AAC Basketball Preview

Now for the newest member of the “power conferences”: The American Athletic Conference. This is a conference made up of ten teams (but will change in a year). Those ten teams were from the old Big East, the A-10, and the C-USA. It will be an exciting conference this year, with the defending champs leading the way, but long term this isn’t a conference that I’d be all-in on.

Projected Standings

1. Louisville Cardinals – This choice was easy. They have been to two straight Final Fours that included a championship last year. The team is the same as that one except they lost two guys. Montrezl Harrell will fill in the center spot, and JUCO player Chris Jones will fill in at point guard. They won’t miss a beat. It was nice that Russ Smith turned down his shot at the NBA.

2. Connecticut Huskies – This team was great last year but was banned from the postseason. They are a lock to make it this year though, led by their dynamic backcourt. Napier, Boatright, and Calhoun make up what could be the best backcourt in the country. They will challenge Louisville all the way.

3. Memphis Tigers – Memphis is finally in a big boy league, and they are ready for it. They lost a few starters, but they returned some other very key players and added a great recruiting class. Transfer Michael Dixon (from Missouri) will make the backcourt scary. Similar to UCONN, can they get enough inside?

4. Cincinnati Bearcats – Coming off a great year last season, Cincy won’t be near that solid. But they still have Sean Kilpatrick, who is very good.

5. SMU Mustangs – They have no key losses, Larry Brown is in year two, and they added a nice guard in Keith Frazier. This team will surprise people.

6. UCF Knights – Only one player is gone from a team that won 20 games last year. They aren’t a deep team however so they must find some depth.

7. Houston Cougars – I may be putting too much expectation on them here, but this team won 20 games a year ago and TaShawn Thomas is good enough to lead them to another great season.

8. Temple Owls – On the flip side, this is likely too low for a team that seems to always win. But they did lose a lot and may see their streak of NCAA appearances end.

9. South Florida Bulls – A few years ago this was a team always on the bubble of NCAA Tournies… Now they could be happy by not finishing last in the conference.

10. Rutgers Scarlet Knights – After the “big” offseason, it will be hard to focus on basketball again, especially without a lot of key guys.

Preseason Major Awards

Player of the Year – Russ Smith (Louisville)

Defensive Player of the Year – Montrezl Harrell (Louisville)

Freshman of the Year – Austin Nichols (Memphis)

Most Improved Player – Tyler Olander (Connecticut)

Coach of the Year – Kevin Ollie (Connecticut)

All AAC Teams

First Team:

G Shabazz Napier, Connecticut

G Russ Smith, Louisville

G Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati

F Chane Behanan, Louisville

F Montrezl Harrell, Lousville

Second Team:

G Joe Jackson, Memphis

G Ryan Boatright, Connecticut

G Luke Hancock, Louisville

F TaShawn Thomas, Houston

F Austin Nichols, Memphis

Third Team:

G Anthony Collins, South Florida

G Isaiah Sykes, UCF

F Jalen Jones, SMU

F Anthony Lee, Temple

F DeAndre Daniels, Connecticut

By: The Sports Guys