https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...ournament/

The article only ranks seven.

Quote:7. AAC

At this point, the AAC probably needs to be grouped in with the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Mountain West and West Coast conferences when it comes to the hoops discussion. That's a shame, because with a little polishing, the potential is there for this league to regularly send four teams to the NCAA Tournament. Even with UConn departed for the Big East, brand names like Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, Wichita State should be able to take this conference higher than its gone in recent years. Schools like Temple, SMU and UCF have also shown flashes of the potential needed to raise this league's basketball profile but have struggled to generate consistency. Put simply, the AAC is underperforming, even with Houston making a Final Four run in 2021.

BY THE NUMBERS

7th in NCAA Tournament bid percentage: 2 of 11 (18.2%)
2nd in NCAA Tournament record: 4-2 (66.7%)
7th in top 75 NBA Draft prospects: 1 (0.09 per team)
7th in average NET ranking: 110.3 (94.8 last year)
7th in average NET ranking excluding bottom two teams: 93.1 (76.2 last year)

A few AAC teams miss the NCAAT during a once-in-a-century virus
and people panic. There will be a minimum of 3 for the AAC in 2022 with a high potential for more.

i agree that we were 7th last year... but i dont get ranking pre-nba draft prospects .. and draft prospect lists are going to look completely different in a month

the problem in this league basketball wise has always been coaches---

imo the next 2 years are going to define the AAC...technically 1.5, next season and the 2021-22 offseason

-- its do or die seasons for jank and penny-- if neither make the tourney next season it a huge hit to the conference not just for next year, but the belief in either ever making the tourney in their respective schools ... if they make the tourney GREAT!! if they dont, what they do in the offseason is conference defining.. if smu keeps jank it'll be a strong message nationally not to value smu as a basketball program trying to contend ... with penny if hey dont make it, a hall of famer has to join the staff or memphis will start being perceived the way unlv is (a dying power)

--- Gregory, Dooley and Haith are also likely on a do or die season, with a drastic difference from the 2 above in that they on paper do not have the roster to compete to prevent the dying part...gut feeling is that Tulsa wants to be competitive so they'll let go of haith if he has a bad season, who they hire will be paramount... USF/ECU is unknown, if gregory/dooley have another terrible season (the bar is just to be competitive- middle pack) and nothing is done, you have to even question if ECU/USF even care about being competitive and if they bring any value to the league

--- then there's the "hope or slow death" coaches...these guys arent getting fired for awhile no matter what, but havent proven themselves .. mckie, miller, brown, hunter... brown is the closest to establishing himself, as long as he doesn't Kevin ollie (1 good season based of another coaches roster) he'll likely be part of the "conference hope" section... how miller does on the court in 2021 is of little significance, what important is how the 2022 recruiting class is viewed, the "hope" of cincy retuning to power is a crucial part of this league future and perception... for hunter/mckie we are stuck with both for multiple season no matter what and their success or failure will affect the league, the perceived "terribleness" of Tulane is regularly used a an insult to this league ..the perceived "strength" of the brand of temple was once upon a time used a selling point to the strength of the league

by this time next year there will be a an obvious direction of where this league is heading

(05-07-2021 09:57 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  A few AAC teams miss the NCAAT during a once-in-a-century virus
and people panic. There will be a minimum of 3 for the AAC in 2022 with a high potential for more.

AAC has underperformed in basketball throughout it’s existence. If we want to be perceived as a basketball power, it’s time to panic.

(05-07-2021 11:41 PM)virgosports Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 09:57 PM)HoustonRocks Wrote:  A few AAC teams miss the NCAAT during a once-in-a-century virus
and people panic. There will be a minimum of 3 for the AAC in 2022 with a high potential for more.

AAC has underperformed in basketball throughout it’s existence. If we want to be perceived as a basketball power, it’s time to panic.

I agree that the AAC has underperformed - - that is, if it fancies itself to be a "P6" conference, which it has claimed that it is.

However, it's not time to panic, since panic is only justified when there are no available options.

No point in panic when the option exists to add a NCAA-quality BB program such as VCU or Dayton...

Unless the AAC leadership refuses to pursue that option, that is.

.

