Conference USA regular season kingpin Texas-El Paso and tournament champion Houston lead a pack of seven teams from the 12-team league heading for postseason play.

The Miners (26-6) were invited to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 12 seed in the West Regional and will take on 5th-seeded Butler on Thursday.

The Cougars (19-15) sneaked into the Big Dance by snatching the conference's automatic bid with an 81-73 title game upset over UTEP on Saturday in the league tourney. A No. 13 seed, UH will face 4th-seeded Maryland in the Midwest Regional on Friday.

UAB (23-8), Memphis (23-9) and Tulsa (23-11) received invitations to the National Invitation Tournament. The Blazers, a No. 2 seed, will host Coastal Carolina on Tuesday. On Wednesday, 3rd-seeded Memphis will host No. 6 seed St. John's and 5th-seeded Tulsa will play at No. 4 seed Kent State.

Marshall (23-9) and Southern Miss (20-13) earned berths in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Thundering Herd will host Western Carolina on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Golden Eagles will visit Louisiana Tech.

The seven bids are the most for C-USA's members since the league, then a 16-school conference, sent nine teams to the postseason in 2005.