Western Kentucky 78 UTEP 71 (Conference USA Championship)

[Randy Parker]

Final.

Tops punch their ticket as the 3-seed out of Conference USA. 

[16thBBall Fan]

Three Kentucky teams headed to the big dance.

[TheBallCoach]

First time the Tops go dancing in over a decade, what a wild realization.

[DanvilleFan]

Feels good to be going back after the disappointments of the Stansbury years.  Unfortunately CUSA is so weak the Tops won't get higher than a 15 seed.

[Tranquility Base]

15 minutes ago, TheBallCoach said:

First time the Tops go dancing in over a decade, what a wild realization.

Were they still in the SunBelt back then?

[Randy Parker]

8 minutes ago, DanvilleFan said:

Feels good to be going back after the disappointments of the Stansbury years.  Unfortunately CUSA is so weak the Tops won't get higher than a 15 seed.

They're in though.  And we've seen in recent years that any seed is beatable.  McHenry can be good enough to give WKU a puncher's chance.

[Voice of Reason]

1 hour ago, TheBallCoach said:

First time the Tops go dancing in over a decade, what a wild realization.

That surprises me.

[DanvilleFan]

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

That surprises me.

They should've punched a ticket in 2018 and 2021 but lost winnable games in the Conference USA tournament final.  In 2021 they melted down and blew a big lead against North Texas with less than 2 minutes to go.

Those losses, along with one other conference tournament final loss, made Rick Stansbury the only WKU coach to never take the team to the NCAA Tournament.

[DragonFire]

6 hours ago, DanvilleFan said:

They should've punched a ticket in 2018 and 2021 but lost winnable games in the Conference USA tournament final.  In 2021 they melted down and blew a big lead against North Texas with less than 2 minutes to go.

Those losses, along with one other conference tournament final loss, made Rick Stansbury the only WKU coach to never take the team to the NCAA Tournament.

They lost in the final in 2019 as well. 
 

2021 was the better team, but 2018 was the most frustrating. That one guy from Marshall was hitting 25-28 footers. He just wouldn’t miss. 

[TheBallCoach]

23 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

Were they still in the SunBelt back then?

Yes.

[TheBallCoach]

14 hours ago, DragonFire said:

They lost in the final in 2019 as well. 
 

2021 was the better team, but 2018 was the most frustrating. That one guy from Marshall was hitting 25-28 footers. He just wouldn’t miss. 

Jon Elmore, that name won’t ever leave my brain, he was filthy for the Thundering Herd.

[nikeman49]

Go Tops!!!