Sending an average of 3 teams per year to the NCAA - - which has only been sustainable because Wichita State joined the conference - - has been good enough to make the AAC the #7 conference, but with the loss of UConn, it isn't clear how much longer the American can maintain its 3 NCAA teams per year average.

Maintaining #7 status and sending 3 teams per year to the NCAA isn't going to get the AAC anywhere near power conference status, however.

.

(05-07-2021 06:30 PM)Alanda Wrote:  https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...ournament/

The article only ranks seven.

Quote:7. AAC

At this point, the AAC probably needs to be grouped in with the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Mountain West and West Coast conferences when it comes to the hoops discussion. That's a shame, because with a little polishing, the potential is there for this league to regularly send four teams to the NCAA Tournament. Even with UConn departed for the Big East, brand names like Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, Wichita State should be able to take this conference higher than its gone in recent years. Schools like Temple, SMU and UCF have also shown flashes of the potential needed to raise this league's basketball profile but have struggled to generate consistency. Put simply, the AAC is underperforming, even with Houston making a Final Four run in 2021.

BY THE NUMBERS

7th in NCAA Tournament bid percentage: 2 of 11 (18.2%)
2nd in NCAA Tournament record: 4-2 (66.7%)
7th in top 75 NBA Draft prospects: 1 (0.09 per team)
7th in average NET ranking: 110.3 (94.8 last year)
7th in average NET ranking excluding bottom two teams: 93.1 (76.2 last year)

And so,,,,,,,,, the media pundits are right on schedule in setting the narrative of "the AAC isn't worthy ". Gotta get that out so a lot of the lazy preseason pollsters can use this as justification to undervalue the league again.

(05-08-2021 06:15 AM)Tigersmoke4 Wrote:  

(05-07-2021 06:30 PM)Alanda Wrote:  https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...ournament/

The article only ranks seven.

Quote:7. AAC

At this point, the AAC probably needs to be grouped in with the Atlantic 10, Missouri Valley, Mountain West and West Coast conferences when it comes to the hoops discussion. That's a shame, because with a little polishing, the potential is there for this league to regularly send four teams to the NCAA Tournament. Even with UConn departed for the Big East, brand names like Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, Wichita State should be able to take this conference higher than its gone in recent years. Schools like Temple, SMU and UCF have also shown flashes of the potential needed to raise this league's basketball profile but have struggled to generate consistency. Put simply, the AAC is underperforming, even with Houston making a Final Four run in 2021.

BY THE NUMBERS

7th in NCAA Tournament bid percentage: 2 of 11 (18.2%)
2nd in NCAA Tournament record: 4-2 (66.7%)
7th in top 75 NBA Draft prospects: 1 (0.09 per team)
7th in average NET ranking: 110.3 (94.8 last year)
7th in average NET ranking excluding bottom two teams: 93.1 (76.2 last year)

And so,,,,,,,,, the media pundits are right on schedule in setting the narrative of "the AAC isn't worthy ". Gotta get that out so a lot of the lazy preseason pollsters can use this as justification to undervalue the league again.

That narrative was pretty accurate of late. The AAC wasn’t very good.

Yet the B1G & ACC were awful this past season & performed poorly in the tourney to prove it but like the weatherman, media ignores their collective poor play & continues the media hype.

1. I am optimistic about Temples improvement next season. We have two young players who made all-AAC teams and a third who was close. Other young players also contributed and improved. God willing we get a full pre season practice and OOC schedule in. I am predicting top 5 in the American for Temple next year.
2. UConn made the NCAA once in the 7 years they were here(granted, they won the NC!) Their departure may have been the loss of a brand name, but their actual performance was not helpful to the conference strength.
3. I do not believe we need to expand in basketball. I agree with the thought above that some of our underperforming teams need to do better (I am looking at North Philadelphia as the top candidate in this category)t

(05-08-2021 07:10 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  That narrative was pretty accurate of late. The AAC wasn’t very good.

the narrative isnt accurate, we weren great but the narrative portrayed us worse than we were

memphis makes the tournament last year on the exact same resume if they were in a top conference...

