2006 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

The 2006 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 8–11 at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.^[1]

2006 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2005–06
Teams	12
Site	FedExForum Memphis, TN
Champions	Memphis (1st title)
Winning coach	John Calipari (1st title)
MVP	Shawne Williams (Memphis)
Conference USA men's basketball tournaments ← 2005 2007 →

2005–06 Conference USA men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 4 Memphis†	13	–	1		.929			33	–	4		.892
No. 25 UAB	12	–	2		.857			24	–	7		.774
UTEP	11	–	3		.786			21	–	10		.677
Houston	9	–	5		.643			21	–	10		.677
UCF	7	–	7		.500			14	–	15		.483
Rice	6	–	8		.429			12	–	16		.429
Tulane	6	–	8		.429			12	–	17		.414
Tulsa	6	–	8		.429			11	–	17		.393
Marshall	5	–	9		.357			12	–	16		.429
SMU	4	–	10		.286			13	–	16		.448
Southern Miss	3	–	11		.214			10	–	21		.323
East Carolina	2	–	12		.143			8	–	20		.286
† 2006 C-USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded Memphis defeated UAB in the championship game, 57–46, to clinch their first Conference USA men's tournament championship. It would be the Tigers' first of seven C-USA titles in an eight-year period.

The Tigers, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA member UAB, who earned an at-large bid.

Format

Conference USA saw some drastic changes to its membership prior to the season. Eight teams, Charlotte (Atlantic 10), Cincinnati (Big East), DePaul (Big East), Louisville (Big East), Marquette (Big East), Saint Louis (Atlantic 10), South Florida (Big East), and TCU (Mountain West), departed the conference, while six new teams were added, Marshall (MAC), Rice (WAC), SMU (WAC), Tulsa (WAC), UCF (Sun Belt), and UTEP (WAC). Total membership settled at twelve teams.

Even with all of the newly departed and -added teams, the tournament's format remained exactly the same. The top four teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round while the next eight teams were placed into the first round. All remaining tournament seeds were determined by regular season conference records.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 8					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 9					Semifinals Friday, March 10					Championship Saturday, March 11
						1	#5 Memphis	75
						8	Tulane	56
	9	Marshall	58
	8	Tulane	64
											1	#5 Memphis	68
											4	Houston	54
	5	UCF	65
	12	East Carolina	52
						5	UCF	52
						4	Houston	71
																1	#5 Memphis	57
																2	#24 UAB	46
						3	UTEP	66
						11	Southern Miss	47
	11	Southern Miss	66
	6	Tulsa	61
											3	UTEP	60
											2	#24 UAB	63
	7	Rice	59
	10	SMU	61
						10	SMU	55
						2	#24 UAB	69