Since the AP Rankings started in 1949 current AAC member time in poll were:

UC #12
UConn #21
Memphis #25
Temple #49
UH #63
Tulsa #82
SMU #88

Seven of Top 100

Will SMU remain a player once LB's recruits are gone? If the last 3 years are removed SMU is not Top 100.

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2016 Attendance Top 100

Memphis 12,028
UConn 10,413
UC 9,415
SMU 6,907
Temple 6,373

Expect Memphis Attendance to improve due to Tubby.
Expect UC Attendance to improve 2017 and 2019.
SMU Attendance is about as high as it can go at Moody.

The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

We are playing with Jank's recruits not Larry's. Larry's recruits never got in or transferred out

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Didn't Tulane basketball get the death penalty in the late '90s? Before that I remember UC having some pretty good battles with the Gerald Hunnicut led Green Wave.

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Eh... The AAC is a 2-4 bid conference most years. 5 would be extraordinary. I'd also expect a 1-bid year from time-to-time.

(02-20-2017 05:41 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Eh... The AAC is a 2-4 bid conference most years. 5 would be extraordinary. I'd also expect a 1-bid year from time-to-time.

I don't think it will ever be 1 bid. But there is no reason a conference with UC, SMU, UConn, Temple, Memphis, Houston, and Tulsa, should ever be a two bid conference.

3-4 of UC, SMU, Memphis, UConn, and Temple should be in every year without question. Unfortunately they are all down at the same time.

(02-20-2017 06:16 PM)BcatMatt13 Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 05:41 PM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Eh... The AAC is a 2-4 bid conference most years. 5 would be extraordinary. I'd also expect a 1-bid year from time-to-time.

I don't think it will ever be 1 bid. But there is no reason a conference with UC, SMU, UConn, Temple, Memphis, Houston, and Tulsa, should ever be a two bid conference.

3-4 of UC, SMU, Memphis, UConn, and Temple should be in every year without question. Unfortunately they are all down at the same time.

The number of bids of course fluctuates between the internal quality of the conference but also with the strength of other conferences. It is at least conceivable that there could be the perfect storm of a really weak AAC with a really dominant combination of other conferences where a single bid results. Not likely and I would agree it ***should*** be exceedingly rare. But it could happen.

The AAC just isn't that strong that you can count on having a large number of teams going dancing. The bottom of the conference is so bad it actually hurts the top teams. Also, you don't have a single, over-dominant team (like Gonzaga in the WCC) so you end up having that trio of UC, UConn, and Memphis beating each (on any given year) which also hurts. The "Brand Names" of the Conference are UC, UConn, Memphis, and (to a lesser extent) Temple, and when one or more of those are down the whole thing suffers. SMU may be good (at the moment) but they are not a "name" brand outside of the Conference. Houston is handicapped by their own fan-apathy. And lets just be frank: the U_F's don't do anything for you and neither does Tulane or Tulsa.

So both in real metrics and perception, this conference just doesn't have much muscle to it. And God forbid we have a year where all FOUR of the power-houses suffer a down period at the same time.

(02-20-2017 12:40 PM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Didn't Tulane basketball get the death penalty in the late '90s? Before that I remember UC having some pretty good battles with the Gerald Hunnicut led Green Wave.

Wasn't the death penalty. Hurricane Katrina caused Tulane to defund all their athletic programs and they have yet to recover.

(02-21-2017 08:39 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 12:40 PM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Didn't Tulane basketball get the death penalty in the late '90s? Before that I remember UC having some pretty good battles with the Gerald Hunnicut led Green Wave.

Wasn't the death penalty. Hurricane Katrina caused Tulane to defund all their athletic programs and they have yet to recover.

Tulane's BB program was disbanded in the mid to late 80's due to the point shaving scandal involving John "Hot Rod" Williams by the university president. Had they not done that, it is likely they would have faced the death penalty by the NCAA.

The program was reinstated in 89 IIRC after about 3 years of being on the sidelines.

(02-21-2017 08:56 AM)RedRocker Wrote:  

(02-21-2017 08:39 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 12:40 PM)chatcat Wrote:  

(02-20-2017 11:00 AM)LetsGoUC Wrote:  The fact that we can only muster 2 NCAA tournament bids between those 7 is disappointing. Should be able to get 3-5 every single year, period. Throw in UCF also as they are improved. ECU and Tulane will forever be dogs, but 2 bids is very bad considering the basketball histories at many of these schools.

Didn't Tulane basketball get the death penalty in the late '90s? Before that I remember UC having some pretty good battles with the Gerald Hunnicut led Green Wave.

Wasn't the death penalty. Hurricane Katrina caused Tulane to defund all their athletic programs and they have yet to recover.

Tulane's BB program was disbanded in the mid to late 80's due to the point shaving scandal involving John "Hot Rod" Williams by the university president. Had they not done that, it is likely they would have faced the death penalty by the NCAA.

The program was reinstated in 89 IIRC after about 3 years of being on the sidelines.

True, but the OP was referencing the fall after the late 90s ( Gerald Honeycutt era).