# 2017–18 Conference USA men's basketball season

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 in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in early March.
Middle Tennessee claimed the outright regular season championship with a win over Western Kentucky on March 1, 2018. Old Dominion 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 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 in Frisco, Texas. Marshall 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 teams combined go 4–2 in the NIT, with Western Kentucky advancing to the semifinals. North Texas and UTSA received bids to the CBI and CIT respectively.

## Head coaches
### Coaching changes

On March 5, 2017, North Texas fired head coach Tony Benford after five years without a winning season. On March 13, the school hired Arkansas State head coach Grant McCasland to the same role.
On March 21, 2017, Rice head coach Mike Rhoades 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 to head coach.
On November 27, 2017 UTEP dropped to 1–5 on the season, head coach Tim Floyd announced that he was retiring effective immediately. The school had previously announced a new athletic director, Jim Senter, 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 was fired after a 3–6 start to the season and was replaced by Houston Fancher. Fancher was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.

### Coaches

| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Year at school | Overall record | C-USA record | C-USA championships | NCAA Tournaments |
| Charlotte | Houston Fancher (interim) | Charlotte (asst.) | 0 | 3–17 | 2–16 | 0 | 0 |
| FIU | Anthony Evans | Norfolk State | 5 | 65–94 | 33–55 | 0 | 0 |
| Florida Atlantic | Michael Curry | Philadelphia 76ers (asst.) | 4 | 39–84 | 19–53 | 0 | 0 |
| Louisiana Tech | Eric Konkol | Miami (asst.) | 3 | 63–36 | 33–21 | 0 | 0 |
| Marshall | Dan D'Antoni | Los Angeles Lakers (asst.) | 4 | 73–63 | 41–31 | 1 | 1 |
| Middle Tennessee | Kermit Davis | LSU (asst.) | 16 | 332–188 | 68–20 | 2 | 2 |
| North Texas | Grant McCasland | Arkansas State | 1 | 20–18 | 8–10 | 0 | 0 |
| Old Dominion | Jeff Jones | American | 5 | 114–58 | 61–27 | 0 | 0 |
| Rice | Scott Pera | Rice (asst.) | 1 | 7–24 | 4–14 | 0 | 0 |
| Southern Miss | Doc Sadler | Iowa State (asst.) | 4 | 38–81 | 21–50 | 0 | 0 |
| UAB | Robert Ehsan | UAB (asst.) | 2 | 37–29 | 19–17 | 0 | 0 |
| UTEP | Phil Johnson (interim) | UTEP (asst.) | 0 | 10–15 | 6–12 | 0 | 0 |
| UTSA | Steve Henson | Oklahoma (asst.) | 3 | 34–33 | 18–18 | 0 | 0 |
| WKU | Rick Stansbury | Texas A&M (asst.) | 2 | 42–28 | 23–13 | 0 | 0 |
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
| Rank | Team |
| 1. | Middle Tennessee (8) |
| 2. | UAB (4) |
| 3. | Louisiana Tech (2) |
| 4. | Old Dominion |
| 5. | UTEP |
| 6. | Western Kentucky |
| 7. | Marshall |
| 8. | Charlotte |
| 9. | UTSA |
| 10. | Southern Miss |
| 11. | North Texas |
| 12. | Florida Atlantic |
| 13. | Rice |
| 14. | FIU |
 first place votes

### Preseason All-C-USA Team

Source
| Recipient | School |
| Daquan Bracey | La Tech |
| William Lee | UAB |
| Jon Elmore | Marshall |
| Justin Johnson | WKU |
| Chris Cokely | UAB |
| Jon Davis | Charlotte |
| Ahmad Caver | Old Dominion |
| Giddy Potts | Middle Tennessee |
| Jacobi Boykins | La Tech |
| Omega Harris | UTEP |

## 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 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. FIU | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| vs. Florida Atlantic | 1–1 | 1–1 | – | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| vs. Louisiana Tech | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | – | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. Marshall | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | – | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. Middle Tennessee | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | – | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. North Texas | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | – | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| vs. Old Dominion | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | – | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 |
| vs. Rice | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | – | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. Southern Miss | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | – | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| vs. UAB | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | – | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. UTEP | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | – | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| vs. UTSA | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | – | 0–1 |
| vs. WKU | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | – |
| Total | 2–16 | 8–10 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 12–6 | 16–2 | 8–10 | 15–3 | 4–14 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 6–12 | 11–7 | 14–4 |

