EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – For the first time in over 60 years, UTEP and New Mexico State will be in the same conference in 2023-24. The Aggies and Miners basketball programs will have a new place to play the Conference USA Tournament, too.
The league announced on Thursday that it will be moving the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to Huntsville, Ala., in 2024 and 2025, with an option to extend C-USA Tournament’s stay in the Rocket City at a later date.
The games will be played at the 8,300-seat Propst Arena. The 2024 C-USA Basketball Championships are scheduled for Tuesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 16, at Propst Arena. The conference champions receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We are proud to welcome the Conference USA men’s and women’s basketball championships to Huntsville and our renovated Propst Arena,” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. “March Madness will be starting in the Rocket City next year and we can’t wait to showcase our great city to all the student-athletes, coaches, fans, and alumni attending the event.”
The Conference USA Tournament has been held in Frisco, Texas, at The Star – the Dallas Cowboys practice facility – since the 2017-18 season. This is the third time the C-USA Tournament has been held in the state of Alabama; It was in Birmingham from 2015-2017 and the women’s tournament was there in 1996.
Conference USA will look a lot different than previous years at the outset of the 2023-24 season. With nine teams exiting the league since July, 2022, the league did what it could to rebuild itself ahead of next fall.
Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston will join existing members FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, UTEP and Western Kentucky on July 1, 2023. Kennesaw State will become a part of the league starting in 2024. Dallas Baptist has already joined the league as a baseball-only member.
