Opening day action at the 2007 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale features four first round games Wednesday at the Memphis FedexForum. No. 10 UTEP and No.7 Rice get things started at 1 p.m. EST, followed by No. 11 SMU and No. 6 Southern Miss at 3:30 p.m. The evening session features No.9 UAB against No. 8 Marshall at 7 p.m., followed by No. 12 East Carolina vs. No. 5 Tulsa at 9:30 p.m.
The tournament will get underway when Rice and UTEP renew their rivalry. The Owls are led by senior guard Morris Almond, the league's leading scorer, who set a new conference record for points in a season. The Miners playing at FedexForum marks the return of former University of Memphis assistant coach Tony Barbee, now leading UTEP in his first season as head coach. The Owls won the regular season meeting between the schools, 73-67 on Jan. 24.
In the opener UTEP is a -5.0 favorite over the Owls with a 143 point total. Southern Miss is a slight 4 ½ point favorite in its game with SMU in the second afternoon game. UAB is a -5.0 point favorite in the first evening game with a 129 point total against Marshall while Tulsa is an -11 ½ point favorite with a 120 ½ total in its game with East Carolina in the nightcap.
A pair of former National Coaches of the Year square off in the second game on Wednesday as Larry Eustachy leads his resurgent Southern Miss Golden Eagles against Matt Doherty and his SMU Mustangs. Southern Miss has posted its first winning season since the 2000-01 Golden Eagles shared the regular season Conference USA crown. SMU won the regular season meeting between the teams, 57-56, in the conference-opener for both schools on Jan. 10.
Marshall and UAB will be meeting for the third time this season. Both schools won on their home court, with Marshall taking a 61-54 decision in Huntington on Feb. 3, while UAB posted a 70-57 victory on Feb. 24. UAB senior guard Paul Delaney and Marshall sophomore forward Markel Humphrey both rank among the top 10 scorers in Conference USA.
Under the direction of second-year head coach Doug Wojcik, Tulsa has improved its victory total by seven games from last year as its gets set to face East Carolina in the final opening round game on Wednesday. The Golden Hurricane won the only regular season meeting between the teams, 67-49, on Jan. 10 in the opening C-USA game for both schools. All C-USA lines and totals can be found at Sportsbet.com
