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Official: AAC Tournament Thread - SMU vs. UCONN (The Ship)Moderators: PonyPride, SmooPower Official: AAC Tournament Thread - SMU vs. UCONN (The Ship)LEAVE NO DOUBT
Last edited by Harry0569 on Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:19 am, edited 4 times in total.
"smupony94: Harry, you have been promoted to purveyor of official status capabilities."
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Threadhttp://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketba ... conference
SMU ended the season atop the American Athletic Conference, like many thought it would, but the route to first place was anything but a smooth ride. It started back in August when prized recruit Emmanuel Mudiay, rated No. 5 in the class of 2014 by Recruiting Nation, decided to play professionally in China amid possible eligibility questions. Junior forward Markus Kennedy, who might be considered the heart of the team, missed the first 10 games of the season for academic reasons. As Kennedy returned to the lineup, Joshua Martin, a graduate transfer from Xavier, had played just 10 games before deciding to turn pro in January. The hits kept coming as third-year assistant coach and top recruiter Ulric Maligi cited personal reasons and took an indefinite leave of absence. Coach Larry Brown's first big signing in former McDonald's All-American Keith Frazier was ruled ineligible and he lost his appeal to be reinstated. And after all that, the month of January ended for SMU by getting a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA that hinted of academic improprieties. Despite everything that has gone wrong off the court, Brown guided SMU to its first regular-season conference title since it was in the now-defunct Southwest Conference 22 years ago. The Mustangs are also set for their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1993. Cincinnati faced its own adversity when head coach Mick Cronin had to leave the sidelines on Dec. 20 for medical reasons. Associate head coach Larry Davis has piloted the Bearcats since and led them to big wins against San Diego State, NC State and the season sweep of SMU. What's at stake? The league hopes to squeeze four teams into the NCAA tournament, but a lot will hinge on how the conference tournament plays out. The format is slightly different from last season as Tulsa, East Carolina and Tulane replaced Louisville and Rutgers in the league, bringing its total to 11 teams. The top three seeds -- SMU, Tulsa and Cincinnati -- each earned byes into the quarterfinals. The teams seeded sixth through 11th all play in the first round. SMU and Cincinnati are likely the only two who could firmly make the field regardless of what happens in Hartford, Connecticut. Temple might be in the NCAA tournament field right now on the strength of its win against Kansas. But that likely won't save the Owls if they have an early exit against No. 5 seed Memphis in the quarterfinals. The two teams played a nailbiter in their only regular-season meeting with Josh Brown's game-winning jumper with 2.4 seconds left capping off a 16-point comeback in the Owls' 61-60 win in Memphis. Right now would be a good time to remind everyone about Connecticut. The defending national champions finished tied for fifth with Memphis and take the sixth seed into the league tournament. Considering the event will take place in Hartford -- their second home court -- might factor in the Huskies' favor. UConn just took down SMU 81-73 in the XL Center on March 1 and posted a 4-1 record against conference foes in the building. The only loss the Huskies suffered there was a 57-53 overtime decision to Temple. And as we witnessed last season, UConn knows how to come alive during the postseason and guard Ryan Boatright will try to emulate Shabazz Napier and Kemba Walker before him. Team with the most to gain Tulsa finished second in the league standings yet might find itself being surpassed by teams that finished behind it in Cincinnati and Temple for at-large NCAA tournament bids. The Golden Hurricane still are paying for a pair of bad non-conference losses to Oral Roberts and Southeast Oklahoma State. And paying for the fact their most impressive non-conference wins were over Creighton and Auburn. At one point in the season, Tulsa sat with a 5-5 record, but coach Frank Haith didn't lose his team. Tulsa went on a 12-game win streak that included a 10-0 start in the American, positioning it as a potential tournament team. Junior guard Shaquille Harrison is the type of player who can help elevate the Golden Hurricane in the postseason and they're going to need it. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Tulsa among the first four out in his latest Bracketology post, which means winning one game in the league tournament probably won't be enough. In fact, depending on upsets in other conferences, advancing to the tournament finals might not be enough either. Tulsa has to play out the American like their postseason depends on it. "smupony94: Harry, you have been promoted to purveyor of official status capabilities."
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Thread"smupony94: Harry, you have been promoted to purveyor of official status capabilities."
