Tulane hosted the conference-leading UTEP Miners at Devlin Fieldhouse tonight. Of course, Miners' coach Tim Floyd brought some New Orleans roots (as a former coach of UNO) in the final in-conference, regular season matchup between these two teams.

It had the potential to be a big game, with UTEP leading our league and Tulane in 6th position in-conference. As a result, Coach Ed Conroy brought out his marketing "A game," offering up free pizzas and dollar drinks to the students in attendance:

ALSO Coach Conroy (@GreenWaveHoops) is promising free pizza for students. Almost as good as the dollar beer promotion last year. #rollwave
— Fear the Wave (@FearTheWaveBlog) February 21, 2014

The Green Wave has struggled with similar top in-conference talent, so the ability of the Green Wave to stick with UTEP for the first half and much of the second half was a bit of a shock.

However, late in the second half, UTEP managed to build its lead to 20 points as Tulane's three pointers slowed down. Throughout the matchup, the Green Wave was unable to establish any kind of inside game against a much bigger UTEP team.

The Green Wave finished with a 72-54 loss at the Miners' hands.

As Guerry Smith highlights below, this game will be added to the "Tale of Two Teams" year for Tulane:

#Tulane will fall to 0-6 against teams ahead of it in CUSA standings. Wave is 6-0 vs. teams behind it. 3 of last 4 vs. teams behind it.
— Guerry Smith (@Guersmith) February 21, 2014

On one hand, the Green Wave has accumulated a .500 C-USA record, a big feat in light of past years' struggles this time of year.

On the other hand, one can't deny that the team has not been able to show up against better teams, which is highlighted by beatdowns at the hands of UTEP, Middle Tennessee State, Southern Mississippi, Louisiana Tech, and Kansas State.

The Green Wave is still very much in the hunt for a bye in the C-USA tournament, but unless it can play up to a higher level of basketball, it remains to be seen whether the team can do anything with it.

Conference USA is starting to come down to the wire, and it just keeps getting weirder. Southern Mississippi, easily the most dominant team in the league, took two losses in the past week.

The UTEP Miners were on a similar hot streak but fell to the Florida Atlantic Owls this week, as well. So now the question is open: were these teams just due for a loss, or is the middle of the pack closer to the top than it appears.

Here are the Conference USA Power Rankings for Week 16. Click here if you want to see our last edition.

16. Rice Owls (7-17 / 2-9 CUSA) [16th] 
Notes: Stink, stank, stunk. The Owls can't catch a break, and they are tied for last with equally hapless East Carolina.

15. East Carolina Pirates (13-13 / 2-9 CUSA) [15th] 

14. University of North Texas Mean Green (12-13 / 3-8 CUSA) [13th] 

13. Marshall Thundering Herd (9-17 / 3-8 CUSA) [14th]
Notes: The Thundering Herd had only one road win on the entire season. So it would be tough to pick them when they came to Charlotte this week to face the 49ers. However, the struggling Marshall grinded out a victory against Charlotte, who is in a free fall at this point.

12. UT San Antonio  Roadrunners (8-16 / 4-7 CUSA) [12th] 

11. Florida International Panthers (13-13 / 5-6 CUSA) [11th]
Notes: Honestly, it's kind of lazy to put FIU at 11th again this week. But this team oozes boring. They won on the road against the UTSA Roadrunners but then followed it up with a loss to UTEP. They are definitely above UTSA at this point, but even some of these teams with quirky losses have some fairly exciting wins (see Charlotte). So I will leave FIU a step below this next part of the list, I guess.

10. Charlotte 49ers (14-10 / 5-6 CUSA) [5th] 
Notes: Yeah, this is a huge drop. But the 49ers are falling apart. For starters, they are on a three game losing streak. A 23 point loss on the road to USM is whatever, but they also dropped to Tulane and the struggling Marshall. Yikes. They also have in-conference losses to Rice (the league's worst team) and UTSA. After this nightmare, I am not giving the 49ers the benefit of the doubt until they can turn things around on the court again this year. Did I mention they beat the Michigan Wolverines too? What?

9. Florida Atlantic Owls (10-16 / 5-6 CUSA) [9th] 
Notes: A home win over UAB with a crazy, upset of the UTEP Miners on the road had the Owls stock moving up. Unfortunately for them, they killed their momentum with a 13-point loss to mediocre UTSA.

8. UAB Blazers (15-10 / 4-7 CUSA) [8th] 
Notes: UAB picked up its second win over an NCAA tournament team this week after thoroughly crushing the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi (their previous tourney quality win was over UNC, by the way). So what gives? This seemingly helps you overlook the 1-4 run they are on. Who would have guessed that against Tulane, Florida Atlantic, East Carolina, Florida International, and USM, USM would be the lone win in the bunch?

