It’s painfully clear that Conference USA will receive one, and only one, bid to the NCAA tournament if regular-season champion Alabama-Birmingham wins the league tournament.
And UAB isn’t guaranteed anything but the National Invitation Tournament if it loses the league final and finishes 28-6.
Shut out of the Big Dance at 28-6? That would put a different form of “mad” in March Madness in Birmingham, wouldn’t it?
That brings another $6.40 question: If UAB wins the tournament and the NCAA bid, will C-USA get shut out of the NIT altogether?
That can happen, even if Middle Tennessee finishes 23-10 or Louisiana Tech 26-8 (again, winning twice this week and two rounds before the C-USA final).