2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball season

2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
Number of teams14
TV partner(s)CBS Sports Network, Fox Sports, American Sports Network
2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
Regular season championsUAB
  Runners-upMiddle Tennessee
Season MVPAlex Hamilton
Tournament
ChampionsMiddle Tennessee
  Runners-upOld Dominion
Finals MVPReggie Upshaw
Basketball seasons
2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
UAB 16 – 2   .889 26 – 7   .788
Middle Tennessee † 13 – 5   .722 25 – 10   .714
Marshall 12 – 6   .667 17 – 16   .515
Louisiana Tech 12 – 6   .667 23 – 10   .697
Old Dominion 12 – 6   .667 25 – 13   .658
UTEP 10 – 8   .556 19 – 14   .576
Charlotte 9 – 9   .500 14 – 19   .424
Western Kentucky 8 – 10   .444 18 – 16   .529
North Texas 7 – 11   .389 12 – 20   .375
Rice 7 – 11   .389 12 – 20   .375
FIU 7 – 11   .389 13 – 19   .406
Florida Atlantic 5 – 13   .278 8 – 25   .242
Southern Miss* 5 – 13   .278 8 – 21   .276
UTSA 3 – 15   .167 5 – 27   .156
*Ineligible for postseason play due to self-imposed postseason ban.
† 2016 C-USA Tournament winner

The 2015–16 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2015, followed by the start of the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November.

Preseason

Preseason Polls

C-USA Coaches
1. UAB (11)
2. Old Dominion (3)
3. Middle Tennessee
4. UTEP
5. Louisiana Tech
6. WKU
7. Rice
8. North Texas
9. Marshall
10. FIU
11. Charlotte
12. Florida Atlantic
13. UTSA
14. Southern Miss

[1]

Preseason All-Conference Team

C-USA Coaches
Adrian Diaz, F FIU
Alex Hamilton, G Louisiana Tech
Erik McCree, F Louisiana Tech
Ryan Taylor, F Marshall
Reggie Upshaw Jr.,G Middle Tennessee
Trey Freeman, G Old Dominion
Marcus Jackson, G Rice
Robert Brown, G UAB
William Lee, F UAB
Earvin Morris, F UTEP

[1]

Rankings

See also: 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
Legend
    Improvement in ranking
  Drop in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll
  Pre/
Wk 1		 Wk
2		 Wk
3		 Wk
4		 Wk
5		 Wk
6		 Wk
7		 Wk
8		 Wk
9		 Wk
10		 Wk
11		 Wk
12		 Wk
13		 Wk
14		 Wk
15		 Wk
16		 Wk
17		 Wk
18		 Wk
19		 Final
Charlotte AP
C
FIU AP
C
Florida Atlantic AP
C
Louisiana Tech AP RV
C
Marshall AP
C
Middle Tennessee AP
C
North Texas AP
C
Old Dominion AP RV RV
C RV RV
Rice AP
C
Southern Miss AP
C
UAB AP RV
C RV RV RV
UTEP AP RV
C RV
UTSA AP
C
WKU AP
C

Conference schedules

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

  Charlotte FIU FAU LaTech Marshall MTSU UNT ODU Rice USM UAB UTEP UTSA WKU
vs. Charlotte – 0–1 1-0 1-0 1–1 1-0 1–1 2-0 0-3 1-0 1-0 0-1 0-1 1–1
vs. FIU 1–0 – 0–2 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 2–1 0–2 0–1
vs. Florida Atlantic 0-1 2–0 – 0–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 0–3 1–0
vs. Louisiana Tech 0-1 1–0 1–0 – 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–0
vs. Marshall 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–0 – 1–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–1 0–2
vs. Middle Tennessee 0-1 0–2 0–2 1–0 1–1 – 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 2–0 0–1 0–1 1–1
vs. North Texas 1–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 – 2–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–0
vs. Old Dominion 0-2 0–1 0–2 0–1 2–0 1–0 0–2 – 1–1 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–1 0–2
vs. Rice 3-0 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–1 – 0–2 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1
vs. Southern Miss 1-0 0–1 1–0 2–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–0 – 1–0 1–1 1–1 1–0
vs. UAB 0-1 0–2 0–2 1–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 0–1 0–1 0–1 – 0–1 0–1 1–1
vs. UTEP 1-0 1–2 0–2 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 – 1–1 0–1
vs. UTSA 1-0 2–0 3–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–1 – 1–0
vs. WKU 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–0 1–1 0–2 2–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 0–1 –
Total 10–9 7–12 6–14 12–6 11–7 13–5 7–12 13–6 7–12 6–12 16–2 11–8 3–16 9–10

Honors and awards

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.

