Men's basketball picked second in AAC

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Picked To Finish Second In The American Athletic Conference
Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy Named Unanimous All-Conference Selections

Oct. 29, 2014

NEW YORK (SMU/The American) - The SMU men's basketball team was picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference's preseason coaches' poll, the league announce today. Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy were tabbed as unanimous all-conference first team selections.

Defending NCAA champion Connecticut was picked to win the conference. The Huskies had six first-place votes while the Mustangs garnered five. Rounding out the top five are Memphis, Cincinnati and Tulsa.

Moore was named first team all-conference last season after averaging team bests in scoring (13.4) and assists (4.9). Kennedy earned second-team honors in 2013-14 after leading SMU in rebounding (7.1) and finishing second in scoring (12.4).

SMU enters its third season under Head Coach Larry Brown at No. 22 in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll. (The AP poll is announced Oct. 31.) The Mustangs have 10 returnees following a 27-10 campaign that ended in the 2014 NIT championship game.

Last season, SMU was in the top 25 in four of the last five regular season polls, being ranked for the first time since 1984-85. The Mustangs finished tied for third in the inaugural season of The American, going 12-6 with two wins over Connecticut, as well as victories against Memphis and Cincinnati. SMU went 18-1 at home last season while establishing a new season home attendance record of 107,412. The Mustangs had the fourth-largest increase in NCAA men's basketball in attendance 2013-14 and rank second nationally in increased attendance since 2012. The Mustangs have already sold out season tickets for the entire 2014-15 season.

SMU opens the season against Lamar in Moody Coliseum on Friday, Nov. 14 at 8:30 p.m. CT.

2014-15 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
Rank Team (First-Place Votes) Points
1. Connecticut (6) 96
2. SMU (5) 94
3. Memphis 82
4. Cincinnati 71
5. Tulsa 62
6. Temple 59
7. Houston 39
8. South Florida 32
9. Central Florida 26
10. East Carolina 24
11. Tulane 20

2014-15 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON INDIVIDUAL HONORS
Preseason Player of the Year
Ryan Boatright, G, Sr., Connecticut

Preseason Rookie of the Year
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, Fr., Connecticut

Preseason All-Conference Teams
First Team
Ryan Boatright, G, Connecticut *
Shaq Goodwin, F, Memphis
Austin Nichols, F, Memphis
Nic Moore, G, SMU *
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU *
James Woodard, G, Tulsa

Second Team
Amida Brimah, C, Connecticut
Anthony Collins, G, USF
Chris Perry, F, USF
Will Cummings, G, Temple
Quenton DeCosey, G, Temple
* unanimous selection

[ojaipony]

Interesting that both the conference and SMU is putting MK in press releases knowing he is not yet eligible. I guess as long as he's not INeligible. But if he's not eligible, isn't he INeligible by default/definition? I think I just confused myself.

[sadderbudweiser]

Two out of the three unanimous selections….nice.

[Big12Mustang]

By 2 points. Our flogging of UConn this year will be by more than that!

[Pony ^]

we might as well write off MK at this point