My Preseason Projection:
1) Houston
2) Memphis
3) SMU (on the assumption anei gets a waiver)
4) Cincinnati
5) USF
6) Tulsa
7) UCF (on the assumption walker gets a waiver)
8) Wichita
9) ECU
10) Temple (late addition bump/assumption battle gets a waiver)
11) Tulane
League wide) I think 4 tourney teams should be the goal this year, maybe more depending on the caliber of team Wichita and ucf put out.
Something interesting I'm looking forward to from every team:
HOUSTON
- The guard depth and how itll be managed; Who steps up? who's rotated in and how? 4 guard lineup?
MEMPHIS
- The potential of this team is scary with their defense, literally just cutting the turnovers down to the level of an average team would drastically improve them, not to mention potential offensive growth from their returning players
SMU
- Make or break year for Jank. what happens when you have one of the best offensive teams in the league and then add an elite level shot blocker? (waiver ending)
CINCINNATI
- what will the quality of their transfers be like; is Dejulius the next Kendric Davis? can Rap (transfer) hold down the void left by Scott? also the growth of Vogt and Williams to potentially becoming 1st team all-conference caliber guys will also be interesting. then there's the potential x-factor in Harvey (former top 50 recruit who was pretty much bench his 1st year)
South Florida
- This team "on paper" is one of the best in the league. 3pt shooting should still be poor but every thing else they need to win is on that roster, but winning is more than roster, culture plays into winning. Can usf get over the hump? also the freshman they got is NASTY (Murphy), might be top 3 iso drivers in the league day 1
TULSA
- Overlooked again? something that I find really interesting about Tulsa is the vast amount of shooters on Tulsa that could be great or horrible both being realistic, they have 5 or 6 players with a reputation as being "great shooters", but none have yet to prove it in a d1 arena
UCF
- if Walker gets a waiver, UCF wont be a deep team, but should have a starting 5 that on paper matches up talent wise with the top of the league. Desperately need a walker waiver if they want to make a splash this year. (there is a chance walker has already received a waiver, but UCF is keeping it secret, they have history of DOING that). also Darin Green might be the most overlooked player in the league
WICHITA
- No need to go into detail here; new coach, new players. all of it is a mystery. How itll play out? will be fun to see it unravel
ECU
- Gardner to me isnt the most interesting thing because we already know what he can do, we can expect another 20pt 10rb season from him. what interests me the most is that the players ECU expected to be its best player (not named Gardner) entering last year had bad years but they also had injury issues. can they rebound with a healthy offseason?
TEMPLE
- Some thing that I find really interesting here is that someone from temple is guaranteed to be All-Freshman or a finalist for Most Improved. no matter how good or bad a team is, someone will score points. the worst team in the nation have multiple double digit scorers. as is, some unheralded freshman or some low scoring returnee is about to get a spike in stats at temple. also khalif battle (waiver pending) has elite athleticism, could be a star for them, despite poor freshman year...
TULANE
- Hunter yet again has noted that Tulane will not be last. he thinks the turn around at Tulane has exceeded ga state. hunter also roasted Rothstein on twitter for picking Tulane last. also a few of there transfers didn't take being picked last too well either. will be interesting to see the fight they have.
Updated Preseason Top 50 AAC Players (Technically 52)
1) Alexis Yetna -
South Florida
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/Zy4Y6eeIpug
2) Jayden Gardner -
ECU
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/JNF-jNzw3uY
3) Caleb Mills -
HOUSTON
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/d7vIjRYJnPk
4) Kendric Davis -
SMU
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/0-fMENXlyAQ
5) Moussa Cisse-
MEMPHIS (Top Recruit)
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/27vI0Wjm5wo
6) Brandon Rachal -
TULSA
Highlights:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_NYCMTFSyG/
7) Keith Williams -
CINCINNATI
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/poQU4TF9IsM
8) D.J. Jeffries -
MEMPHIS
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/bJnNP7RnKZM
9) Quentin Grimes -
HOUSTON
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/wERHK9PbphU
10) Landers Nolley -
MEMPHIS (Transfer)
Highlights:
https://youtu.be/sZJkbMM8SIk
11) Tyson Jolly -
SMU
12) Yor Anei -
SMU (Transfer)
13) Dexter Dennis -
WICHITA
14) Feron Hunt -
SMU
15) Darin Green -
UCF
16) DeJon Jarreau -
HOUSTON
17) Chris Vogt -
CINCINNATI
18) DeAndre Williams -
MEMPHIS (Transfer- needs waiver)
19) Marcus Sasser -
HOUSTON
20) Lester Quinones-
MEMPHIS
21) Tristen Newton -
ECU
22) David Collins -
South Florida
23) Alterique Gilbert -
WICHITA (Grad Transfer)
24) Tramon Mark -
HOUSTON (Top Recruit)
25) Rapolas Ivanauskas -
CINCINNATI (Grad Transfer)
26) Darius McNeill-
SMU (Transfer)
27) CJ Walker-
UCF (Transfer- needs waiver)
28) Brendan Barry -
TEMPLE (Grad Transfer)
29) Caleb Murphy -
South Florida (Top Recruit)
30) Darius Perry -
UCF (Grad Transfer)
31) Jordan Walker-
TULANE
32) David DeJulius-
CINCINNATI (Transfer)
33) Tyson Etienne-
WICHITA
34) Ethan Chargois-
SMU
35) Gabe Watson-
TULANE (Transfer)
36) Boogie' Ellis-
MEMPHIS
37) Trey Wade-
WICHITA
38) Elijah Joiner -
TULSA
39) Justin Brown -
South Florida
40) Damion Baugh-
MEMPHIS
41) Jake Forrester -
TEMPLE
42) Michael Durr-
South Florida
43) Darien Jackson -
TULSA
44) Tari Eason -
CINCINNATI (top recruit)
45) De'Vondre Perry -
TEMPLE
46) J.P. Moorman -
TEMPLE
47) Alex Lomax -
MEMPHIS
48) Cameron Tyson -
HOUSTON (Transfer)
49) Kevin Cross -
TULANE (transfer)
50) Khalif Battle-
TEMPLE (transfer- needs waiver)
the next 2:
51) Jaylen Forbes -
TULANE (transfer)
52) Keyshawn Embery-
TULSA (transfer) -ranking solely from coach hype
Note: THIS IS A PRESEASON RANKING.
NOT a projection of how itll look at the end of the season. Example: 48 Cam Tyson, unlikely to be ranked post season as he'll likely be buried in depth, but he's coming in with 14pts per at 45% from 3 with (elite shooting numbers, you have to rank at this time)
Just missed:
Brandon Mahan
Curtis Haywood
Malcolm Dandridge
Sean Mobley
Brison Gresham
Zach Harvey