Some good news!
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C-USA’s way of saying “screw it, we aren’t getting an at-large bid anyway.”
Definitely weren’t going to get any at large bids due to Bonus Play. With the emphasis now on OOC scheduling, perhaps it will happen on an occasional basis.
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Yup, it will be difficult to get an at large bid in CUSA unless you have an amazing OOC schedule.
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C-USA didn’t produce any at-large teams the last to season because the Top 3 teams had an average KenPom of 101.67 the last two seasons. We had 3 teams in the KenPom Top 65 the year before Bonus Play. The real reason bonus play was a dead end was the astronomical cost of short notice travel arrangements.
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The last time CUSA produced and at large bid…2012 
Whatever reason it was ultimately canceled, it was started to increased post-season bids and so far did not accomplish that.
While this has been hashed to death, it wasn’t the only reason or positive effect of bonus play. Another was that you avoided tanking the top teams’ NET at the end of the season, hopefully leading to better seeding and, ultimately, a win or two (even if your NET ranking didn’t improve, holding it steady or only dropping a few spots rather than 30 spots from playing the bottom teams was a good idea - i.e., in the absence of bonus play, how bad would it have gotten if you didn’t play the other top teams). Mathematically, there was no real downside to bonus play - it could have three big outcomes: (1) Top outcome: an additional bid; (2) Second best outcome: better seeding than would have occurred in the alternative; (3) Worst outcome: no change in output. I think we saw #2, but there isn’t really a negative outcome from the mathematical perspective.
The disadvantage to bonus play was short term travel arrangements and ticket sales. That’s a legitimate reason for nixing the idea, but the measure of bonus play wasn’t a zero sum, extra bid or failure, scenario.
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Correct about goal of improving seeding-
“With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams’ resumes…” C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod
I am not sure it lead to better seeding. C-USA seeding in the NCAA tournament the last 3 years, 12 seed 2017, 13 seed 2018, and 14 seed 2019 (bonus play). Granted A LOT of different factors go into seeding.
Personally, I don’t really have a strong feeling positive or negative towards bonus play. I liked the idea of trying to do something to improve the conference and try to increase bids or improve seeds in the tournament. It may have ultimately worked out after a few more years.
I guess that would mean playing ODU, Marshall, WKU, and MTSU twice?
C-USA cities within 500 miles of CLT:
Huntington WV 315 miles
Norfolk VA 325 miles
Birmingham AL 390 miles
Murfreesboro TN 410 miles
Bowling Green KY 435 miles
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Our closest conference mate is a 5+ hour drive from us. That isn’t ideal. These are probably the C-USA teams I would most want to realign with though.
This would likely mean we play a mirror of our 2017-18 schedule:
Home/Away
Old Dominion
FIU
Florida Atlantic
Marshall
Western Kentucky
Home
Louisiana Tech
Southern Miss
North Texas
Rice
Away
Middle Tennessee
Rice
UTEP
UTSA
According to Jon Rothstein, Charlotte is beginning a home and home with our old friends at George Washington in Foggy Bottom, no date disclosed.
2nd team listed
Charlotte 49ers
Charlotte shocked a lot of folks in the Conference USA basketball world with their fourth-place finish last season. After all, the 49ers were picked 12th in the preseason poll. The success of the program is in large part thanks to reigning freshman of the year Jahmir Young . Young averaged 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, good enough for a third-team nod as well. Jordan Shepherd is also returning after averaging 14 points and 4.1 assists per game and earning his own spot on the third-team. Incoming three-star power forward Jared Garcia should also provide a boost.
Charlotte’s experience playing in the conference’s top level of bonus play last season should help them. They went just 2-2 during that stretch, but it showed them what they need to do to take the next step in competing for a conference title. That should give the 49ers and their fans all the confidence in the world heading into 2020-21.
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