1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

The 1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 4–7 at the Myrl H. Shoemaker Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

1998 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1997–98
Teams	12
Site	Myrl H. Shoemaker Center Cincinnati, OH
Champions	Cincinnati (2nd title)
Winning coach	Bob Huggins (2nd title)
MVP	Kenyon Martin (Cincinnati)
Conference USA men's basketball tournaments

1997–98 Conference USA men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
American
No. 9 Cincinnati †	14	–	2		.875			27	–	6		.818
UNC Charlotte	13	–	3		.813			20	–	11		.645
Saint Louis	11	–	5		.688			22	–	11		.667
Marquette	8	–	8		.500			20	–	11		.645
Louisville	5	–	11		.313			12	–	20		.375
DePaul	3	–	13		.188			7	–	23		.233
National
Memphis	12	–	4		.750			17	–	12		.586
UAB	10	–	6		.625			21	–	12		.636
Southern Miss	9	–	7		.563			22	–	11		.667
South Florida	7	–	9		.438			17	–	13		.567
Houston	2	–	14		.125			9	–	20		.310
Tulane	2	–	14		.125			7	–	22		.241
† 1998 Conference USA Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Top-seeded Cincinnati defeated UNC Charlotte in the championship game, 71–57, to clinch their second Conference USA men's tournament championship.

The Bearcats, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 1998 NCAA tournament. They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members UNC Charlotte and Saint Louis, who earned at-large bids.

Format

Prior to the season, Conference USA dropped their old regular season scheduling format of three divisions of four teams (Red, White, and Blue) in favor of two six-team divisions (American and National). Teams were largely divided based on geography.

However, since division standings were not utilized for seeding teams in the conference tournament, no changes were made to the tournament format from the previous year. The top four teams were given byes into the quarterfinal round, and the remaining eight teams were entered into the preliminary round. All seeds were determined by overall regular season conference records.

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 4					Quarterfinals Thursday, March 5					Semifinals Friday, March 6					Championship Saturday, March 7
						1	#14 Cincinnati	64
						9	Louisville	50
	9	Louisville	75
	8	South Florida	64
											1	#14 Cincinnati	100
											4	UAB	85
	5	Saint Louis	71
	12	Tulane	53
						5	Saint Louis	74
						4	UAB	76
																1	#14 Cincinnati	71
																2	UNC Charlotte	57
						3	Memphis	57
						6	Southern Miss	85
	11	Houston	57
	6	Southern Miss	73
											6	Southern Miss	53
											2	UNC Charlotte	65
	7	Marquette	52
	10	DePaul	50
						7	Marquette	55
						2	UNC Charlotte	63