Complete 2014-15 AAC NCAA Basketball Primer Heading into Conference Play

Last year's American Athletic Conference was among the most maligned leagues in the nation, a geographically disconnected collection of rentals, castaways, holdovers and teams that nobody else seemed to want.

Think the Island of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie if you'd like a holiday reference.

And then Shabazz Napier's UConn Huskies went on a magical run during March Madness, capping it off with a 60-54 victory over Kentucky to cut down the nets in Arlington as national champions.

Score one for the misfits.

Think that would buy you a little bit of respect?

Keep hoping.

The American enters its sophomore year with another crop of fresh faces and some departures, once again looking to prove it belongs in the national conversation.

Louisville and Rutgers were one-and-done, moving on to the ACC and Big Ten respectively, and Tulane, Tulsa and East Carolina have shuffled in from Conference USA to take those spots.

UConn has struggled to sustain its success after the departure of Napier to the NBA, SMU looks like a possible sleeper in March and the rest of the conference is wide open, even with Temple's recent resurgence.

Sounds likes fun, right?

Let's take a look as we head into conference play.

Nonconference Records

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SMU 10-3

Tulane 10-3

Temple 10-4

Memphis 8-4

Tulsa 8-5

Cincinnati 9-3

Houston 7-5

UCF 7-5

UConn 6-5

East Carolina 7-7

South Florida 6-8

Note: All records include one conference game per team.

Biggest Lessons Learned from Nonconference Play

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UConn Is a Ways Away

Napier almost single-handedly led the Huskies to an improbable national title last season, but this year’s team has a ton of work to do to even get back into the tournament.

Kevin Ollie still has American Conference Player of the Year contender Ryan Boatright along with big man Amida Brimah and stud freshman Daniel Hamilton, but a conference-opening loss at home to Temple showed how fragile the Huskies are when Boatright misses time.

SMU Learned Its Lesson

The Mustangs were a surprise snub on Selection Sunday last season, and most pointed to a pretty awful nonconference slate as the culprit. Larry Brown is a quick study, learning his lesson and scheduling road tilts at No. 7 Gonzaga, Indiana and Michigan along with a home game against Arkansas. SMU did lose three of those four, with the Michigan win carrying less value now, but you can’t blame it for trying.

Temple Is Back in the Mix

Fran Dunphy went 9-22 last season in Philadelphia, but his Owls have already eclipsed that win total just one game into conference play. This team was terrible a season ago, but it seems to have gotten its swagger back. An early-season win over Louisiana Tech looks nice. A 25-point throttling of No. 13 Kansas looks even nicer, especially when paired with a conference win over UConn in Hartford, where the Owls lost by 24 last season.

Cincinnati Can Be Dangerous If It Finds a Consistent Scorer

The Bearcats weren’t a terribly good offensive team last season, and that was before they lost over 31 points of production per game with the graduation of Sean Kilpatrick and Justin Jackson.

Replacing those points has been tricky for coach Mick Cronin, but his team still enters conference play with quality wins over then-No. 19 San Diego State and in Raleigh against NC State. It could be very dangerous if a consistent scorer steps up.

Top Storylines to Watch

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Can the American Remain a Four-Bid League?

The American sent UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis and Louisville to the Big Dance last season.

The defending national champions are a team in transition with a lot of work to do. Cincy isn’t a very good offensive squad that relies on low-scoring games and lacks a double-digit scorer. Memphis’ backcourt is trial-and-error after graduating four seniors, and the Cardinals have flown the coop. There’s some potential in this bunch, but a lot of things need to come together for the American to remain a four-bid league.

Will Boatright Be Enough for the Huskies?

Boatright is the veteran leader in Storrs these days as the only senior who logs significant minutes, and the Huskies simply cannot win without him. A left quad injury limited him to just 17 minutes and two points in a home loss to Temple. He’s upped his offensive numbers in every category, but somebody needs to step up and give him some help on a consistent basis.

Does Brown Return His Mustangs to the Promised Land?

Brown knows a thing or two about winning basketball games, and he has the horses—forgive the pun—to bring the Mustangs back to the NCAA tournament. The return of big man Markus Kennedy, who missed the first 10 games of the season due to academic issues but is now cleared, will give SMU back its solid inside-outside tandem with Nic Moore and should push it over the top.

Which Coach Faces the Most Pressure?

You can eliminate Ollie from this mix. The guy won a national title in the first year he coached an eligible team.

Ditto for Brown, who isn't going anywhere unless he chooses.

Babyfaced Josh Pastner has never finished a season at Memphis with less than 24 wins, but last year's team disappointed. He could face some pressure if his talented but inexperienced group doesn’t jell. And let's not forget that Kelvin Sampson, who left Indiana in the mud after breaking virtually every recruiting rule in the book, now patrols the sidelines in Houston.

What this conference may lack in star power on the court it more than makes up for on the sidelines.

Rivalry Games and Can’t-Miss Matchups

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Tulsa at Temple (Jan. 10)

The American was cobbled together out of the remnants of different conferences everywhere from Connecticut to Texas and lots of places in between. So the development of true rivalries is going to take some time. This one gives us a chance to really build on the natural Tulsa-Philly rivalry we’ve all been hoping for.

All jokes aside, the Golden Hurricane and Owls both figure into that mix of teams that could make noise in the American this year. This game is a good early-season chance for one of them to make a statement: the Owls against a tournament team from last season after knocking off the champs and the Golden Hurricane against a substantially improved foe in their new conference.