Sampson has had long media rants about this... in all our games they were talking about the AAC beng a 1 bid league..and this was before smus massive covid break, when we had 4 teams making a case. we get no eye test benefit of the doubt ..

on any major conference they get excuses, they struggle after covid pauses =overlook the struggles, we struggle after covid pauses shows we arent good..
70% of houston games the game announcers are just talking about our weakness saying houston cant make the final4 (offense isnt there)... in every other other conference they talk about strengths the dont dedicate much time to weaknesses..in iowa games their bad defense was rarely mentioned

(05-08-2021 09:11 AM)vick mike Wrote:  1. I am optimistic about Temples improvement next season. We have two young players who made all-AAC teams and a third who was close. Other young players also contributed and improved. God willing we get a full pre season practice and OOC schedule in. I am predicting top 5 in the American for Temple next year.
2. UConn made the NCAA once in the 7 years they were here(granted, they won the NC!) Their departure may have been the loss of a brand name, but their actual performance was not helpful to the conference strength.
3. I do not believe we need to expand in basketball. I agree with the thought above that some of our underperforming teams need to do better (I am looking at North Philadelphia as the top candidate in this category)t

Agree. I think Temple will be on the upswing. Have to get out mojo back for the sake of school pride alone.

I agree with the writer (David Cobb).

The AAC continues to underperform in men's hoops and it's troubling. A few more mediocre seasons and the "major" designation (and, yes, I view the AAC as a major conference in men's basketball) will be gone. As a long-time Cincinnati fan and Memphis fan, that concerns me.

On a positive note (and as I've posted many times), the American has overachieved in football and continues to be very competitive in baseball.

(05-08-2021 07:40 AM)Atlanta Wrote:  Yet the B1G & ACC were awful this past season & performed poorly in the tourney to prove it but like the weatherman, media ignores their collective poor play & continues the media hype.

It was because of covid for the big and the acc. cough cough

There were rumblings of Dooley leaving the past month and his contract is five years so not much point in buying it out after this season unless its terrible.

(05-08-2021 10:05 AM)pesik Wrote:  

(05-08-2021 07:10 AM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  That narrative was pretty accurate of late. The AAC wasn’t very good.

the narrative isnt accurate, we weren great but the narrative portrayed us worse than we were

memphis makes the tournament last year on the exact same resume if they were in a top conference...

Sampson has had long media rants about this... in all our games they were talking about the AAC beng a 1 bid league..and this was before smus massive covid break, when we had 4 teams making a case. we get no eye test benefit of the doubt ..

on any major conference they get excuses, they struggle after covid pauses =overlook the struggles, we struggle after covid pauses shows we arent good..
70% of houston games the game announcers are just talking about our weakness saying houston cant make the final4 (offense isnt there)... in every other other conference they talk about strengths the dont dedicate much time to weaknesses..in iowa games their bad defense was rarely mentioned

Disney owns college sports, they construct what they want, and they have what they want

(05-08-2021 11:02 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  I agree with the writer (David Cobb).

The AAC continues to underperform in men's hoops and it's troubling. A few more mediocre seasons and the "major" designation (and, yes, I view the AAC as a major conference in men's basketball) will be gone. As a long-time Cincinnati fan and Memphis fan, that concerns me.

It's worth noting that, with the exceptions of Houston and Memphis (NIT Championship), the conference has gone through a hellacious time over the past two seasons:

- The Gregg Marshall calamity

- Mick Cronin's departure and 1st replacement coach calamity

- Temple had their first back-to-back losing seasons in 45 years

- UCF and USF have been unable to get back on track since 2018-2019

- Tulsa and SMU haven't made the NCAA since 2016/2017.

- In addition, despite Memphis' encouraging NIT Championship season, it's been 7 years since they've played in the NCAA.

.

This is what some would consider to be an example of "a perfect storm," when everything goes wrong or the bottom falls out at more or less the same time.

Even if these things hadn't happened, the AAC has never averaged more than 3 NCAA bids per season and has never sent 5 or more teams to the NCAA.

The American is a "Major 7" conference, but has rarely shown the potential to become a "Major 6" conference, and it isn't showing that potential now.

There only one way to do that - - by adding a NCAA-quality basketball school. The AAC has the opportunity to bring one aboard... ...but no...!

.

