It's tough for good non Power 5 conferences to get more than the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
Last year, Conference USA regular season champion, Middle Tennessee State, lost early in the CUSA Tourney to Southern Miss and didn't get an at-large bid to the NCAA's.
Maybe a new format in CUSA can help. Commissioner Judy MacLeod has a new innovative basketball format which will culminate in a tourney winner next March 13-16, 2019, at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.
Listen to her explain it to me on my NBC Sports Radio show. Just click here.
The league explains it: Within the format, the 14 programs will play each other once and their travel partner twice in the first seven weeks of the conference season. At the conclusion of the seven weeks, teams will be placed in one of three groups based on conference standings through the first 14 games of league action. The teams will be divided into two groups of five (1-5 and 6-10) and a group of four (11-14). During the final three weeks, teams will play within their respective grouping for the last four games of conference play. Home and away games within the groups will be determined by a preset formula.