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Threadhttps://sports.yahoo.com/news/forde-min ... ncaab.html
Last week, The Minutes started previewing the conference tournaments that will help fill the bracket for the NCAA tournament. This week, we finish the job: American Athletic (8). When: March 12-15. Where: Hartford, Conn. Top seed: SMU. Dark horse: Connecticut. Shabazz Napier isn’t walking through that door, but the memory of last year's NCAA tournament is hard to shake. And there are players who had key roles on that team still in uniform. The Huskies haven’t won four straight all season, which is what it would take to win this tourney. But they have won three in a row four times, and each of those streaks featured one big win: Dayton in the first, Cincinnati in the second, Tulsa in the third and SMU in the fourth. Don’t count out the champs yet. Team that needs to prove something to the selection committee: Temple. Owls are right on the brink, still trying to ride that 25-point victory over Kansas in December into the Big Dance. Two victories here may put them on the right side of the bubble – but the second one likely would have to be over regular-season champion SMU, and the Mustangs have handled Temple twice already. Team that needs to prove something to its own fans: Memphis (9). There has rarely been anything for Tigers fans to get excited about this season – 13 losses, a No. 5 seed and no shot at an NCAA at-large bid certainly don’t move the needle. It would take a lot to spin this year into a positive, but this is the last chance to do it. Team most likely to bring fans: UConn. Tournament is in the Huskies’ backyard of Hartford, and they have a large and vocal following. Team least likely to bring fans: Houston. Cougars can’t get many to come to their home gym, much less make the 1,700-mile trip to the northeast. Coach who wins tournaments: Kevin Ollie, UConn. Has won his last six postseason games. Coach who doesn’t: Jeff Lebo, East Carolina. This is his 17th season as a college head coach. Zero NCAA tournament bids. Minutes pick: UConn. Huskies are the No. 6 seed, but they’ve done more improbable things within the last year, right? They’ll have a homecourt advantage and a player capable of dominating games in point guard Ryan Boatright. In a tournament that looks fairly wide open, those are reasons enough to go with the Huskies. "smupony94: Harry, you have been promoted to purveyor of official status capabilities."
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Thread
^This!
Re: Official: AAC Tournament ThreadWhich teams win round 1?
I am going with UCF, Houston, UConn.
Re: Official: AAC Tournament ThreadHang another banner!!
"[College] referees couldn't manage a White Castle." -Mark Cuban
Re: Official: AAC Tournament ThreadDoes anyone have a consistent stream they use to watch games on their computers? I need one that will not be blocked on my work computer so I can watch in my office Friday mornjng. Thanks
SMU Class of 2014
Re: Official: AAC Tournament ThreadIs ESPN blocked?
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Thread
Thats tough buddy.I'm lucky that my boss is a Pony.
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Threadhttp://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog ... ican_log51
MU and Cincinnati are safely in the field, but Temple is teetering on the edge, perhaps needing an opening-game win over Memphis (or more) to feel safe. And Tulsa’s got some work to do. The Golden Hurricane finished second in the conference on the strength of an unlikely 10-0 start in AAC play. Among those wins was a close call on the road against lowly UCF and an overtime win at home against a USF team that has a 1-in-23,426 chance of winning this tournament. So Frank Haith’s team has been able to produce quite a few more wins than the ability of the team would suggest. But they also lost to the Savage Storm of Southeast Oklahoma State, a Division-II school. It’s easily the worst loss for any team under consideration for the tournament. However, this loss is not included in RPI data and nobody seems to know how this loss will be subjectively accounted for by committee members. It seems like something we should have nailed down by now. If Tulsa goes dancing, they either ran the table in Hartford this week or the committee didn’t consider the loss in the same way they’ll consider Stanford’s loss at RPI #178 DePaul. A loss that’s not nearly as bad what Tulsa suffered losing at home to a D-II team. American Athletic Conference All-kenpom.com: Ryan Boatright, UConn (kPOY); Will Cummings, Temple; Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati; Shaquille Harrison, Tulsa; Nic Moore, SMU. March 12-15 at UConn. Qtrs Semis Final Champ 1 SMU 100 92.5 62.3 36.8 6 UConn 94.1 51.4 37.0 20.2 3 Cincinnati 100 48.2 32.8 16.5 4 Temple 100 63.0 25.6 11.8 2 Tulsa 100 81.3 28.0 10.4 5 Memphis 100 37.0 11.0 3.7 8 E. Carolina 62.2 5.4 0.9 0.1 7 Tulane 47.6 8.5 0.9 0.1 10 Houston 52.4 10.2 1.2 0.2 9 UCF 37.8 2.1 0.2 0.02 11 S. Florida 5.9 0.4 0.07 0.004 "smupony94: Harry, you have been promoted to purveyor of official status capabilities."
Re: Official: AAC Tournament ThreadWell you can certainly see the result of home court advantage in that last bit...