With so many new and missing pieces, Cincinnati may need a year under their new coach before they'll be able to strive for a NCAA bid.

Temple's still at least a year away from developing NCAA tournament potential, if all of their top players return in 2022-23.

UCF just lost one of their key players to the transfer portal, another setback for them.

Tulsa seems to be "ever the bridesmaid;" never the bride.

SMU may be getting closer, but there are questions about whether their Head Coach can take them to the big dance.

Wichita's collapse at the end of the 2021-22 season raises questions about whether their Head Coach is ready to take them to the promised land.

.

Although Houston and Memphis appear to be on the right track, 2021-22 might be another somewhat frustrating season for the rest of the conference.

Things might improve by 2022-23, but a lot of things will have to go right (at Wichita State, Cincy, Temple, SMU, Tulsa, and UCF) for the conference to send more than 3 teams to the NCAA per season before 2024 or 2025.

--Even then, it's not clear if an 11-team AAC will ever be able to send more than 4 teams to the tournament.

.

(05-09-2021 03:20 AM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(05-08-2021 11:02 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  I agree with the writer (David Cobb).

The AAC continues to underperform in men's hoops and it's troubling. A few more mediocre seasons and the "major" designation (and, yes, I view the AAC as a major conference in men's basketball) will be gone. As a long-time Cincinnati fan and Memphis fan, that concerns me.

It's worth noting that, with the exceptions of Houston and Memphis (NIT Championship), the conference has gone through a hellacious time over the past two seasons:

- The Gregg Marshall calamity

- Mick Cronin's departure and 1st replacement coach calamity

- Temple had their first back-to-back losing seasons in 45 years

- UCF and USF have been unable to get back on track since 2018-2019

- Tulsa and SMU haven't made the NCAA since 2016/2017.

- In addition, despite Memphis' encouraging NIT Championship season, it's been 7 years since they've played in the NCAA.

.

This is what some would consider to be an example of "a perfect storm," when everything goes wrong or the bottom falls out at more or less the same time.

Even if these things hadn't happened, the AAC has never averaged more than 3 NCAA bids per season and has never sent 5 or more teams to the NCAA.

The American is a "Major 7" conference, but has rarely shown the potential to become a "Major 6" conference, and it isn't showing that potential now.

There only one way to do that - - by adding a NCAA-quality basketball school. The AAC has the opportunity to bring one aboard... ...but no...!

.

With so many new and missing pieces, Cincinnati may need a year under their new coach before they'll be able to strive for a NCAA bid.

Temple's still at least a year away from developing NCAA tournament potential, if all of their top players return in 2022-23.

UCF just lost one of their key players to the transfer portal, another setback for them.

Tulsa seems to be "ever the bridesmaid;" never the bride.

SMU may be getting closer, but there are questions about whether their Head Coach can take them to the big dance.

Wichita's collapse at the end of the 2021-22 season raises questions about whether their Head Coach is ready to take them to the promised land.

.

Although Houston and Memphis appear to be on the right track, 2021-22 might be another somewhat frustrating season for the rest of the conference.

Things might improve by 2022-23, but a lot of things will have to go right (at Wichita State, Cincy, Temple, SMU, Tulsa, and UCF) for the conference to send more than 3 teams to the NCAA per season before 2024 or 2025.

--Even then, it's not clear if an 11-team AAC will ever be able to send more than 4 teams to the tournament.

.

WSU's collapse? I think they won 7 of their final 8 games.

(05-09-2021 03:20 AM)jedclampett Wrote:  

(05-08-2021 11:02 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  I agree with the writer (David Cobb).

The AAC continues to underperform in men's hoops and it's troubling. A few more mediocre seasons and the "major" designation (and, yes, I view the AAC as a major conference in men's basketball) will be gone. As a long-time Cincinnati fan and Memphis fan, that concerns me.

It's worth noting that, with the exceptions of Houston and Memphis (NIT Championship), the conference has gone through a hellacious time over the past two seasons:

- The Gregg Marshall calamity

- Mick Cronin's departure and 1st replacement coach calamity

- Temple had their first back-to-back losing seasons in 45 years

- UCF and USF have been unable to get back on track since 2018-2019

- Tulsa and SMU haven't made the NCAA since 2016/2017.

