GAME NOTES: As the only current member of Conference USA with a tournament title to their credit, the Charlotte 49ers shoot for their third crown this season, but have to get the ball rolling with a first-round meeting against Middle Tennessee on Wednesday night at Legacy Arena at the BJCC in Birmingham.

Because of all the shifting and reshaping that has gone on in college basketball in recent years, Conference USA has had perhaps the most turnover of any league and because of that only one of the 12 teams taking place in the 20th annual Conference USA Tournament can lay claim to being a champion.

Charlotte, which has a record of 16-9 in the event and captured the trophy as recently as 2001, is the 11th seed in this year's tourney. The squad finished the regular season three games below .500 (14-17), and was also below even when it came to conference bouts (7-11). While the team did close out with an 86-73 win over Marshall at home last Saturday, the trend of alternating wins and losses has still carried on through the last eight outings.

As for the sixth-seeded Blue Raiders, they were on the road the last three games of the season and lost two of them, the meeting with UAB going to three overtimes (100-95). The good news is that Middle Tennessee finished on a positive note with a 77-54 thrashing of Florida Atlantic this past Saturday in order to move to an even 9-9 in conference play.

As far as the all-time series between the programs is concerned, Middle Tennessee has won two of the first three encounters. There was one neutral- site contest played back in 1987, a decision won by the 49ers. Back on Jan. 24 the Blue Raiders captured a 72-69 home win in the lone regular-season meeting of 2014-15.

The winner of this bout will play again on Thursday versus No. 3 seed Old Dominion in the quarterfinals.

As one of the higher-scoring teams in the conference, the 49ers were consistently putting up more than 70 ppg and finished league play with 73.2 ppg, yet there was just two players who were scoring in double figures and even they were just barely making it over the threshold as Torin Dorn posted 12.5 ppg and Terrence Williams another 11.6 ppg. Dorn, who was named the C-USA Freshman of the Year, averaged 11.8 ppg for the entire campaign, but it wasn't until conference play that he became a regular in the starting lineup. Another key figure for the group is Pierria Henry who not only contributed 10.1 ppg overall, he was easily the top man in terms of assists (169) and steals (76).

One of the more curious stats for the Blue Raiders this season says the team is the only one in the country that has at least 40 percent of their scoring coming from reserves. Some of that may have to do with the fact that the starting lineups have been mixed and matched since the very beginning, with all but one player on the roster having made at least a single start. In fact, there is no player who has started all 31 contests, which means that stat is a bit misleading. However, when it comes to key producers, Reggie Upshaw is still a major player for the Blue Raiders with not only 10.5 ppg, but also 6.9 rpg. In conference play, the numbers for Upshaw elevate to 11.5 ppg and 7.4 rpg as the team posts 68.1 ppg.

Having won this event twice previously might look good on a resume', but in a practical sense it does little to ensure that Charlotte will be able to even get close to the title game this time around. In fact, the Blue Raiders are aiming to keep the 49ers from getting out of the first round.