There's plenty of space available in the field of 65 for the nation's mediocre, as Josh Pastner's first season as a Tigers coach all but ended this afternoon. Memphis failed to inch closer to an at-large bid, losing in haunting fashion to Houston. They'll be thinking about this allllll summer.

The culprit who created this mess? That would be the Cougars' Aubrey Coleman, the nation's leading scorer. He was able to cut into the lane with seconds remaining, getting Wesley Witherspoon to jump on a shot fake, enabling Coleman to get a lay-up. You would think someone would want to get a body on such a dangerous offensive player, or hedge out on that screen to prevent him from going to the basket.

Even in this weak-bubble field, the Tigers 2-4 record versus the RPI top 50, and 13-4 conference record (rated 11th according to RealTimeRPI.com) likely isn't going to cut it.

To make matters worse for Conference USA, fellow bubbler UAB was also downed today, making this a likely one bid league, and Derrick frieken Character as the lone glimmer of hope for this afterthought of a conference. Who would have thought?