With the 2011 C-USA Tournament now only a week away, it's finally time to take an extended look at the potential seeding scenarios. Seeding matters. For those of you who don't know, the top 4 teams in the league standings received a first round bye (link to C-USA tiebreaker rules).
The C-USA Championship
The Contenders: UAB*, UTEP, Tulsa
UAB has already clinched a share of the C-USA Championship with their win last night against Southern Miss. If UAB wins their season ending clash at home against ECU, the Blazers have deservedly won the C-USA Regular Season Championship outright. If UAB loses, which you know isn't completely out of the question considering this year in the C-USA, both UTEP and Tulsa will have a chance to earn a share of the title. UTEP would have to beat SMU and Tulsa would have to beat Southern Miss. So, there could be an outright champion, a two way split or a three team tie for first.
The One Seed
The Contenders: UAB Blazers, Tulsa Golden Hurricane
While UTEP can earn a share of the C-USA Championship, the Miners cannot earn the #1 seed. If UAB and UTEP end the season tied at 11-5, UAB would have the tiebeaker advantage with the head-to-head win. If There is a three way tie, the conference looks at the three teams combined records against each other. UAB is 1-1 against UTEP and Tulsa. Tulsa is 2-1 against the others. UTEP is 1-2 against them. Which means if...
- UAB Wins: They win the C-USA Title and the #1 seed
- UAB loses and only Tulsa Wins: Shared title and Tulsa gets the #1 seed (head-to-head); UAB would be the #2 seed
- UAB loses and only UTEP wins: Shared title and UAB gets the #1 seed (head-to-head), UTEP gets the #2 seed
- UAB loses and UTEP and Tulsa also win: Tulsa gets the #1 seed, UAB gets the #2 seed, UTEP gets the #3 seed.
Can UTEP do any worse than the #3 Seed?
Again, for this to happen, UTEP and Tulsa would have to lose and Memphis would have to win against Tulane.