Dusty May says location of non-conference games hurts leagues like C-USA

No conference has shone quite like C-USA has during this men’s basketball postseason, with the league winning the CBI, claiming both finalists in the NIT and being represented by Florida Atlantic and head coach Dusty May at the Final Four.

With UAB and North Texas squaring off for the NIT championship on Thursday night and FAU slated to face San Diego State on Saturday, May was asked why the league can’t get more postseason respect. It stands to reason that a North Texas or UAB could’ve won a game or two in the NCAA Tournament, were they just given the chance.

“This is a tough question. I’ve learned through the process that certain things can be construed differently than intended And once again, I’m not complaining about that either. But to me the problem is it’s not the end-of-the-day selection because when you look at the body of work and the goalposts moving, things like that, I see why the Selection Committee does what they do,” May said. “But the problem is we can’t play these teams at home or on a neutral site. We can go for a money game. We all know what money games mean.”

For example, this season, Florida Atlantic played non-conference games at Ole Miss, Florida, Albany and Eastern Michigan. And a lot of the time, teams from non-power leagues go into those games with a feel that they’re just fodder for the bigger fish.

The antidote for the Owls, this year at least, was winning a bulk of those non-conference road games. The Owls went 3-1 in those contests, with the lone loss coming to Ole Miss in the second game of the season.

If C-USA could start to get some more home-and-home matchups or even neutral site games in the non-conference slate, May thinks that could be a big benefit. Otherwise, a lot of the time, teams can go through stretches where it seems like losing is the only possibility.

“So I think that’s the biggest issue, that we don’t have an opportunity to prove ourselves, and then you’re just going through a season where you can only lose,” May said. “We felt like for about two months this year we can’t win. We can only lose. And that’s what makes what our guys have done that much more impressive because they’ve been able to do it with that in the back of our minds.”