Texas bites. Baylor sucks. As it was in the beginning, is now, and evermore shall be. Amen.
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Threadhttp://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports. ... on-awards/
The American is as down this season as the league is ever going to be. UConn and Memphis are both NIT-bound, barring a miracle run through the conference tournament. Temple is good, but they'd be headed to the NIT if they didn’t happen to catch fire against Kansas on a night the Jayhawks were struggling. Cincinnati overachieved this year, especially considering what happened with Mick Cronin. It certainly didn't help matters that SMU spent the first half of the season without Markus Kennedy, the second half of the season without Justin Martin or Keith Frazier, and the entire season without Emmanuel Mudiay. Think about it like this: the Player of the Year in the American wasn't even supposed to be the starting point guard on his team this season. That’s why a team like Tulsa, in their first season in the American, was able to sneak in and play for a league title. That said, those struggles should mean that the conference tournament is going to have some weird things happen. When: March 12-15 Where: Hartford, CT Final: March 15, 3:15 p.m. (ESPN) Favorite: SMU The Mustangs are, quite simply, the best team in the conference, and I’m not convinced that it is all that close. They have the league’s best point guard in Nic Moore and a front line anchored by the likes of Markus Kennedy, Yannick Moreira and Ben Moore. They’re tough, they defend and they execute offensively. There’s a reason Larry Brown is a legend. And if they lose?: Temple I'm not quite sure what to make of the Owls at this point, but in talking to people around the conference, many seem to be in agreement that Temple is as good as anyone in the league … when they're at 100 percent. Well, guess what? They're at 100 percent. Other Contenders: Cincinnati: The fact that the Bearcats are headed for the NCAA tournament with head coach Mick Cronin out of commission is incredibly impressive. They have issues scoring the ball, but they can be a nightmare to try and run offense against. Tulsa: There’s a reason that Tulsa finished second in the conference this season, but there’s also a reason that they're still on the NCAA tournament bubble. This group can beat teams, but most of their damage in the league this season came against the AAC’s bottom-feeders. They'll ride Shaquille Harrison and Jordan Woodard as far as possible. Sleeper: UConn Let’s go beyond the fact that the Huskies have built a name for themselves as a tournament team the last few years, or that Ryan Boatright is the most talented player in the conference and surrounded by two potential stars — Daniel Hamilton and Rodney Purvis — who are coming into their own. This event will take place in Hartford and will be packed with UConn fans. They’re home games. Can the Huskies capitalize? American Player of the Year: Nic Moore, SMU Moore wasn't even supposed to be the starting point guard for the Mustangs this season. He was recruited over, relegated to playing off the ball with the addition of Emmanuel Mudiay. But with Mudiay heading to China, and the academic issues that forced Markus Kennedy, Keith Frazier and Justin Martin to miss time, Moore was this team’s rock, the reason they won the conference title. American Coach of the Year: Frank Haith, Tulsa Who had the Golden Hurricane playing for the outright American title on the final day of the regular season? Anyone? Bueller? Haith gets his fair share of criticism as a coach — some fair, some not — but there’s no denying the job that he did with this team in their first season in the conference. First Team All-AAC: Moore Ryan Boatright, UConn: The Huskies did not have a great deal of success this season, but it wasn't because Boatright didn't put up big numbers. He’s not Shabazz Napier, but he’s still a terrific talent. Austin Nichols, Memphis: Nichols battled an ankle injury for much of the last month of the season, but he was the Tigers’ best player and arguably the best defender in the league. James Woodard, Tulsa: Woodward was the leader for the Golden Hurricane as they surprised everyone and finished second in the conference in the regular season. Will Cummings, Temple: The Owls were one of the league’s biggest surprises, and Cummings was a major reason why. Second Team All-AAC: Markus Kennedy, SMU Shaquille Harrison, Tulsa Daniel Hamilton, UConn Octavious Ellis, Cincinnati Louis Dabney, Tulane Defining moment of the season: Emmanuel Mudiay's trip to China With Emmanuel Mudiay, SMU had a chance to be a legitimate Final Four contender. With their front line and a back court featuring Nic Moore and Mudiay, Larry Brown would have been in his element. As it turned out, Moore won Player of the Year and SMU won the league, but they're ceiling as a team was greatly reduced. CBT Prediction: UConn makes an improbable run through the tournament and wins the automatic bid by beating SMU.
Re: Official: AAC Tournament Threadtime is NOW to play the rest of this season like you are DONE with your next loss. Win the AAC Tourney and I think we could earn a 5 seed
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