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Conference USA Basketball: 2021 conference tournament preview, predictions

By Matt Melton

NORFOLK, VA - MARCH 06 : Conference USA logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Old Dominion Monarchs at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on March 6, 2019 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
NORFOLK, VA - MARCH 06 : Conference USA logo on the floor before a college basketball game between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the Old Dominion Monarchs at the Ted Constant Convocation Center on March 6, 2019 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Conference USA Basketball North Texas Mean Green (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Conference USA Basketball North Texas Mean Green (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Conference USA Basketball was one of the more competitive conferences in all of college basketball to keep up with this regular season. With the conference implementing the East and West divisions for the first time in its history, it seemed to be more opportunity for certain teams to make some noise. As we saw throughout the year, the C-USA standings became one of the tightest regular-season conference races to watch.

We knew that Western Kentucky was considered a favorite to win the C-USA East going into the season, and the Hilltoppers did just that as they won the East by one game over Old Dominion. The West division on the other hand was close throughout the season with Louisiana Tech narrowly edging UAB to capture the C-USA West.

While this entire conference was close for the majority of the season, for the most part, there were a few surprises from the regular season as well. Arguably the biggest surprise was Louisiana Tech, who ended up winning the West division after being picked to finish 7th overall in the C-USA Preseason Poll. Among other surprises were defending champion North Texas, as well as Charlotte disappointing.

The Conference-USA regular season was full of surprises and was very competitive throughout. Expect the C-USA Tournament to be extremely competitive as well, with at least 4-5 teams all with a chance to come out on top. Will the East and West regular-season division winners meet in the C-USA Tournament Final, or are there surprises to come in an extremely competitive conference?