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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:
- Florida Atlantic
- Memphis
- Tulane
- UAB
- East Carolina
- North Texas
- SMU
- Wichita State
- South Florida
- Tulsa
- Rice
- Temple
- Charlotte
- UTSA
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL AAC 1ST TEAM:
-Eric Gaines – JR, G – UAB
-Johnell Davis – JR, G – Florida Atlantic (Preseason co-Player of the Year)
-Alijah Martin – JR, G – Florida Atlantic (Preseason co-Player of the Year)
-Jahvon Quinerly – SR, G – Memphis
– Jaylen Forbes – JR, G – Tulane
MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL AAC 2ND TEAM:
-RJ Felton – JR, G – East Carolina
-Jordan Brown – SR, F – Memphis
-Max Fiedler – SR, F – Rice
-Zhuric Phelps – JR, G – SMU
-Kevin Cross – JR, F – Tulane
PRESEASON ROOKIES OF THE YEAR: (Carl Cherenfant – Memphis, JJ Taylor – Memphis)
COMMENTS FROM DAVID:
It is a new look for the American! It looks a lot like how Conference USA used to look about twelve years ago! In fact I believe (and John Stalica will correct me if I am wrong) that Temple and Wichita State are the only schools that were not in Conference USA at one time or another. Speaking of Conference USA…
-Last year Florida Atlantic was picked to finish 5th in the CUSA preseason poll and had exactly one player selected to the preseason all-conference team. The 5th place team in CUSA is rarely within a hundred miles of the NIT, much less inside the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. As the season progressed we quickly realized that FAU was good: LEGIT good! We believed them to be a top-40 caliber team that was safely inside the bubble, and when they cracked the rankings we all felt they had earned it. When they entered the NCAA Tournament as a #9 seed we all felt their seed was about right. We thought they were good/top-40 and about where they belonged. I would say that none of us saw them going to the Final Four…but if I said that then I wouldn’t be correct. ONE of us did have them going that far! Rocco Miller, from the end of January on, was saying that FAU was a legit protected seed/top-15 caliber team. He had them beating Purdue in the Round of 32 and had them in his Final Four, and while they ended up beating Fairleigh Dickinson instead he was absolutely right about how good they actually were. They WERE a legit top-15 caliber team, and appear to be top-15 again this year!
This year, their starting 5/entire rotation is back, Coach Dusty May is back, and given how they finished last season it is difficult to think of them as anything other than a legit top-15 team that can absolutely end up as a protected seed and maybe get back to the Final Four. This team is good/talented all over the place. They are deep, they can defend, they have guys who can score in the frontcourt, they have rebounders, they have guys who can hit from the outside, and they have guys who can contribute off the bench. They also have some heavyweights on their OOC schedule, and as new members of the American they have a slightly stronger conference to help boost their metrics, so their resume will likely be looking really good by the end of the year.
-Memphis is coming off of a 26-win season where they made the NCAA Tournament, faced FAU in the Round of 64, and nearly beat them. The problem is that only one starter is back so there will likely be a period of adjustment with so many players stepping into new roles. The good news is they once again have a very strong recruiting class and were able to add several key transfers including Jahvon Quinerly from Alabama.
-It has been a very long time since Tulane was nationally relevant, but Coach Ron Hunter has done a masterful job building up this program. They won 20 games a year ago, made it to the semifinals of the conference tournament, and have three key starters back from that team including Jaylen Forbes, who is one of the top forwards in the conference. This could be a year where we really see the Green Wave make a lot of noise.
-UAB had an outstanding team a year ago where they won 29 total games, lost the Conference USA title game, and just missed making the NCAAs…and then followed that up with a run to the NIT finals. The problem is that everyone from that team is gone and the Blazers are starting completely over. Coach Andy Kennedy enters his fourth year and has a mixture of Power-5/JUCO transfers to help rebuild his roster. They are unlikely to be as good as they were a year ago but they may not take a huge step back either.
-East Carolina is getting a little more love from the media this preseason than I thought they would. Three starters are back from a team that had what was pretty much a meh finish to last season and was just 6-12 in conference play. RJ Felton is a strong guard and there are some other good pieces so I suppose there are reasons to be optimistic heading into this year.
-North Texas was incredible last year with 31 total wins, a top-40 NET, and 10 true road wins. I felt they belonged in the NCAA Tournament but was not entirely shocked when they were not selected. They still went on to win the NIT and cap a fantastic season for the Mean Green. The problem is that most of the key players from last year are gone and they are shifting into a rebuilding mode. Ross Hodge takes over as head coach and is tasked with replacing his top three scorers and four starters. I have more questions than answers about their future right now.
-Wichita State is also in reset mode with four starters gone and a new head coach in Paul Mills, who had a fantastic run at Oral Roberts. Given time he can also do very well at Wichita State…but the key words there are “given time.” It will likely be a rebuilding year for the Shockers.
-Amir Abdur-Rahim takes over at South Florida after a very successful run as head coach at Kennesaw State. He took a program that was…well…terrible, and made them into one of the top programs in the Atlantic Sun. He will have his work cut out for him. The Bulls won just 14 games a year ago and are overhauling their roster. They do have some notable transfers who have been contributing players at D1 schools, particularly Chris Youngblood from Kennesaw State, so the Bulls may be a little better than expected this year.
It is hard to be at all excited about the rest of the teams in the league…
-Tulsa won just five games a year ago, has no starters back, and second year coach Eric Konkol could be in for another long season.
-While Rice was really bad in the second half of conference play last year I think they have at least some reasons to hope. I do not see them finishing in the top half of the conference, but they should not finish at the very bottom either. Four starters are back including Max Fiedler, who is one of the best frontcourt players in the conference, and they have been improving in recent years (albeit slowly). We should see some more improvement from them this year.
-Temple has not been nationally relevant for a while. Adam Fisher takes over as coach and while he does have some pieces to work with, the expectations are not exactly high.
-Charlotte won 22 games a year ago and as a program really seemed to be going in the right direction. They do have a new coach in Aaron Fearne after Ron Sanchez decided to go an assistant coach at Virginia, which is not a move you see all that often. Still, three starters are back including Lu’Cye Patterson who averaged double digits last year. While I do not see them winning the league, it is kind of crazy to see them picked THIS low.
-As for UTSA…yeah, it makes sense they are picked this low.