After beating Tulane Sunday afternoon, Memphis clinched the No. 8 seed in the upcoming American Conference tournament in Birmingham. The Tigers will play Wednesday night at 6 p.m. in the first round and will be tasked with winning five games in five days to win the conference tournament.
Penny Hardaway’s team started the day needing to either beat the Green Wave or for East Carolina to lose to UAB. By the end of the day, both happened, and Memphis sat in a three-way tie with Tulane and Temple.
According to the conference tie-breaking procedure for a multiple-team tie, “teams are viewed as a ‘mini-conference’ when comparing head-to-head.” The Tigers and Tulane both have a 2-1 record in the mini-conference, so it goes to “each team’s record vs. the team or tied teams occupying the highest position in the standings.”
The process continues until one team gains an advantage, and once the conference went through the process, Memphis had the advantage and secured the No. 8 seed, while Tulane and Temple clinched seeds No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
The Tigers will play the first game of the night on Wednesday against Tulane. In the two meetings this season, the game has been decided by a combined three points, and the last three games have been decided by single digits.
With a win, Memphis would advance to a Thursday night game against the No. 5 seed Charlotte at the same time. The Tigers have won five straight against the 49ers, and they beat them by 23 points earlier this season inside FedExForum.
If they win back-to-back games, they would face UAB in the quarterfinals before potentially playing USF in the semifinals.
With the new conference tournament format, the top four seeds have an advantage, but it’s mainly an advantage for the top two teams, who won’t play until the semifinals. It will be an uphill battle for Memphis, but Sunday’s win should give them some confidence heading to Birmingham after the seven-game losing streak.
The Tigers’ first game against Tulane will be broadcast on ESPNEWS.