- In addition, despite Memphis' encouraging NIT Championship season, it's been 7 years since they've played in the NCAA.

.

This is what some would consider to be an example of "a perfect storm," when everything goes wrong or the bottom falls out at more or less the same time.

Even if these things hadn't happened, the AAC has never averaged more than 3 NCAA bids per season and has never sent 5 or more teams to the NCAA.

The American is a "Major 7" conference, but has rarely shown the potential to become a "Major 6" conference, and it isn't showing that potential now.

There only one way to do that - - by adding a NCAA-quality basketball school. The AAC has the opportunity to bring one aboard... ...but no...!

.

With so many new and missing pieces, Cincinnati may need a year under their new coach before they'll be able to strive for a NCAA bid.

Temple's still at least a year away from developing NCAA tournament potential, if all of their top players return in 2022-23.

UCF just lost one of their key players to the transfer portal, another setback for them.

Tulsa seems to be "ever the bridesmaid;" never the bride.

SMU may be getting closer, but there are questions about whether their Head Coach can take them to the big dance.

Wichita's collapse at the end of the 2021-22 season raises questions about whether their Head Coach is ready to take them to the promised land.

.

Although Houston and Memphis appear to be on the right track, 2021-22 might be another somewhat frustrating season for the rest of the conference.

Things might improve by 2022-23, but a lot of things will have to go right (at Wichita State, Cincy, Temple, SMU, Tulsa, and UCF) for the conference to send more than 3 teams to the NCAA per season before 2024 or 2025.

--Even then, it's not clear if an 11-team AAC will ever be able to send more than 4 teams to the tournament.

.

Good point , Jed, with your "perfect storm" assessment. And I would add the loss of UConn to the list of setbacks of the past two years. That hurt on many levels, and Penny Hardaway flat-out said as much (regardless of what some "good riddance, UConn" folks on this board contend).

Quite frankly, I foresee an 11-team American rarely getting more than three teams to the Big Dance. If the league stays at 11 and fails to see collective improvement, it could have more seasons with only two invites than three. And if the AAC averages only, say, 2.5 bids over the next five to eight seasons, its "major" designation will be in jeopardy.

There is no way to sugarcoat this.

I think its incredibly hard to argue that the loss of UConn did not negatively impact the perception and long term upside potential of AAC basketball. To me, its just as difficult to argue we dont need to replace the loss of a premium basketball program. Its pretty clear we do need to replace that quality. As we have seen, you cannot count on all of your top quality programs to be firing on all cylinders every single year. Thus, the deeper you are at the top---the more consistent the top will be at producing 3-4+ bid years for the conference. Furthermore, the deeper the top is---the more battle tested your top teams will be when it comes to making a run in the Big Dance.

We need to invite VCU. Frankly, such an invite would have absolutely no impact on anything else we do. We could still add another--or even multiple "all sports" members down the road if we think it adds value. The truth is, basketball scheduling is so flexible that adding VCU really has no impact on limiting our future moves. In the end---a conference never loses when it is adding to its top. It only loses when it either loses from its top or adds to its bottom.

(05-09-2021 01:35 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  I think its incredibly hard to argue that the loss of UConn did not negatively impact the perception and long term upside potential of AAC basketball. To me, its just as difficult to argue we dont need to replace the loss of a premium basketball program. Its pretty clear we do need to replace that quality. As we have seen, you cannot count on all of your top quality programs to be firing on all cylinders every single year. Thus, the deeper you are at the top---the more consistent the top will be at producing 3-4+ bid years for the conference. Furthermore, the deeper the top is---the more battle tested your top teams will be when it comes to making a run in the Big Dance.

We need to invite VCU. Frankly, such an invite would have absolutely no impact on anything else we do. We could still add another--or even multiple "all sports" members down the road if we think it adds value. The truth is, basketball scheduling is so flexible that adding VCU really has no impact on limiting our future moves. In the end---a conference never loses when it is adding to its top. It only loses when it either loses from its top or adds to its bottom.

You and I think alike, A-Coog. However, it seems the majority on this board (and the league office officials, university presidents and ADs) disagree.