WKU Basketball: 2020 Conference USA Bonus Schedule Announced

WKU Basketball concluded regular Conference USA play with a 2–0 Texas road trip, finishing that portion of the schedule 18–8 and 11–3 in…

WKU Basketball concluded regular Conference USA play with a 2–0 Texas road trip, finishing that portion of the schedule 18–8 and 11–3 in Conference USA. That is good enough for the #2 spot in pod 1 and keeps them in contention for a Conference USA regular-season title and #1 seed in Frisco.

On Sunday afternoon, Conference USA announced the bonus schedule and tv assignments over the next three weeks.

WKU starts bonus play on Saturday at home against Charlotte on CBS Sports Network on Facebook. The Hilltoppers defeated the 49ers 80–63 on January 18th. Should they win that game they will clinch a top 4 seed in the Conference USA tournament and the first-round bye that comes with it. Only having to win three games in three days beats the alternative but the Hilltoppers have an opportunity for much more over the next three weeks.

WKU follows up Charlotte by hosting Louisiana Tech on February 27th before traveling to a showdown with #1 North Texas on Sunday, March 1st. They’ll close out bonus play with a revenge trip to FIU on March 7th with several potential opportunities on the line. WKU finished 3–1 against the top pod during the regular season.

The real opportunity is for WKU to win its first regular-season conference title since 2008–09. They’ll have to finish a game better than North Texas in bonus play to do that (who is one game ahead of them in the standings). They control their own destiny in that regard, should they run the table over the next three weeks they’ll achieve that goal and clinch the number one seed in the Conference USA tournament in the process.

They would also clinch a spot in the NIT with a regular-season championship should they stumble in the Conference USA tournament. While that would be disappointing considering that WKU hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2013, it would be a more than acceptable consolation prize after the adversity this team has faced all season.

A year after Conference USA bumbled the rollout of bonus play, they’ve appeared to make some solid tweaks to the process. #1 vs #2 won’t have to face each other until the third game of the schedule which is a great departure from last year when WKU had to travel to ODU right off the bat. The Conference also did a much better job of putting their best matchups on television this time around as the three top seeds all play each other on CBS Sports, Facebook or Stadium and aren’t relegated to CUSA.TV like most teams in the second and third pods. My guess is that Louisiana Tech fans will be mad that two of their bonus games on that platform but from a WKU perspective they got by far the best tv assignments of anyone for their bonus games.

While the bonus play structure and format aren’t perfect, I’m perfectly fine with structure two years in. WKU has basically wrapped up the first-round bye in mid-February for the second year in a row and they get to put the conference title in their own hands by facing the best instead of scoreboard watching.

Overall despite the adversity this team is playing with a lot of heart and every goal (besides an at-large bid) is still on the table. Time to buckle up and enjoy the process and hope that this team is peaking at the right time. We have seven potential games that will show if this team can live up to the high expectations that the WKU fanbase places on the program. Whatever happens, it will be fun to watch.

Stay tuned for more coverage over the next month and a half as we hold our breath and hope that WKU ends the NCAA streak.