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Conference USA Basketball: Preseason rankings for 2020-2021 season

By Sean Cole

SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 06: Charles Bassey #23 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers reacts in the second half while taking on the Washington Huskies during their game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on November 6, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - NOVEMBER 06: Charles Bassey #23 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers reacts in the second half while taking on the Washington Huskies during their game at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on November 6, 2018 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /
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Conference USA Basketball
Conference USA Basketball Grant McCasland Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports /

Who are the top contenders to win Conference USA Basketball this season?

If you are one of those fans that pull for one of the power 5 conference teams, you dread seeing your team play mid-majors and in particular during the NCAA Tournament. One of those conferences, that most power five conference schools do not want to see on their non-conference schedule or in that first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament would be one of the schools from Conference USA Basketball.

The conference in 2019 was ranked 13th out of 32 conferences and also had the 12th ranked schedule of strength rating.

Due to the pandemic, the 2019 Conference USA Championship was canceled, as well as the NCAA Tournament, but that doesn’t mean that CUSA would not have been represented in the tournament.

There were three teams that had a great opportunity to earn their spot in the NCAA Tournament for winning the conference tournament if that would have taken place.  There were regular-season champs in North Texas and tied for second place in the regular season Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky.

In the 2021 edition of Conference USA, as there are a couple teams hungry to punch their ticket to the dance, one team looking to defend its regular-season crown, as well several teams looking to make their mark in the conference. There are some outstanding players that will be leading the way for their respected teams, so where will they finish?.

So, now it is time to look forward to the C-USA’s 26th season, which begins play Wednesday, November 25th as there will be 12 teams jockeying for position in the regular season to cap off the season with the C-USA Tournament March 10-13th in Frisco, Texas.

The 2020 – 2021 annual preseason coach’s poll was just released and predicts the order of finish in conference play, which is voted on by the league’s 14 head coaches. Here is the predicted order of where they will finish in the 2020 – 2021 season.