### 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 13, 2017 | Jon Elmore, Marshall | Keaton Wallace, UTSA |
| November 20, 2017 | Nick King, Middle Tennessee | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| November 27, 2017 | Chris Cokley, UAB | Jake Ohmer, Western Kentucky |
| December 4, 2017 | Jon Elmore, Marshall | Keaton Wallace, UTSA |
| December 11, 2017 | Nick King, Middle Tennessee | Keaton Wallace, UTSA |
| December 18, 2017 | Ajdin Penava, Marshall | Taveion Hollingsworth, Western Kentucky |
| December 26, 2017 | Nick King, Middle Tennessee | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| January 2, 2018 | Roosevelt Smart, North Texas | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| January 8, 2018 | Darius Thompson, Western Kentucky | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| January 16, 2018 | Roosevelt Smart, North Texas | Zack Byrant, UAB |
| January 22, 2018 | C. J. Burks, Marshall | Anthony Duruji, Louisiana Tech |
| January 29, 2018 | Ronald Delph, FAU | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| February 7, 2018 | Brian Beard, FIU | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| February 12, 2018 | Nick King, Middle Tennessee | Taveion Hollingsworth, Western Kentucky |
| February 19, 2018 | C. J. Burks, Marshall | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| February 26, 2018 | Jon Elmore, Marshall | Najja Hunter, Rice |
| March 4, 2018 | Jon Davis, Charlotte Trey Porter, Old Dominion | Zack Bryant, UAB |

## All-C-USA honors and awards

Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.
| Honor | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Nick King, Middle Tennessee |
| Coach of the Year | Steve Henson, UTSA |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Ajdin Penava, Marshall |
| Freshman of the Year | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| Newcomer of the Year | Nick King, Middle Tennessee |
| Sixth Man of the Year | Deon Lyle, UTSA |
| All-C-USA First Team | Jon Elmore, Marshall |
| All-C-USA First Team | Nick King, Middle Tennessee |
| All-C-USA First Team | Ahmad Caver, Old Dominion |
| All-C-USA First Team | Chris Cokley, UAB |
| All-C-USA First Team | Justin Johnson, WKU |
| All-C-USA Second Team | C. J. Burks, Marshall |
| All-C-USA Second Team | Giddy Potts, Middle Tennessee |
| All-C-USA Second Team | Roosevelt Smart, North Texas |
| All-C-USA Second Team | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| All-C-USA Second Team | Darius Thompson, WKU |
| All-C-USA Third Team | Brian Beard, FIU |
| All-C-USA Third Team | Ronald Delph, FAU |
| All-C-USA Third Team | Jacobi Boykins, Louisiana Tech |
| All-C-USA Third Team | Ajdin Penava, Marshall |
| All-C-USA Third Team | B. J. Stith, Old Dominion |
| All-C-USA Defensive Team | Brian Beard, FIU |
| All-C-USA Defensive Team | Ajdin Penava, Marshall |
| All-C-USA Defensive Team | Tyrik Dixon, Middle Tennessee |
| All-C-USA Defensive Team | Ahmad Caver, Old Dominion |
| All-C-USA Defensive Team | William Lee, UAB |
| All-C-USA Freshman Team | Anthony Duruji, Louisiana Tech |
| All-C-USA Freshman Team | Zack Bryant, UAB |
| All-C-USA Freshman Team | Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA |
| All-C-USA Freshman Team | Keaton Wallace, UTSA |
| All-C-USA Freshman Team | Taveion Hollingsworth, WKU |

## Postseason
### C-USA Tournament

Only the top 12 conference teams were eligible for the tournament.
| Session | Game | Matchup | Score | Television |
| First Round – Wednesday, March 7 |||||
| 1 | 1 | No. 8 FIU vs. No. 9 Southern Miss | 68–69 | Stadium |
| 1 | 2 | No. 5 UTSA vs. No. 12 UTEP | 71–58 | Stadium |
| 1 | 3 | No. 7 North Texas vs. No. 10 Louisiana Tech | 62–68 | Stadium |
| 1 | 4 | No. 6 UAB vs. No. 11 Florida Atlantic | 83–72 | Stadium |
| Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 8 |||||
| 2 | 5 | No. 1 Middle Tennessee vs. No. 9 Southern Miss | 68–71$^{OT}$ | Stadium |
| 2 | 6 | No. 4 Marshall vs. No. 5 UTSA | 95–81 | Stadium |
| 2 | 7 | No. 2 Old Dominion vs. No. 10 Louisiana Tech | 62–58 | Stadium |
| 2 | 8 | No. 3 Western Kentucky vs. No. 6 UAB | 98–70 | Stadium |
| Semifinals – Friday, March 9 |||||
| 3 | 9 | No. 4 Marshall vs. No. 9 Southern Miss | 85–75 | CBSSN |
| 3 | 10 | No. 2 Old Dominion vs. No. 3 Western Kentucky | 49–57 | CBSSN |
| Championship – Saturday, March 10 |||||
| 4 | 11 | No. 3 Western Kentucky vs. No. 4 Marshall | 66–67 | CBSSN |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | First Four | First round | Second round | Sweet 16 | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 13 | East | Marshall | N/A | defeated (4) Wichita State 81–75 | eliminated by (5) West Virginia 71–94 | | | | |

### National Invitation Tournament

| Seed | Bracket | School | First round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
| 3 | Baylor | Middle Tennessee | defeated (6) Vermont 91–64 | eliminated by (2) Louisville 68–84 | | | |
| 4 | USC | Western Kentucky | defeated (5) Boston College 79–62 | defeated (1) USC 79–75 | defeated (2) Oklahoma State 92–84 | eliminated by (2) Utah 64–69 | |
| | | W–L (%): | 2–0 (1.000) | 1–1 (.500) | 1–0 (1.000) | 0–1 (.000) | 0–0 (–) Total: 4–2 (.667) |