The 2017–18 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the
2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
The 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2017. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic and the season ended with the Final Four in San Antonio on April 2, 2018. Practices officially began on September 2 ...
in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in early March.
Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the U.S. state of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the s ...
claimed the outright regular season championship with a win over
Western Kentucky
Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state.
;Always included
* The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...
on March 1, 2018.
Old Dominion
Old Dominion most commonly refers to:
*The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia
** Colony of Virginia
*Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia
**Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...
finished in second place in the regular season, one game behind the Blue Raiders.
Middle Tennessee's
Nick King was named
C-USA Player of the Year and UTSA's
Steve Henson
Steven Michael Henson (born February 2, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player, who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round (44th pick overall) of the 1990 NBA draft. He was an assistant basketball coach at ...
was named the Coach of the Year.
The
C-USA tournament was held from March 7 through 10, 2018 at
The Ford Center at The Star
Ford Center at The Star is a 12,000-seat indoor stadium located in Frisco, Texas. Its main use is as the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility. It is also used for Whataburger's Friday Night Stars, an event every Friday showcasing Frisco Independent ...
in
Frisco, Texas
Frisco is a city in Collin and Denton counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Its population was 200,509 at the 2 ...
.
Marshall
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an i ...
defeated Western Kentucky to win the tournament championship for the first time. As a result, the Thundering Herd received the conference's automatic bid to the
NCAA tournament. No other C-USA school received an NCAA Tournament bid. The Herd went 1–1 in the Tournament. Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky received a bid to the
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
. The teams combined go 4–2 in the NIT, with Western Kentucky advancing to the semifinals.
North Texas
North Texas (also commonly called North Central Texas) is a term used primarily by residents of Dallas, Fort Worth, and surrounding areas to describe much of the north central portion of the U.S. state of Texas. Residents of the Dallas–Fort Wor ...
and
UTSA received bids to the
CBI and
CIT
CIT or cit may refer to:
Organizations
* CIT Group, an American banking and financial services company
* CIT Bank, a subsidiary of CIT Group
* Center for Information Technology, of the US government
* Compagnia Italiana Turismo, an Italian travel ...
respectively.
Head coaches
Coaching changes
On March 5, 2017, North Texas fired head coach
Tony Benford
Tony L. Benford (born March 22, 1964) is an American basketball coach who is an assistant coach of the TCU Horned Frogs men's basketball team.
Biography
A native of Hobbs, New Mexico — and 1982 graduate of Hobbs High School — Benford played ...
after five years without a winning season. On March 13, the school hired
Arkansas State
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage l ...
head coach
Grant McCasland
Grant McCasland (born October 14, 1976) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach for Texas Tech Red Raiders. McCasland previously coached at North Texas from 2017 to 2023, where he guided the Mean Green to two postse ...
to the same role.
On March 21, 2017, Rice head coach
Mike Rhoades
Michael David Rhoades (born September 21, 1972) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), a position he has held since 2017. Rhoades served as the head men's basketball coac ...
resigned to become the head coach at
VCU. He finished at Rice with a three-year record of 47–52. On March 23, the school promoted assistant coach
Scott Pera
Scott Pera (born August 27, 1967) is an American college basketball coach and current head coach for the Rice Owls men's basketball team.
Coaching career
Pera started his coaching career at Elizabethtown College in 1992, before embarking on a hi ...
to head coach.
On November 27, 2017 UTEP dropped to 1–5 on the season, head coach
Tim Floyd
Tim Floyd (born February 25, 1954) is a former American college basketball coach, most recently the head coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He was formerly the head coach of several teams in the NCAA and the NBA. Floyd is also kn ...
announced that he was retiring effective immediately. The school had previously announced a new athletic director,
Jim Senter
James Corbett Senter (June 10, 1892 – March 1968) was a college American football player.
Georgia Tech
American football
Senter was a prominent end for John Heisman's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado of the Georgia Institute of Technology. h ...
, a week prior, but Floyd said that had nothing to do with his decision. Assistant
Phil Johnson was named interim head coach of the Miners the next day.
On December 14, 2017, Charlotte head coach
Mark Price
William Mark Price (born February 15, 1964) is an American former basketball player and coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Charlotte 49ers. As a player, he played for 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), from 1 ...
was fired after a 3–6 start to the season and was replaced by
Houston Fancher
Houston Fancher (born February 17, 1966) is an American basketball coach, previously the interim head coach of the Charlotte 49ers men's basketball team. Prior to that, he worked for four years at Tennessee, and the last two as the Director of Ba ...
. Fancher was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.
Coaches
''Notes:''
* All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only.
* Year at school includes 2017–18 season.
* Overall and C-USA records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2017–18 season.
Preseason
Preseason Coaches Poll
Source
Preseason All-C-USA Team
Source
Conference schedules
Conference matrix
This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
Players of the Week
Throughout the conference regular season, the C-USA offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.
All-C-USA honors and awards
Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.
Postseason
C-USA Tournament
Only the top 12 conference teams were eligible for the tournament.
NCAA tournament
National Invitation Tournament
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017-18 Conference USA men's basketball season