Charlotte Seeded Eighth For C-USA Tourney, Faces #9 UAB
Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
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March 8, 2003
FREEDOM HALL - The 49ers, who finished in a four-way tie for 6th-place in C-USA with an 8-8 record, are seeded 8th in the 2003 Kelly Tires C-USA Tournament. The 49ers will face #9 UAB, Wdenesday at 7:00 p.m. The winner will face #1 Marquette, Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Marquette captured its first Conference USA regular season championship with a 70-61 victory over visiting Cincinnati on Saturday. As a result, the Golden Eagles are the top seed in the 2003 Kelly Tires Conference USA Tournament, which will be held Wednesday-Saturday, March 12-15 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
Tournament play gets underway Wednesday at 1 p.m. when No. 7 seed DePaul (16-11, 8-8) meets 10th-seeded South Florida (14-13, 7-9). The Blue Demons closed out the regular season with victories over Louisville and Houston and enter the tournament with a seven-game improvement in the win column under first-year head coach Dave Leitao. A first round South Florida victory would assure the Bulls of their fourth consecutive winning season. DePaul and South Florida did not meet during the regular season. The winner of this meeting will face No. 2 seed Memphis in Thursday's first quarterfinal at 1:00 p.m. EST. The Tigers, ranked 18th in AP poll, bring an 11-game winning streak to Louisville.
The 3:30 p.m. game on Wednesday features No. 6 seed Tulane (15-14, 8-8) against 11th-seeded Houston (8-19, 6-10). The Green Wave won both regular season meetings against the Cougars, 65-58 in Houston on Feb.1, and 56-52 in New Orleans on Feb. 26. Tulane has increased its victory total for the third consecutive season under head coach Shawn Finney. The winner of the only first round divisional battle meets No. 3 seed Louisville in Thursday's 3:30 p.m. quarterfinal. The 15th-ranked Cardinals are 21-6 under second-year head coach Rick Pitino.
No. 8 seed Charlotte (13-15, 8-8) faces ninth-seeded UAB (16-11, 8-8) in Wednesday's 7 p.m. first round game. The 49ers won the only regular season meeting between the teams, 78-58 in Birmingham on Jan. 14. Charlotte has won their opening game in each of the last six Conference USA Tournaments. UAB, which has improved its win total by three games under first-year head coach Mike Anderson, will be participating in the 8-9 game for the third consecutive tournament. The winner of this matchup advances to face No.1 seed and eighth-ranked Marquette in Thursday's 7:00 p.m. quarterfinal.
For the first time in league history, Cincinnati (17-10, 9-7) will not enter the C-USA Tournament as the No. 1 seed. Instead, the Bearcats will be seeded fifth and face No. 12 seed Southern Miss (12-15, 5-11) on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. UC and USM did not face each other during the regular season. The defending tournament champion Bearcats, who have won three C-USA Tournament titles, are 6-1 all-time in opening games. Southern Miss, which advanced to the semifinals of the 2001 Tournament after winning a share of the regular season championship, are back in the tournament after a one-year absence. The winner of the UC-USM game will battle No. 4 seed Saint Louis, winners of seven in a row, at 9:30 p.m. in Thursday's final quarterfinal.
With the exception of the South Florida-DePaul and Houston-Tulane games, which will be shown on ESPN 2, all other first round, quarterfinal and semifinal games will be televised by ESPN Plus. Please check your local listings. Saturday's 11:40 a.m. final will be aired nationally on CBS.
2003 KELLY TIRES CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, March 12 (First Round)
(7) DePaul vs. (10) South Florida (ESPN 2) 1:00p
(6) Tulane vs. (11) Houston (ESPN 2) 3:30p
(8) Charlotte vs. (9) UAB (ESPN Plus) 7:00p
(5) Cincinnati vs. (12) Southern Miss (ESPN Plus) 9:30p
Thursday, March 13 (Quarterfinals)
DPU/USF vs. (2) Memphis (ESPN Plus) 1:00p
TUL/HOU vs. (3) Louisville (ESPN Plus) 3:30p
CHA/UAB vs. (1) Marquette (ESPN Plus) 7:00p
CIN/USM vs. (4) Saint Louis (ESPN Plus) 9:30p
Friday, March 14 (Semifinals)
Semifinal No. 1 (ESPN Plus) 5:00p
Semifinal No. 2 (ESPN Plus) 7:30p
Saturday, March 15
Championship Game (CBS) 11:40a
All times Eastern
Click on PDF file at top of page to view entire bracket
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