IRVING, Texas (AP) — Conference USA has adopted a men’s basketball schedule format that will have the league’s top teams playing each other at the end of the regular season in hopes of getting more postseason berths.

The league said Tuesday that the 14 teams will play each other once, with a second game for travel partners in the first seven weeks of C-USA play. After those 14 games, the league standings will determine the matchups for the rest of the regular season.

The teams will be divided into two groups of five (first- through fifth-place; and sixth- through 10th-place) and a group of four (11th through 14th place.). The last four regular-season C-USA games for each team will be played within those respective groups.

Once all 18 games have been completed, the top 12 teams based on final league standings will be seeded in the conference tournament. Teams will be guaranteed seeding within their respective group. For example, if a program lands in the second group (6-10), it will seed no higher than six and no lower than 10 in the tournament field.

The last time Conference USA had more than one team in the NCAA Tournament was 2012.

Commissioner Judy MacLeod said the flexible schedule is a great opportunity to enhance the resume of the top teams by providing additional quality games within conference play.