Week Player of the week Freshman of the week
November 16, 2015 Chris Cokley, UAB Ja'Michael Brown, North Texas
November 23, 2015 Adrian Diaz, FIU Andrien White, Charlotte
November 30, 2015 Earvin Morris, UTEP C. J. Burks, Marshall
Marcus Evans, Rice
December 7, 2015 Adrian Diaz (2), FIU Marcus Evans (2), Rice
December 14, 2015 Alex Hamilton, Louisiana Tech C. J. Burks (2), Marshall
December 21, 2015 Erik McCree, Louisiana Tech Marcus Evans (3), Rice
December 28, 2015 James Kelly, Marshall Marcus Evans (4), Rice
January 4, 2016 Adrian Diaz (3), FIU Andrien White (2), Charlotte
Alex Hamilton (2), Louisiana Tech
January 11, 2016 James Kelly (2), Marshall Jon Davis, Charlotte
January 18, 2016 William Lee, UAB Marquez Letcher-Ellis, Rice
January 25, 2016 Trey Freeman, Old Dominion Jon Davis (2), Charlotte
February 1, 2016 Trey Freeman (2), Old Dominion Marcus Evans (5), Rice
February 8, 2016 Trey Freeman (3), Old Dominion Marcus Evans (6), Rice
February 15, 2016 Erik McCree (2), Louisiana Tech Marcus Evans (7), Rice
February 22, 2016 James Kelly (3), Marshall Marcus Evans (8), Rice
February 29, 2016 Alex Hamilton (3), Louisiana Tech Marcus Evans (9), Rice
March 7, 2016 Alex Hamilton (4), Louisiana Tech Marcus Evans (10), Rice

[2]

All-Conference USA Awards and Teams

2016 Conference USA Men's Basketball Individual Awards
Award Recipient(s) Team
Player of the Year Alex Hamilton Louisiana Tech
Gene Bartow Coach of the Year Jerod Haase UAB
Defensive Player of the Year William Lee UAB
Freshman of the Year Marcus Evans Rice
Newcomer of the Year James Kelly Marshall
Sixth Man Award Dirk Williams UAB
2016 Conference USA Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
First Team Second Team Third Team All-Freshman Team All-Defensive Team All-Academic Team
Alex Hamilton (La. Tech)
James Kelly (Marshall)
Trey Freeman (ODU)
Marcus Evans (Rice)
Robert Brown (UAB) 		Joseph Uchebo (Charlotte)
Adrian Diaz (FIU)
Erik McCree (La. Tech)
Jeremy Combs (N. Texas)
Chris Cokley (UAB) 		Giddy Potts (MTSU)
Reggie Upshaw Jr. (MTSU)
William Lee (UAB)
Nick Norton (UAB)
Lee Moore(UTEP) 		Jon Davis (Charlotte)
Andrien White (Charlotte)
Zoran Talley (ODU)
Marcus Evans (Rice)
Terry Winn (UTEP) 		Adrian Diaz (FIU)
Alex Hamilton (La. Tech)
Brandan Stith (ODU)
Marcus Evans (Rice)
William Lee (UAB) 		Jon Elmore (Marshall)
Austin Loop (Marshall)
Trey Freeman (ODU)
Nick Norton (UAB)
Dominic Artis (UTEP)
† - denotes unanimous selection

[3][4][5][6]

Postseason

Conference USA Tournament

Main article: 2016 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

The conference tournament is scheduled for March 8–12 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, AL.

NCAA tournament

Main article: 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
Seed Region School First Four Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
15 Midwest Middle Tennessee W, 90–81 vs. #2 Michigan State – (St. Louis) L, 50–75 vs. #10 Syracuse – (St. Louis)
W–L (%): 0–0 – 1–0 1.000 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 –Total: 1–1 .500

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 2016 National Invitation Tournament
Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
7 St. Bonaventure UAB L, 79–97 vs. #2 BYU
W–L (%): 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – Total: 0–1 .000

Vegas 16 Tournament

Main article: 2016 Vegas 16 Tournament

References

  1. ^ a b "UAB Men's Basketball Voted C-USA Preseason Favorite". www.conferenceusa.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  2. ^ "March 7 Men's Basketball Players of the Week". Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  3. ^ "Haase and Hamilton Claim C-USA Men's Basketball Top Honors". www.conferenceusa.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  4. ^ "C-USA Men's Basketball Specialty Awards Announced". www.conferenceusa.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  5. ^ "C-USA Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams Announced". www.conferenceusa.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  6. ^ "Men's Basketball All-Academic Team Announced". www.conferenceusa.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.