7. Tulane Green Wave (14-12 / 6-5 CUSA) [10th] 
Notes: The Green Wave has positioned itself in a tie for sixth place with Old Dominion. The big victory came against UAB, the first win at their court since 2007, actually. Tulane is 3-1 in its last 4 games and 6-5 in the league this year. They have a shot at a decent seed in the conference tournament, and I don't think many folks expected that. However, another major loss to a decent team (this time against Middle Tennessee State) forces us to limit our expectations for the team. Until they can hang with the Big Dogs, it's tough to see them challenging too much down the stretch. They will get a chance in this next game against the UTEP Miners on Feb. 20.

6. Old Dominion Monarchs (12-14 / 6-5 CUSA) [6th] 

5. Tulsa Golden Hurricane (13-12 / 8-3 CUSA) [7th] 
Notes: I am really liking this Tulsa team. They literally just crossed the .500 threshold on the season, but they are crushing teams in Conference USA. They are 4-1 in their last 5, and they just beat 6th place Old Dominion 76-37. That isn't a typo. When Tulsa is shooting well, they put up points. Fast.

4. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (21-5 / 8-3 CUSA) [1st] 
Notes: This is a pretty extreme drop, but the Golden Eagles had a pretty extreme week. A 24 point beatdown loss to UAB (in the midst of a huge slump) isn't all that damning, but failing to get it together and taking a second loss really hurts. The second defeat came at the hands of Middle Tennessee State, which puts the Blue Raiders a game above USM with a short season remaining. Moreover, the Golden Eagles likely have let their bubble burst and will need to win the conference to get in, given their lack of solid non-conference wins.

3. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (21-6 / 9-2 CUSA) [3rd] 
Notes: With these next three teams tied at 9-2, it's pretty tough to split them up at this point. Louisiana Tech gets the short straw. They have been winning, but they definitely drew the easiest schedule of the bunch. With only one above .500 team left for the year though, you have to expect the Bulldogs to be a serious threat for the top seed.

2. UTEP Miners (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [2nd] 
Notes: I continue to think the Miners are a better team than Middle Tennessee State. However, UTEP lost to Florida Atlantic, while Middle Tennessee wrecked both Tulane and USM (both above .500 teams). So I will give the Blue Raiders a nod this week, but I expect UTEP to be the better team in the end.

1. Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (19-7 / 9-2 CUSA) [4th] 
Notes: This is the first week that I have picked MTSU. They are riding a seven game winning streak, and they took care of business against the Golden Eagles. They will get a chance to defend their right to be at the top with a road matchup against Louisiana Tech on the horizon.

Make sure to follow FearTheWave.com on Facebook, too. 

It might just be that our Tulane Green Wave suffered a pretty dramatic smackdown on its trip to Hattiesburg this week... but has anyone considered that there are too many teams in this conference?

On the real. Just remembering who is in Conference USA at this point is a feat in itself.

But more importantly, Conference USA has to be one of the more interesting non-major, non-mid major conferences around. Why? Well, it's weird. There are four pretty clearly divided and totally different tiers of teams in this Frankenstein of a league:

Tier Four: The Young and the Hopeless: Rice, ECU, Marshall, and probably North Texas are just getting practice time at this point. Winning 4+ games in conference is probably a goal for these squads.

Tier Three: The Three Win Wonders: Next up, there is a huge group of teams that are almost identically shaky: Tulane, UTSA, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, and UAB. They win against each other and then typically suffer pretty catastrophic drubbings against the next two tiers.

Tier Two: Shoulda Coulda Woulda: Tulsa, Old Dominion, and Charlotte all could be contenders in this type of conference in the future. But not yet. They are a pain in the neck for the better in-conference opponents, but they are all saddled by stupid losses, either out of conference or to lesser squads in the good ol' C-USA.

Tier One: Sure, every conference has this. I truly think this is a three horse race, at best, but you can make the argument that Middle Tennessee could be a Cinderella in the league tourney.

Every conference is going to have a spread of teams; I just find it funky that C-USA has this eclectic bunch of teams either just joining a superior or conference or desperately fleeing it for greener pastures in the AAC.

Here are the rankings. Last week's ranking is next to each.
---
16. Rice (6-15 / 1-7 CUSA) [15th] 
Notes: Started from the bottom, now we're here. The Owls are in an all-out fight for last place with the Pirates of East Carolina. The bowl of sadness between the two teams will be on Feb. 22. 

15. East Carolina (12-10 / 1-6 CUSA) [16th]  

14. Marshall (8-15 / 2-6 CUSA) [14th]  
Notes: The Thundering Herd have not been a threat against any competent team so far this year.

13. North Texas (11-10 / 2-5 CUSA) [11th] 
Notes: Two losses this week. Plus, they suffered a 31 point drubbing at the hands of Tulsa. Stock falling.  

