If you are one of the strange few who only have enough time to watch one conference tournament this weekend (and I can think of no reason you would only have time to watch one) make sure you make it the Conference USA tournament.
Yes, I did say the Conference USA tournament; it is going to be the craziest shootout this side of an old Clint Eastwood movie. It’s true there are several contenders, but no league plays a style as entertaining and exciting as C-USA. On top of that, no other league will have as many important tournament games this year.
There is no doubt that most around the country will look at the ACC tournament as the premier event of the weekend, but this just doesn’t do it for me. I’ve seen enough of Duke, Maryland and the rest of that usual group of cronies that Dick (Dukie) Vitale shamelessly promotes throughout the majority of his ESPN and ABC telecasts.
If one is to generalize about some of the major leagues, the ACC is the league that has the best basketball players. According to some, they also receive the most media attention, especially if you talk to anyone from the West Coast. Pac-10 supporters continuously complain about an East Coast bias (so I’m not going to talk about the Pac-10 either). The ACC is a great league, but it won’t provide you with anything you haven’t seen before.
Another tournament that is in contention to be the best is the Big Ten. In its fourth year, this tournament has had several improbable winners in the past and may prove to be impossible to predict once again. Big Ten teams likely play the best team basketball; nobody can play smart defense and run endless offensive sets like a Big Ten team. While this has been a proven weapon against teams playing other styles (see Badger NCAA run 2000), it stands in the way of the Big Ten tournament being the best that it could be.
However, the C-USA tournament promises to be one that won’t soon be forgotten for several reasons. Two of the best games I have seen this year have been showdowns between Conference USA’s best. Two weeks ago, Cincinnati and Marquette met in what may have been the best basketball game I have ever watched — college or professional. Then, Memphis and Cincinnati met last Saturday in what amounted to a league-championship game.
Both of these games featured intense defense. Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson once said playing against the Razorback’s defense was “40 minutes of hell,” but for C-USA contenders, there are at least three teams that put other teams through forty minutes of hell. Defense for these teams isn’t the laid-back, fundamentally-strong style that Dick Bennett might teach, but it is an in-your-face trapping style where players go for the steal first and think about their defensive assignments later.
The league can be described in with one word: Athletic. No other conference has the athletes the C-USA has. Yes, the ACC does have better basketball players, but in terms of running and jumping, no one beats this league. It should be no surprise that the league is getting more athletic either; they had to in order to compete with Cincinnati.
The Bearcats have been the league’s only perennial powerhouse in its seven-year existence, and Bob Huggins-coached teams have often been likened to a bunch of street thugs for their rough play and look more like a football team than an elite basketball team.
Don’t get me wrong, the league is more than wave after wave of faceless athletes. It has some of the game’s brightest stars, and the conference tournament will give you plenty of chance to get to know them because unlike some other leagues around the country, their NCAA births aren’t sealed, and those that have locked-up bids can dramatically change their seeding position.
One half of the bracket is an absolute nightmare for a team trying to make its way through. Marquette and Memphis will likely play for the first time this year if the highly- ranked Golden Eagles can survive what promises to be a tough game against a suddenly red hot Louisville team that has responded well during Rick Pitino’s first year of tutelage.
Should Memphis and Marquette, the conference’s second and third place teams, meet, viewers will be treated to a showdown between two of college basketball’s most impressive newcomers in Dwayne Wade of Marquette and freshmen-sensation Dajuan Wagner. Making things more exciting is, despite having what Bob Huggins calls “the most talented team in America,” Memphis will remain on the bubble unless they can beat Marquette.
The prize for winning that matchup will likely be another showdown with everyone’s favorite team to hate, the Bearcats. Cincinnati star Steve Logan may be the most NBA-ready guard in the country because of his ability to use his off hand to rid himself of defenders in an MJ-like fashion.
What more could you ask for? Don’t pass these games up to watch another Duke vs. Maryland game; save that for the NCAA championship when it would really mean something. Get in on the high-flying, fast-paced, all-out, no-holds-barred battle the Conference USA tournament promises to be. You won’t regret it.
