If you think Tulsa was bad in the first half Wednesday against Rice, UAB was that bad for 40 full minutes against Southern Miss. Blazers coach Mike Davis hung his head for a good portion of the postgame press conference.

The conference ended like this:

Moderator: We have time for one more question.
Davis: Please don’t ask my any more questions.

First things first: I goofed this morning, and have fixed it… Randy Culpepper, as one of 11 or whatever juniors on UTEP, has one more year left. It only seems like he’s been raining 3-pointers for seven years or so…

Here at the Memphis-Houston game, and the Tigers have brought some people. I’d stop short of 1,000, but they’ve got a few hundred. Got a few in my hotel, which is away from downtown a bit. … Expect some wisecracks from the fine folks at the Commercial Appeal over the crowds, which won’t come close to filling the BOK Center. Best estimates for the live-body count at Wednesday night’s Tulsa-Rice game was 5,500.

The second session was listed at 7,760; morning session was 6,961.

Update 12:47 CT: Memphis’ Elliot Williams (I think) dunked, and the ball bounced off his head back through the hoop. I think the entire ball cleared inside the rim, but officials did not grant the basket on video review. If I get a chance, I am heading to the rulebook on this one… pun intended.

Update 1:54 CT: Have a rulebook in pdf, but who knows when I’ll get to look at it? We have a real situation here: Houston 57, Memphis 53.

Update 1:56 CT: It’s tied at 57 with 4:52 left.

Update 1:58 CT: Memphis has regained the lead 61-59, as Willie Kemp seems to be taking over. He was blanked at the half, but has just scored two straight baskets on do-it-yourself drives to the rim.

Update 2:01 CT: Houston is up 62-61 on a Kelvin Lewis 3, but Memphis has two free throws at 1:40, coming out of the last TV timeout.

Update 2:05 CT: Aubrey Coleman simply chucked up an 18-footer with Kemp’s hand in his grill and buried it, putting the Cougs up 64-63. Timeout Memphis with 29.6 seconds left, 25 on the shot clock.

Update 2:07 CT: Kemp drives again, putting Tigers up 65-64 with 15.7 seconds left.

Update 2:10 CT: MEMPHIS IS DEAD! Willie Kemp got called for carrying the ball, in a pretty iffy call with about a second left, taken after — who else? — Aubrey Coleman leaned around the defender for a bank shot.

UAB and Southern Miss going off at about 2:44 CT. May blog if the urge is there… Sorting out a first-edition C-US A notebook.

Wow!

I have put in a full day here at the BOK Center, which from an exterior standpoint might be my favorite arena, period. You can see it at www.bokcenter.com, but I’m afraid those photos don’t do it justice.

I’m hesitant to admit I showed up for the first session, which was devoid of quality basketball. East Carolina was East Carolina against Houston, and Tulane was just awful.

Somehow, I expect Tulsa to come out stronger against Marshall on Thursday night … if for no other reason, the Golden Hurricane *has* to. The way Tulsa got beat up by Rice in the first half, Marshall would have been up by a *bunch*. Watching UCF beat SMU (50-42 at this point).

The seed numbers are filled in on www.conferenceusa.com. The teams are not filled in, but I can tell you that only the 4/5 seeds (Marshall and Tulsa) and 6/7/8 (SMU, Southern Miss, Houston) have yet to shake out. And yes game times will be as I described last night/this morning … the only exception would be if Marshall makes the semifinal and somehow does not play UTEP.

It’s Rice (if necessary), Tulsa and UTEP. In my Gazette story (if you’ve read stories for print editions, please get the fresh one online), I’ll even tell you the times.
UTEP is 1, Memphis is 2, UAB is 3 and Marshall and Tulsa are 4-5 in either order. Marshall must win Saturday night and have either (a) Tulsa to lose to Memphis or (b) UAB to lose to UTEP.

Your schedule Saturday, times Eastern:
Tulsa at Memphis, CBS C, 1 p.m.
Herd at SMU, 8
UAB at UTEP, 9:05

Here is the one way — and Herd fans really don’t want this to happen — how Marshall “avoids” an MU-Tulsa quarterfinal.

First Tulsa loses to SMU tonight at home on senior night. The Golden Hurricane will be favored but SMU is 7-7 in conference and has competed in every game, it seems.

If that happens, and Tulsa loses at Memphis, Marshall is secure in the 4 seed.  Then… if SMU beats Marshall, the Mustangs tie Tulsa. SMU and Tulsa would have a split, and the Mustangs would end up getting the tiebreaker with their stunning win against Memphis!

Frankly, you might not want to see Marshall lose to SMU, watch the Mustangs keep their edge by beating Rice and then have to play them again. But the bigger thing is to gut out another road win Saturday, improve the NIT position, get a 3-game tournament instead of a 4-gamer and get to work on beating Tulsa… don’t you think?

If you didn’t know, somebody out there actually looks at the NIT picture, and had the Herd in really good position (for a home game, no less) in that tournament. More and more, this team should play past March 13.

… is to see Randy Culpepper at No. 3 on ESPN’s top 10 plays. But dang, he did get up a little bit on that dunk, didn’t he?

… That Marshall can land. And further, a MU-Tulsa tie will now go to the Golden Hurricane. And since Marshall cannot finish worse than 10-6, the Herd will be a 4 seed or a 5 seed…

But dang, the Herd can make any game fun, can’t it? The C-USA tourney should be a hoot, even if it’s a haul to get to Tulsa…

If Marshall beats and Tulsa loses to SMU, that’s easy, Marshall clinches bye.

If MU and Tulsa both win, then MU loses and Tulsa wins on Saturday, MU gets the tiebreaker and the 4 seed.

Conversely, if MU loses to UTEP and Tulsa wins out, Tulsa gets the tiebreaker. It would fall all the way to how the teams did against Houston.

If there is a 3-way tie for 3rd (Marshall, Tulsa, UAB), Marshall gets the 4 seed.

If there is a Marshall-Tulsa-Memphis tie for third, Marshall falls to 5 seed.

Yes, Mark, I knew it was SMU and typed Tulsa anyway. Yikes!

First, let’s figure out a Tulsa-Marshall tie for fourth and fifth. The teams split head-to-head.

We then compare how Marshall and Tulsa did against the top team in the standings. If there is a tie at the top, and it is possible, you DO NOT break that tie.

I think UTEP will win C-USA outright. If so, and if Marshall beats UTEP along the way, give MU a tiebreaker over Tulsa. Tulsa has lost to UTEP twice.

OK… If Marshall loses to UTEP and ends up tied with Tulsa. Let’s work this out.

If UTEP is alone at top: No advantage. Under former rules, Marshall would have had an advantage, going 0-1 against UTEP vs. Tulsa’s 0-2. No more. Move onto the next team.

If UTEP and UAB are tied: Marshall would be 1-2 vs. those teams, Tulsa would be 0-3. Advantage Herd.

If UTEP and Memphis were tied, Marshall would be 0-2 vs. both and Tulsa would end up 0-3 by losing Saturday. UAB would be alone at 12-4, and we would compare there: Marshall 1-1, UAB 0-1. Guess what? By league rule, that’s a push now and we would be going on into the pack. I am not projecting that.

That’s all I’m doing right now. Got a busy night, because I’m not doing just the MU-UTEP preview.

If UTEP, UAB and Memphis were tied: Cannot happen, thank God.