FRISCO, Texas – Twenty-four Conference USA men’s and women’s basketball teams this week will experience a new and unique setup for the league’s tournaments.

The men’s and women’s tourneys are taking place at The Star, a sports and entertainment complex that serves as headquarters for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

The basketball games will be played inside the Ford Center, an indoor stadium that hosts Cowboys practices and local high school football games.

This week, the facility is a basketball venue. A floor has been set over the turf field, a curtain run down the 50-yard line and hardwood courts placed on either side of that curtain.

Temporary bleachers flank the sidelines of both courts, with seating for school bands in the end zones.

Western Kentucky coaches and players got their first look at the tournament’s new home Tuesday night when they took the floor for an open practice.

The No. 3 seed Hilltoppers (22-9 overall, 14-4 C-USA) will play a 9 p.m. quarterfinal matchup Thursday against No. 6 seed Alabama-Birmingham (19-12, 10-8) or No. 11 seed Florida Atlantic (12-18, 6-12).

Coach Rick Stansbury called it “a great setup” with more space between the two courts than he anticipated.

“I know there’s a lot of experimenting they’re doing with this,” Stansbury said. “Give them credit. It’s a great facility. Frisco is a great town. We’ll just see how it goes.”

WKU joined C-USA in the summer of 2014, and the conference tournament during its first three league seasons took place in Birmingham, Ala.

The conference divided men’s and women’s early-round games between Bartow Arena on UAB’s campus and Legacy Arena downtown, then hosted the semifinals and finals at Legacy Arena.

C-USA officials decided to make a change this season. The league worked out a partnership between the Cowboys, the city of Frisco and league member North Texas to host its tournament at The Star.

This week will mark the first time The Star has hosted a basketball event.

Forward Marek Nelson is the only Hilltopper who was familiar with the facility before Tuesday. A native of nearby Plano, his high school’s graduation ceremony took place in the stadium.

“I’m really familiar with the arena, the stadium,” the freshman Nelson said. “It’s going to be interesting to play in it though. It’s obviously different from the places we’ve played in as far as size. …

“It’s a new opportunity and it’s going to be fun for sure.”

The temporary basketball setup is reminiscent of Imperial Arena, the makeshift arena where WKU played in November at the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.

That setting was unique because of its low ceiling, small capacity and blue back-lighting. The Star presents its own shooting challenges with a cavernous backdrop behind the baskets.

“It takes awhile, but we did a lot of shooting drills so we’ll be fine,” WKU forward Dwight Coleby said of adjusting to the building.

Stansbury’s primary concern with this week’s tournament is attendance.

Long travel distances are inevitable for any neutral-site tournament in a league like C-USA that stretches from Norfolk, Va., to El Paso, Texas. The Frisco location is especially out of the way for some of the conference’s better teams this season.

No. 5 seed Texas-San Antonio is the only squad among the top six seeds located within a nine-hour drive of Frisco.

The home arenas of each of the other top six seeds (No. 1 Middle Tennessee, No. 2 Old Dominion, No. 3 WKU, No. 4 Marshall and No. 6 UAB) are all at least 600 miles from The Star.

“Of the best three, four, five teams in this league – and everyone knows who those are – the fan bases are so far away,” Stansbury said. “That’s what it’s about, having an atmosphere for everybody and for these teams and for TV. That will be interesting to see how that is.”{&end}