The 2002 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 6–9 at the Firstar Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Bearcats, in turn, received an automatic bid to the 2002 NCAA tournament.
They were joined in the tournament by fellow C-USA members Marquette and Charlotte, both of whom earned at-large bids.
Conference USA added two new teams, East Carolina and TCU, bringing total membership to fourteen.
All remaining tournament seeds were determined by regular season conference records.