12. UT San Antonio (7-13 / CUSA 3-4) [13th] 
Notes: Snapped a 3-game losing streak with a win over Rice. They get to move up one, but at least they have the tough part of their schedule in the books.  

11. Florida International (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [9th] 

10. Tulane (11-11 / CUSA 3-4) [10th] 
Notes: Probably should defense this, since the Green Wave took a beating from Southern Mississippi this weekend. Like a big one. Very similar to what we saw against Louisiana Tech earlier this year. So why keep them in the same place? None of the teams below in the rankings would have fared better, and FIU took two weaker losses. So hey, we aren't moving backwards.   

9. Florida Atlantic University (8-14 / CUSA 3-4) [12th] 
Notes: Whatever happened with their football coach? I kind of blocked that part of the football season out of my mind immediately afterward. FAU beat Marshall and stuck around a better Charlotte team. Stock rising slightly above the rest of these teams.  

8. UAB (14-7 / CUSA 3-4) [7th]  

7. Tulsa (10-11 / CUSA 5-2) [8th] 
Notes: If you want a deep sleeper pick in this conference, it should be Tulsa. They are using in-conference games to pad their winning column. They even have a win over a tourney team (home vs. Southern Miss). Good start to this half of the season. Let's see if they can keep it up.  

6. Old Dominion (10-12 / CUSA 4-3) [5th] 
Notes: Last week, I said Old Dominion's descent was about to commence. And it did. They suffered double digit losses against both Middle Tennessee and UAB. Their stock is starting to fall.

5. Charlotte (14-7 / CUSA 5-3) [6th] 

4. Middle Tennessee State (15-7 / CUSA 5-2) [4th]  

3. Louisiana Tech (18-5 / CUSA 6-2) [2nd] 
Notes: This is where I draw the line of contenders and pretenders. Louisiana Tech is a quality team, but they had a big test against UTEP, and the Miners finished the job. Only two tough games left are Tulsa and Middle Tennessee. The bigger dogs are all out of the way.  

2. UTEP (16-6 / CUSA 6-1) [3rd] 
Notes: Time to believe in the Miners of UTEP. They are riding a 6 game winning streak with victories of Louisiana Tech, UAB, and Middle Tennessee State. The matchup with Southern Mississippi on Feb. 22 is going to be a great game.  

1. Southern Mississippi (19-3 / 6-1 CUSA)
Notes: The team from Hattiesburg continues to control their own fate. They rocked our Tulane Green Wave by a margin of 31 points. They outrebound you. They outshoot you. They outplay you. One more week of this, and USM should have a chance to cracking the Top 25.

That's all for now. Follow FearTheWave.com on Facebook too.  

Tulane's two-game win streak was snapped last night by the Old Dominion Monarchs on a road trip to Norfolk.

For virtually the entire game, the Monarchs possessed a solid lead over the Green Wave, yet Tulane managed to make it a two-possession game in the last 60 seconds following a Jonathan Stark three pointer.

The magic wasn't there, however, and the Monarchs were able to make enough free throws to escape the Green Wave's comeback attempt. The conclusion was a 70-64 loss on the Monarchs' court.

With the loss, Tulane drops to 3-3 in Conference USA while Old Dominion moves to 4-1 (and 10-10 on the year, weirdly enough).

The Green Wave's shooting struggled throughout the game, nailing only 19 of 49 field goals (38% from the field). In addition to Stark's team-leading 21 points, Jay Hook posted 14 and Louis Dabney put up 17.

Tulane has a short break until its final game of the road trip: a brutal matchup against a strong Southern Mississippi team in Hattiesburg on Feb. 1. The Green Wave is now 11-10 on the year.

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Tulane basketball continues its road trip with a stop at Old Dominion today to face the Monarchs. Here's our preview of the game.

Team Records: Tulane (11-9 / 3-2 CUSA) @ Old Dominion (9-10 / 3-1 CUSA)

Game Time: 6 PM Central

Tulane Storyline: The Green Wave is actually on the upswing. A calamitous non-conference schedule gave way to a decent start in Conference USA at 3-2. Tulane will look to notch another rare road win to keep a two game win streak alive.

Old Dominion Storyline: The Monarchs took a lot of losses in November and December, yet Old Dominion managed to make its C-USA debut with a 3-0 start. A loss to Southern Miss brought them back to earth, as the Monarchs are a middle-of-the-pack team at best.

Rankings (KenPom.com):  Tulane (#269) vs. Old Dominion (#160)

C-USA Ranking (Fear the Wave): Tulane (#12) vs. Old Dominion (#8)

Guys to Watch: Jay Hook drained three huge 3 pointers in the final two minutes to take down East Carolina on the road. Tulane will need to make this a close game on the road and grind in the final minutes to find another victory. On the Monarchs' side, Aaron Bacote is the guy. He leads the team in scoring at 17.6.

Spread: Tulane +8.5