schedule a sub-D-I, got in five home games and took the players on a two-game trip to Las Vegas. Most opponents were regional or close to it.
Now, the Herd went 3-14 against all top-150s, league and nonleague, so that tells you this program is nowhere near where it wants to be. But you can't shy away from the challenge.
Neither can C-USA's other 13 teams.
nnn
There was a time Donnie Jones thought he was going to coach in the Big East, fill up his shiny arena and get the third-largest metro area in what is now America's third-largest state behind him.
I know he at least expected his team to take charter flights, like several schools other schools leaving Conference USA for what was thought to be the Big East. In his 2008-09 season at Marshall, every one of the Herd's flights in conference play had a delay, even the one charter flight to the tournament in Memphis.
As I recall, it was one of several reasons, other than the bigger paycheck, that sent Jones from Huntington to Orlando.
His six-year ride at UCF, the last three in what turned out to be the American Athletic Conference, ended Thursday. He finished 100-88 in those six years, not including the 21 wins he was docked in 2010-11 as part of NCAA sanctions in the case involving third-party recruiters. (Or "runners," in simpler parlance.)
The Knights went 15-39 in AAC play and the Jones era ended with a 65-63 loss to last-seeded Tulane in the league tournament. Worse yet, that tourney took place in Orlando.
Jones no longer has the NCAA's "show cause" sanction on him, but that still sticks with you for a long time, possibly forever. As the late Rick Huckabay learned three decades ago, he might be out of the college profession.
Only if you're Bruce Pearl and a desperate program such as Auburn comes calling do you escape the stench.
I wish not to pile on Jones here, but I will blast Central Florida. For one thing, the school apparently sold Jones a bill of goods on which it did not make good, as far as facilities are concerned.
And the Orlando Sentinel reported last week that Jones' team had to fly commercial. Shoot, Marshall generally flew charter on the last leg of C-USA's Thursday-Saturday trips this season. The "grab a check" games with Tennessee and Maryland helped, along with some budget creativity.
Think about that - little ol' Marshall going charter, mighty UCF slumming it in coach. Pretty funny, isn't it?