Did Houston steal a bid?

Congratulations must be given to Houston, who won the Conference USA Tournament with an 81-73 win over UTEP this afternoon.

Impressive victory, especially considering that Houston got a 4-20 performance out of a clearly drained Aubrey Coleman. Props have to be given to Kelvin Lewis, who scored 28 points and hit big shot after big shot.

It should also be noted that Turnaround Tom Penders is leading his fourth school to the NCAA Tournament, just the fourth coach in history to do so. Penders pulled a Dennis Felton, as many were speculating that he would be fired before he led the seventh seeded Cougars to the title.

But if my twitter feed is any indication of the national consciousness, that's not what people are talking about.

Does UTEP have a strong enough resume to garner an at-large bid to the tournament?

Well, they rolled through a competitive, but weak, C-USA with a 15-1 mark. They have an RPI of 33, but outside of the C-USA schedule, they haven't really beaten anyone.

How big are those losses to Ole Miss and Texas Tech looming now?

Before this loss, most people had UTEP in comfortably. Losing in the finals of their conference tournament shouldn't change that. The bigger question is who gets in over the Miners? Florida? Mississippi State? Minnesota? UAB? Memphis?

UTEP has the look of a tournament team and plays like a tournament team. That much can't be said for the majority of the teams of the bubble.