The American Athletic Conference recently held their media days ahead of the college basketball season on Oct. 12 and 13 in Irving, Texas. Head coaches and select players from the AAC men’s and women’s basketball teams gave their thoughts on the upcoming season during in-studio interviews.
Over the course of the two-day event, head coaches were polled on their conference predictions for the 2022-23 season. They ranked the AAC teams from top to bottom ahead of the season and gave out their preseason player awards.
Of note, this is the final year for Houston, Central Florida and Cincinnati in the AAC before their transition to the BIG 12 in 2023. Six new teams are set to join the conference beginning next summer. Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, Alabama Birmingham and Texas at San Antonio will replace the departing schools. All six newcomers are current members of Conference USA.
Cougars lead the pack again
From the men’s basketball side of the conference, the Houston Cougars were predicted to win the conference. They received all 10 votes possible for first place from opposing coaches, racking up 100 total points for the poll. This is the fourth consecutive season Houston has been selected as the preseason favorite in the AAC. The Cougars are coming off a 32-6 overall record and a 15-3 conference record a season ago. They advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Villanova in the regional finals.
Picked to finish second in the conference is Memphis, who received one first-place vote and 87 points overall. Head coach Penny Hardaway is entering his fifth season leading the Tigers and will look to build off of his first NCAA Tournament appearance from a year ago.
Just behind Memphis, Cincinnati was picked to finish third in the conference, accumulating 82 points. In his second year, head coach Wes Miller will try to improve upon a pedestrian first season. The Bearcats return some impactful veteran leaders that should keep the team competitive throughout the year.
Picked to finish fourth in the conference is Tulane with 74 points. The Green Wave have no projected seniors on their roster, according to ESPN, but possess a talented roster nonetheless.
The Temple Owls are projected to finish fifth by opposing coaches, with 66 points from the poll. Temple returns an impressive sophomore group that includes their leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago.
Rounding out the lower-middle portion of the conference is Central Florida with 51 points, Southern Methodist with 43 points and Wichita State with 35 points. Each program has had its fair share of success over the last decade. A mix of coaching changes and player turnover within the programs has burdened each school in recent years.
The three projected bottom feeders of the conference are South Florida with 33 points, Tulsa with 21 points and East Carolina with 13 points. None of these programs have had much success in recent years, and the expectations are low once again this season.
Preseason Player Awards
Taking home the highest preseason honor for the upcoming season is Houston guard Marcus Sasser. Opposing coaches voted the standout senior guard as the AAC Preseason Player of the Year.
Receiving the honor as Preseason Rookie of the Year is another Houston Cougar. Forward Jarace Walker is the unanimous selection to take home the award.
Coaches also voted on AAC Preseason All-Conference Team selections for the upcoming season. All 10 players voted to one of the teams have at least one season of experience in their college careers.
Making up the preseason All-Conference First Team is the aforementioned Sasser, joined by fellow senior guard Kendric Davis from Memphis. Both were unanimous selections to the First Team. Another unanimous selection to the First Team was Jalen Cook, a sophomore guard from Tulane. Redshirt senior forward DeAndre Williams from Memphis and redshirt sophomore guard Damian Dunn out of Temple make up the rest of the First Team selections.
Preseason All-Conference Second Team members include graduate guard David DeJulius from Cincinnati, junior guard Jamal Shead from Houston, redshirt sophomore guard Khalif Battle from Temple, and a pair of Tulane teammates, forward Kevin Cross and guard Jaylen Forbes, both juniors.