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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL
- Houston (tied 1st)
- Memphis (tied 1st)
- Cincinnati
- Wichita State
- South Florida
- UConn
- Temple
- SMU
- UCF
- Tulsa
- East Carolina
- Tulane
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Jarron Cumberland – Cincinnati, SR G
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: James Wiseman – Memphis, FR C
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-AAC 1ST TEAM
Jarron Cumberland – Cincinnati, SR G
Quinton Rose – Temple, SR G
DeJon Jarreau – Houston, JR G
James Wiseman – Memphis, FR C
Laquincy Rideau – South Florida, SR G
MEDIAY DAY PRESEASON ALL-AAC 2ND TEAM
Alexis Yetna – South Florida, SO F
Jayden Gardner – East Carolina, SO F
Nate Pierre-Louis – Temple, JR G
Alterique Gilbert – UConn, JR G
David Collins – South Florida, JR G
Christian Vital – UConn, SR G
COMMENTS FROM DAVID. Last season there weren’t any teams from the AAC that were ranked in the preseason. Houston ended up with a protected seed, Cincinnati played their way into the rankings and was in the top half of the bracket, UCF made the field and was THIS close to knocking off Duke and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen, and Temple also made it into the First Four. For the last several years I’ve felt this league was better than it typically got credit for. The one strike against it was that it struggled in the NCAA Tournament. With a strong showing by a couple teams last year, hopefully it will begin to earn more respect.
Two years ago, Houston lost on a beyond mid-court shot in the Round of 32 to Michigan. The Wolverines went on to advance to the National Title game. I’m not saying Houston would have made it that far, but I do think they would have at least made the Elite Eight. Last year they came very close to getting there, but fell to Kentucky in a hard-fought Sweet Sixteen game where they actually had a lead with less than 30 seconds to go, but just couldn’t hold on. This year, the Cougars are looking to replace four starters and will be relying heavily on guys that will be playing bigger roles than they have in the past. Still, Houston is one of those teams that I’ve learned to never overlook.
Memphis is rich with talent. Many people, including myself, questioned whether or not Coach Penny Hardaway was a good choice given that he really hadn’t ever coached in college before. Last year he did really well with the pieces he had, and he’s got a fantastic recruiting class this year. The one thing about them is that they will likely start four freshmen, so it may take them a while to really hit their stride…but if they improve throughout the year then they will be extremely dangerous at the end.
The John Brannen era begins at Cincinnati this year. He did a fantastic job at Northern Kentucky, and he’s got quite a few pieces coming back. Three starters are returning, and they will be joined by grad transfer Jaevin Cumberland, who was a standout player at Oakland last year. Under Mick Cronin, it seemed like the Bearcats always finished better than what people expected. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that were the case again this year under Brannen.
Wichita State struggled early last year, but finished strong and has the core of that team back. I believe last year was an anomaly, and that they’re good enough this year to once again be an NCAA Tournament caliber team.
South Florida won the CBI last year (for whatever that’s worth), and have all five starters back. Expectations aren’t normally high for this program, especially in recent years, but they could be able to make some noise this year.
If UConn doesn’t win the AAC this year, then they never will! They are moving to the Big East next season. As a team they went just 16-17 last year under Dan Hurley, but he’s a solid coach who should get them going in the right direction, but they still got a ways to go. I think they’ll be better this year, but I wouldn’t go picking them to go dancing just yet.
Temple also has a new coach, and has three starters back from a 23-win season a year ago and seem to have the pieces to once again be competitive in the league.
UCF had a fantastic year last season (as mentioned above), but they lost so much from that team that repeating it won’t be easy. They lost seven of their top eight players, and have a lot to replace. They do have two JUCO transfers and two grad transfers, but all and all it looks like a completely new team.
SMU returns just two starters and will try and rebound from last year’s 15-17 season.
Tulsa is also looking to improve, and it looks like they’ve added some pretty solid JUCO players to their roster.
East Carolina and Tulane both look like they are in for yet another long season.