Nearing the midpoint of the conference season and right now it’s a 3 team race between UAB, WKU, and Rice. All three stand ‘tied’ at one loss each (though Rice sits a half game back).

Lets get you caught up to date, in case you haven’t been following game-by-game. WKU has the ‘best loss’ of the three, @UAB 79-61 (1/13). The Blazers responded by losing at home to USM the following game 80-63. Rice managed a road loss at FIU two weeks ago 68-58(1/13).

Looking forward on the schedule, WKU travels to Rice on 2/10, and Rice plays at UAB on 2/15.

WKU (and MTSU) made early appearances on the ESPNW Mid-Major Top Ten Rankings, but Rice has been the lone CUSA rep in that ranking most of this season to date (climbing to 4th before dropping to 9th after the FIU loss).

Massey has had WKU ahead of UAB and Rice pretty consistently through this year.

Wrapping up this weekend, UAB took care of business last night, slamming FAU 90-57 at home. This afternoon at 2pm CT, WKU plays at LATech, and at the same time Rice hosts ODU (ESPN3).

Lets also not forget the cluster of seven teams sitting 2 games back in the loss column. (USM,FAU,LATech,MTSU,Charlotte,UTEP,FIU) Any of them could still make a move for the top, and one of them will claim one of the four first-round byes.