March 17, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

IRVING, Texas - Five Conference USA men's basketball teams will continue their 2007-08 seasons with invitations to play in postseason tournaments.

Memphis is the South Region No. 1 seed and will open NCAA Championship play against UT Arlington Friday, March 21, at Little Rock's Alltel Arena. That game will tip 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game of the 6:25 p.m. CDT evening session that features No. 8 seed Mississippi State against No. 9 seed Oregon. If the Tigers win, game time for Sunday's contest against the winner of MSU/Oregon will be announced late Friday after the first round is completed.

Memphis, ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll and No. 3 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll, is 33-1 overall entering the NCAA Championship. The 33 victories tied the school record for most wins in a single season. The Tigers are also the only squad in NCAA Division I history to enter the NCAA Tournament with 30 or more wins three-straight years.

This is the second time in three seasons that the Tigers earned a No. 1 seed. Memphis was the Oakland Region No. 1 seed in 2006. Last year, the Tigers were the South Region's No. 2 seed. The 2005-06 and 2006-07 Memphis teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. This is Memphis' 21st overall NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers have a 25-20 record in NCAA Tournament play. In its history, Memphis has made two Final Four appearances (1973, 1985), five Elite Eights and nine Sweet Sixteens.

UAB has accepted an invitation to the 2008 National Invitation Tournament as a No. 5 seed and will travel Richmond, Va. to take on No. 4 seed VCU on Wednesday, March 19. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CDT and will be televised on ESPN2.

UAB finished the campaign with an impressive 22-10 overall record and a 12-4 mark in Conference USA play. The Blazers won 10 of their final 14 games entering postseason play. Two of the losses over the stretch were against No. 2 Memphis. VCU holds a record of 24-7 overall and won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season title with a 15-3 conference mark. The Rams are 12-1 this season in home games, with the lone loss coming to Old Dominion, 67-66, on Feb. 16.

The Blazers will be making their ninth appearance in the NIT and have reached the Final Four on two occasions, both under former coach Gene Bartow. In 1989, UAB advanced to the semifinals in New York where they lost to St. John's (76-65) before coming back to defeat Michigan State (78-76) in the third place game. The Blazers also reached the NIT semifinals in the 1993 tournament, falling to Georgetown in the semifinals (45-41). Again, UAB rebounded to win the third place contest, defeating Providence by a 55-52 score. UAB has an all-time record in the NIT of 11-8. It is also the first NIT appearance for the Blazers since 2003, when they won two games before losing in the quarterfinals to St. John¹s. UAB has participated in 13 NCAA Tournaments, making this the Blazers' 22nd overall postseason appearance.

Three C-USA teams will participate in the inaugural College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Tulsa will host Miami (Ohio), UTEP will host Utah and Houston will play its first-round game at Nevada. The 16-team tournament will begin with opening round action on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 18-19. Quarterfinal round action takes place on March 24 and 26, while a best-of-three Championship Series will take place on March 31, April 2 and 4.

Houston will square off against Nevada at 8 p.m. CDT, Tuesday at the Lawlor Events Center. The Cougars received the No. 3 seed in the West Regional and will face the second-seeded Wolfpack in the opening round. If the Cougars win Tuesday, they will face the winner of the No. 1 Washington-No. 4 Valparaiso game in the second round on March 24. Tuesday's game will be televised by Fox College Sports.

This will be the third time in the last four years that the Cougars will compete in the postseason after earning NIT invitations in 2005 and 2006. The Cougars earned the postseason berth after finishing third in Conference USA and posting a 22-9 overall record. It was the program's highest win total since the 1991-92 team finished 25-6. The Cougars also recorded a program-best 11 wins in Conference USA play and reached double digits in C-USA wins for the second straight season. That marked the first time since 1990-92 that UH accomplished that feat.

It will be the first time the two teams have met on the hardwood since the Cougars enjoyed a 92-80 win in Reno on Feb. 8, 1993. UH own a 6-1 all-time record against the Wolfpack with wins in the last three meetings. Nevada (21-10, 12-4 WAC) comes into the game after an 83-75 loss to New Mexico State during the semifinals of the WAC Tournament. The Wolfpack finished as WAC regular-season co-champions and enter Tuesday's game as winners of 13 of their last 18 games.

Tulsa will welcome Miami (Ohio) to the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. CDT contest. The Golden Hurricane enters the tournament with a 20-13 overall record and an 8-8 mark in Conference USA. It is the first post-season appearance for the Hurricane since playing in the 2003 NCAA Championship. Tulsa has turned in its second straight 20-win season and is coming off of an impressive performance at the C-USA Tournament. The Hurricane defeated East Carolina, UAB and UTEP in the first three rounds before losing to the nation's second-ranked Memphis Tigers in the championship game.

Miami (Ohio) finished the season with a 17-15 overall record and a 9-7 mark in the Mid-American Conference. The RedHawks had early season wins over NCAA participants Xavier, South Alabama and Mississippi State.

UTEP will make its fourth postseason appearance in the last five years when the Miners host Utah in an opening round game of the CBI on Wednesday. Tip-off is 7 p.m. MDT. It marks the first postseason appearance for the Miners under second-year head coach Tony Barbee, who was involved in 15 straight postseason tournaments as a player and assistant coach before coming to UTEP.

The Miners (19-13) advanced to the semifinals of the Conference USA Championship as a No. 6 seed, beating SMU and Houston before losing in overtime to Tulsa, 64-62. UTEP played in the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2005 and the NIT in 2006. This will be the 26th postseason appearance for the Miners, who have played in the NCAA Tournament 16 times and the NIT on nine occasions. UTEP won the 1966 national championship and, to this day, remains the only Division I-A school in the state of Texas to capture a national title in men's basketball.

Utah enters the game with a 17-14 overall record after advancing to the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament this past weekend. Utah and UTEP have a lengthy history in men's basketball. Wednesday's game will be the 66th matchup between the two former members of the Western Athletic Conference.