a student newspaper of the university of tulsa
march 31, 2014 issue 21 ~ volume 99
Tulsa dances out of C-USA and into the American
Men’s basketball to leave C-USA as champions After a decade of membership and over 40 conference championships in Conference USA, TU will find a new home in the more athletic, richer and more academic American Athletic Conference. Jesse Keipp
erhouses and essentially being a revived CUSA, the American is a vast improvement over the current C-USA by almost every statistical measure. AAC schools are smarter, more athletic, and, perhaps most importantly, richer.
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In C-USA, Tulsa formed an unchallenged, academic triumvirate with Rice and Tulane as the only schools ranked nationally within the top 100 by U.S. News & World Report. Outside of those three, every single C-USA school is a public institution, and none of them is their state’s flagship institution. The average C-USA institution’s student body boasts a 21–26 middle 50 percent range for the ACT, while five schools have ranges that dip below 20. In other words, at least 25 percent of students at five institutions scored below 20 on the ACT. In contrast, in the American, Tulsa will no longer be an academic big boy. While the
Staff Writer
n July 1, the University of Tulsa will vacate Conference USA after a nineyear tenure for the American Athletic Conference. The AAC is now a dramatically different conference than it was just a few years ago when it was known as the Big East. Between July 2013 and TU’s arrival, the American will have lost Syracuse, Pitt, Rutgers and Louisville. Additionally, the AAC lost the Catholic 7, a group of seven non-football schools who formed a new conference, which took on the Big East name. Among the twelve members of AAC for 2014-15, nine were once members of C-USA. Despite being devoid of most of its pow-
Bigger schools, better academics
See Conference, p. 6
The TU men’s basketball team went on an exciting post-season run, winning the Conference USA tournament and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eleven years. Will Bramlett Sports Editor
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o one was talking about the Golden Hurricane making the NCAA Tournament when the Conference USA tournament began on March 11. All eyes were on the No. 4 seed Southern Miss Golden Eagles and the No. 1 seed Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The Golden Eagles, the Bulldogs, the Golden Hurricane and the Blue Raiders of Middle Tennessee State all finished conference play 13–3 to claim a share of the Conference USA regular season title. The tiebreakers gave TU the second seed in the C-USA tournament in El Paso, Texas. The top nine teams received a first-round bye and the top four all also earned a second round bye. The No. 10 seed North Texas
Mean Green barely escaped the first round against the No. 15 seeded and last-place Rice Owls by a score of 63–62. At the half of the second-round matchup of UNT and the No. 7-seed Tulane Green Wave, it seemed all but certain the Mean Green would advance as they held an 11-point lead, but Tulane would not go quietly. In the second half, the Green Wave outscored the Mean Green 45–29 to claim a 66–61 victory and the chance to play the Golden Hurricane. Entering the half, the TV commentators were speculating about an upset brewing as TU only led 33–29, but the Golden Hurricane began playing the type of basketball which had contributed to the team’s eightgame winning streak entering the tournament. TU put up nearly twice as many points as the Green Wave in the second half. Middle Tennessee also moved on to the semifinals. Tulsa entered the second half with a six-point lead, but the Blue Raiders would not go down without a fight. Tulsa
See Tournament, p. 3