2003 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

2003 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2002–03
Teams12
SiteFreedom Hall
Louisville, KY
ChampionsLouisville (1st title)
Winning coachRick Pitino (1st title)
MVPLuke Whitehead (Louisville)
← 2002
2004 →
2002–03 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
American
No. 9 Marquette 14 – 2   .875 27 – 6   .818
No. 14 Louisville † 11 – 5   .688 25 – 7   .781
Cincinnati 9 – 7   .563 17 – 12   .586
Saint Louis 9 – 7   .563 16 – 14   .533
DePaul 8 – 8   .500 16 – 13   .552
Charlotte 8 – 8   .500 13 – 16   .448
East Carolina 3 – 13   .188 12 – 15   .444
National
No. 19 Memphis 13 – 3   .813 23 – 7   .767
UAB 8 – 8   .500 21 – 13   .618
Tulane 8 – 8   .500 16 – 15   .516
South Florida 7 – 9   .438 15 – 14   .517
Houston 6 – 10   .375 8 – 20   .286
Southern Miss 5 – 11   .313 13 – 16   .448
TCU 3 – 13   .188 9 – 19   .321
† 2003 Conference USA Tournament winner
Rankings from AP Poll[1]

The 2003 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 12–15 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.[2]

Louisville defeated upstart UAB in the championship game, 83–78, to clinch their first Conference USA men's tournament championship.

The Cardinals, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 2003 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members Cincinnati, Marquette, and Memphis, all of whom earned at-large bids.

Format

There were no changes to the tournament format from the previous year. The top four teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round while the next eight teams were placed into the first round. The two teams with the worst conference records were not invited to the tournament. All remaining tournament seeds were determined by regular season conference records.

Bracket

First round
Wednesday, March 12 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 13 		Semifinals
Friday, March 14 		Championship
Saturday, March 15
            
1 #8 Marquette 76
8 UAB 83
9 Charlotte 61
8 UAB 85
8 UAB 63
4 Saint Louis 62
5 Cincinnati 61
12 Southern Miss 63
12 Southern Miss 56
4 Saint Louis 69
8 UAB 78
3 #20 Louisville 83
3 #20 Louisville 82
6 Tulane 66
11 Houston 52
6 Tulane 74
3 #20 Louisville 78
2 #16 Memphis 75
7 DePaul 74
10 South Florida 76
10 South Florida 56
2 #16 Memphis 62

References

  1. ^ "2002-03 Conference USA Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2010.
  2. ^ "2002-03 Conference USA Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.