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Conference USA basketball tournaments returning to Birmingham in 2016

Jerod Haase

Jerod Haase

AP

Friday afternoon Conference USA announced that its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments will once again be held in Birmingham next season, marking the second straight year in which the city has hosted the events. While the men’s tournament is played at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, the women’s tournament is played on the UAB campus at Bartow Arena.

“Birmingham is a wonderful location for our basketball championships,” conference commissioner Britton Banowsky said in the release. “We appreciate the two great arenas and the city’s proximity to many of our fans. The downtown development is impressive, but most of all, we appreciate the spirit of the community. We look forward to another great tournament week in 2016.”

Also of note in Conference USA’s announcement is that all 14 teams will participate in the tournament. Last season only the top 12 teams qualified, meaning that Southern Miss (already ineligible due to a self-imposed postseason ban) and FAU missed out on the men’s tournament with North Texas and FIU not qualifying for the women’s tournament.

UAB, led by head coach Jerod Haase, won the men’s tournament as the four-seed last season and top seed Western Kentucky won the women’s tournament last season.