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MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Houston
- Memphis
- Cincinnati
- Tulane
- Temple
- UCF
- SMU
- Wichita State
- South Florida
- Tulsa
- East Carolina
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-AAC 1ST TEAM:
-Marcus Sasser – SR, G – Houston
-Kendric Davis – SR, G – Memphis
-DeAndre Williams – SR, F – Memphis
-Damian Dunn – SO, G – Temple
-Jalen Cook – SO, G – Tulane
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL-AAC 2ND TEAM:
-David DeJulius – SR, G – Cincinnati
-Jamal Shead – JR, G – Houston
-Khalif Battle – SO, G – Temple
-Kevin Cross – JR, F – Tulane
-Jaylen Forbes – JR, G – Tulane
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
-Houston’s recruiting class is insanely good. It is so good that many are considering them a team that can contend for a spot in the Final Four. Four starters are gone, but they do have some guys back that contributed quality minutes last year, and matching with a very-highly-rated recruiting class is what has people very-highly-excited about the Cougars. I know they are talented. I absolutely think they will be a frontrunner in this conference, and while it would not shock me to see them get as far as the Final Four, I am always a little skeptical of teams that have so many new players until I get the chance to see them play against other teams. But as a program, Houston is among the college basketball elite now. That would have seemed crazy to say about five or six years ago, but they are. They went as far as the Elite Eight a year ago, they were in the Final Four the year before that, and they just signed one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country, so the Cougars are not going to fade away anytime soon.
-Memphis is coming off its first NCAA Tournament in 4 years, and they even managed to win a game in the Round of 64 last year. They are losing quite a few pieces from that team, but they seem to be ready to replace most of it and will be as good, and possibly better, this year. Kendric Davis, who was an outstanding player at SMU, has transferred in, along with Keonte Kennedy from UTEP, and a few others with quality D1 experience.
-Cincinnati was rather subpar last year in Wes Miller’s first year as head coach, but they did have a few shining moments before totally crapping out in the last few weeks of the season. They ended up losing six of their last seven. Still, four starters are back (and six of their top-seven scorers), and we saw that this team can play at a high level. With more experience and good coaching (which I believe Miller can provide), this team should play at a higher level more consistently this year.
-I am all in on this Tulane team!! They were a tire fire when Ron Hunter arrived as head coach, and he has shown consistent improvement in the time he has been there. I think this is the year they make the jump from being a blah team to being someone that can play and compete with the top half of the league. All five starters are back from a year ago and all should be better with experience. I guess I would consider them my dark horse team, but with them landing as high as 4th in the preseason poll I guess I cannot really call them a dark horse. Other people seem to have the same expectations.
-Temple has four starters back from last year and appears to be getting better under coach Aaron McKie. He won 17 games last year after winning just 5 the year before. If they can continue to improve they should be able to make quite a bit of noise.
-UCF was kind of a disappointment last year. They did not have a bad year…but they did not do as well as many of us were expecting. With just one starter back they appear to be in a bit of rebuilding mode, and I cannot see them being a serious contender for a major postseason tournament.
-SMU won 24 games a year ago and was close to making the NCAA Tournament, but with so little back from that team it is hard to see them being a big threat this year. Rob Lanier takes over as head coach and he has his work cut out for him.
-I was so excited when Wichita State joined this league! I did kind of hate to see them leave the Missouri Valley, but they were a consistent top-25-caliber team that would routinely win games in the NCAA Tournament. Those days now seem like a distant memory. They won just 15 total games last year, finished 7th in the conference, and have very little returning in terms of experience. They have a long way to go to get back to where they used to be.
-All I can really say about South Florida, Tulsa, and East Carolina is that they look like long shots to make the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament.