Bigger, glitzier ... we'll see about better.

Conference USA has added two more schools to reach an unwieldy, schedule-snarling 14. Hello, East Carolina and Texas Christian. Whoever you are.

It has added a pair of coaches with Final Four berths on their resumés. Rick Pitino and Billy Tubbs arrive to join John Calipari and Bob Huggins as Final Four veterans, totaling seven appearances since 1987 (OK, so four of them belong to Pitino). Only one other league (the Southeastern Conference) has as many current coaches who can say they've played on the season's final weekend.

CONFERENCE USA PROJECTIONS

Here are ESPN.com's Conference USA projections and previews of each team: AMERICAN 1. Cincinnati 2. Charlotte 3. Marquette 4. DePaul 5. Louisville 6. Saint Louis 7. East Carolina NATIONAL 1. Memphis 2. South Florida 3. UAB 4. Southern Miss. 5. TCU 6. Tulane 7. Houston ALL-C-USA TEAM G: Steve Logan Cincinnati, Senior G: Dajuan Wagner Memphis, Freshman G: Jobey Thomas Charlotte, Senior F: Kelly Wise Memphis, Senior F: Altron Jackson S. Florida, Senior MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Steve Logan, Cincinnati FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Dajuan Wagner, Memphis NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR Chris Massie, Memphis

"It's a coaches' war out there," said Cincinnati guard and C-USA preseason player of the year Steve Logan. "It's a no-slouch league and every game is going to be a big game."

The truly surreal sight of red-tied Pitino on the home sidelines in Freedom Hall became reality on Halloween night, of all nights, in the Cardinals' exhibition opener. There was no mistaking the man who used to torture the home team in this building, while coaching at hated rival Kentucky. And there was no mistaking the Pitinoball philosophy that has radically remade Louisville basketball.

Pitino's presence in Lousiville, a season after Calipari arrived in Memphis, has added luster at two of the league's cornerstone hoop locales. With Pitino in the 'Ville and Calipari and platinum freshman Dajuan Wagner in Memphis, proud programs are in the fast lane back to where C-USA envisioned them being when it began play in 1995-96. The formerly fierce Tigers-Cardinals rivalry should reignite this year with those two on the sidelines and Milt Wagner's kid in the Memphis backcourt.

Wait, we're missing someone. That's right, we haven't even mentioned Bob Huggins. Cincinnati was C-USA's lone bright spot last season, reaching the Sweet 16 after a subpar regular season by recent Cincinnati standards (five league losses, 10 losses overall).

Yes, Cincy faces a serious challenge from Memphis for regular-season supremacy in C-USA. The Dobermann in what has historically been a league full of Chihuahuas should again rule its division, but this team is not loaded like some of Huggins' best squads. And the Tigers loom as the major threat in the other division.

Cincinnati led the way when it came to losing talent early, saying goodbye to three players who would have had eligibility remaining (Kenny Satterfield, Antwan Jones and B.J. Grove), plus key assistant coach Mick Cronin, who defected to rival Louisville.

Nevertheless, the Bearcats return five of their top six scorers, led by Logan. He's not the most spectacular player you've ever laid eyes upon, but he plays smart, shoots wonderfully and performs consistently. (He carries a streak of 21 straight double-figure scoring games into this season.) The question will be how he does as the primary ballhandler, after Satterfield handled much of that duty last year. The hedge bet is juco transfer Taron Barker, who can move in at point if Logan is better off at the shooting guard spot.

How geeked are Memphians about these Tigers? In the year the NBA has come to town, the university has sold out 17,500 season tickets in The Pyramid. They're coming to see glam coach Calipari, double-double man Kelly Wise, blossoming 7-footer Earl Barron, hometown swingman Scooter McFadgon, junior-college All-American Chris Massie ... and perhaps to get a look at the kid from Camden, N.J., too.

Wagner arrives as the No. 1 recruit in America and as the most heralded Memphis recruit since Penny Hardaway. The freshman guard with a man's body and Iverson's crossover (not to mention his array of tattoos) may not be in town long, but it should be quite a show while he is.

Calipari said Wagner has scored 50 in a couple of scrimmages, even labeling it "an unselfish 50." Fifty any way for a freshman says something.

But does this mean C-USA is ready to break out of a six-year cycle of unfulfilled potential? Can a league that has not yet put a team into the Final Four -- and put only two teams in the field of 64 last year -- make a run at the glamour conferences?

Probably not, at least this season.

Too many teams have been hurt by early entry to the National Basketball Association. The first five C-USA players selected last June in the NBA draft were underclassmen, including two sophomores and two freshmen. Too many others at the nether reaches of the league will drag down the power ratings.

As for the new teams, East Carolina was a .500 team last year in the Colonial Athletic Association and has been to two NCAA Tournaments in its history -- winning zero tournament games. TCU won 38 games the past two years in the Western Athletic Conference and couldn't even generate an NIT bid.

There there are the C-USA underacheivers. DePaul not only lost 18 games last year, but two underclassmen to the draft. Houston's comeback from the dregs is not helped by playing just four non-conference home games. Tulane is recruiting better but has miles to go.

Southern Mississippi? Well, just when it appeared the Eagles had turned things around, they are now in danger of a major retrenchment after winning 22 games last season.

	Kelly Wise has a pair of new Memphis teammates who'll make his job easier in the middle.

The good news for C-USA is that while the high-profile coaches are all the buzz this year, its second-tier coaches are sneaky-good. Charlotte's Bobby Lutz is 9-1 in the league tournament with two titles. Saint Louis' Lorenzo Romar won the 2000 C-USA tournament with a Cinderella run. Marquette's Tom Crean is a budding star who is steadily upgrading the athleticism in his program. And Southern Miss' James Green was the league's coach of the year last season.

"People don't know enough about James Green," Calipari said. "They don't know enough about Tommy Crean, who coaches as well as anyone in the league. They don't know enough about Bobby Lutz, who has done unbelievable stuff in the ACC territory in Charlotte. Murry Bartow (UAB) did a fabulous job (last year). I voted for him for Coach of the Year. I think he'll have the surprise team this year. And Lorenzo the year before, he takes his team from nowhere to the tournament.

"There are no easy games for us. As coaches, that will help us develop talent and bring in talent to the league. This is about the players, and having good coaches draws them. That's the first step, but I think it's the step that matters as much as any."

Charlotte's worst record in the last 15 years is 14-15, which says something about the quietly healthy footing this program is on. It also means that even the loss of deluxe freshman Rodney White -- the first lottery pick in school history -- should not torpedo Charlotte's season.

"The recruiting success we had was somewhat of a secret and now I don't think it's much of a secret," coach Bobby Lutz said. "And a lot of that is due to Rodney."

Nevertheless, had White stuck around, Charlotte would probably be a Top 15 preseason pick. Without him the 49ers are in their usual position: expected to do well in the league, but not on anyone's national radar just yet.

Underrated coach Lutz at least has a solid backcourt to build upon.

Shooting guard Jobey Thomas should be in every argument over who is the No. 1 3-point threat in the country. He's inarguably No. 1 in the conference, C-USA's alltime leader in threes with 236.

What Conference USA needs out of this season is an infusion of enthusiasm and national interest, tempered by some patience. This looks like a league on the come. Eventually.

"I think this conference will skyrocket in the next two or three years and will be one of the premier conferences," Pitino said. "I think it won't be too long before you see four or five NCAA bids coming out of this conference."

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com