SMU at UConn (Mar. 1)

This one might well decide the regular-season champion in the American. Or it could be a matchup of one or two intriguing but disappointing clubs looking for another quality win heading into the conference tournament. Either way, matching up Brown against Ollie and Moore against Boatright is always going to be good theater.

Memphis at Cincinnati (Mar. 8)

Speaking of two teams in need of a quality win, both Memphis and Cincinnati figure to be right around the conversation for an NCAA tournament berth. The Tigers are the more talented group overall, but the Bearcats neither score nor give up many points. This has the feel of an old rivalry that could rekindle sooner rather than later. We're hoping sooner, since both teams will probably need the win.

UCF at South Florida (Feb. 11)

Let's be honest. Neither of these teams should be particularly good, and neither will be much of a factor late in the season. But as far as geography goes, the Knights and Bulls are one of only two in-state rivalries the American can claim. We should do our part to encourage the development of further hostilities between the two programs.

Freshmen to Watch

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Daniel Hamilton, UConn

Hamilton traveled a long way from home to sign with Ollie and the Huskies. The Los Angeles product was rated the No. 30 player on the ESPN 100, and he's had double-digit scoring in eight of UConn's 10 games, averaging 11.2 points and six boards over that span. He's played like a freshman at times, sure, but he looks to have the tools to be a big part of the Huskies' future.

Gary Clark, Cincinnati

The Bearcats desperately need a scorer, someone who can step up and help an offense that drops an anemic 63 points per game. Clark has helped in the early going, but he has the tools to become the type of big-time player who changes games. Already averaging over eight points and seven boards, Clark is comfortable shooting from the perimeter or with his back to the basket.

B.J. Taylor, UCF

Taylor is the Knights' leading scorer and tops among freshmen in the American to this point in the season. He's averaging 14.2 points per game and has been proficient from long range, knocking down 46 percent from behind the arc.

Top AAC POY Candidates

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Ryan Boatright, UConn

The graduation of Napier left Boatright with some pretty big shoes to fill, and he's done an admirable job as the man on his team. With the supporting cast still sorting itself out, the senior guard has drastically improved his offensive game—scoring 19.2 as opposed to 12.1 points per game last season—and consistency while on the floor.

He kept the Huskies close against No. 2 Duke, leading coach Mike Krzyzewski to comment, per Dom Amore: "Boatright is the best guard we've played against thus far." That's high praise, even though it'll likely change once ACC conference play begins.

Nic Moore, SMU

Moore nearly led the Mustangs to the dance last year, and you can bet he won't let a second opportunity slip away in his senior season in Dallas. His play should only be improved by the return of Kennedy to the frontcourt, giving the team a big-time inside threat to complement his ability to knock down shots from outside.

The four-year player is scoring a bit more than he did last year, the result of better shot selection, drilling nearly 51 percent from the floor and 46 percent from three. The latter is key for a player who came into the season with the highest three-point-shooting percentage among returning AAC players. 

AAC Favorite and Dark Horse

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Favorite: SMU

Give me the Mustangs for the win, especially with UConn struggling and the rest of the conference something of a mystery.

This wouldn't even be a question if Emmanuel Mudiay were in the fold. The point guard, the top-ranked recruit at his position coming into the season, ran into all sorts of eligibility drama and instead signed a one-year professional contract in China.

Still, Coach Brown's squad returns eight players who logged significant minutes on last year's should-have-been-tournament team. None is more important than Moore, who will have a big senior season and lead the Mustangs to the AAC crown.

Dark Horse: Tulsa

Let's go out on a little bit of a limb here.

Tulsa seems like an odd choice given it lost nonconference games at home to Oral Roberts and Division II Southeastern Oklahoma State—go Savage Storm—but it proved last season to be a better second-half team.

And maybe the Oral Roberts loss is good luck. The same thing happened last season, and Tulsa turned out just fine.

With Woodard and Harrison once again leading the attack, Tulsa should once again be a dangerous conference foe, but Rashad Smith could be the key. If he can round back into the scoring form he showed the past two years, the Golden Hurricane could be in the conference title mix.

Who Makes the NCAA Tournament?

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Shoo-In: SMU

SMU was snubbed on Selection Sunday last year and settled for runner-up to Minnesota in the NIT. It picked up quality nonconference wins over Wyoming and at Michigan, losing narrowly to Arkansas and in Bloomington to Indiana. It gets in by winning the conference.

Hopefuls: UConn, Memphis, Temple, Tulsa, Cincinnati

UConn has the talent, even without Napier, to get its act together in conference play and earn a chance to defend its crown. But it's not going to be easy, and someone needs to become a consistent secondary scoring option to take some pressure off Boatright.

Temple got off on the right foot by taking down the aforementioned Huskies on the road to open conference play. Combine that with wins over Louisiana Tech and a 25-point blowout of Kansas, and you have a genuine tournament contender.

Memphis' nonconference schedule left a lot to be desired, leaving a lot of work to do. Tulsa will need another strong second half, and while Cincinnati holds quality wins over then-No. 19 San Diego State and in Raleigh against NC State, it desperately needs to find a consistent scorer.

Long shots: Everyone Else

The rest of the conference is a mixed bag.

Literally.

Tulane showed some early-season promise, but it hasn't beaten anyone with a pulse and got demolished at St. John's. East Carolina is just happy to be here, Houston got pasted by Memphis to start Sampson's latest run and the two Florida teams are talented but not there yet.

Predicting the 2014-15 AAC Standings

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1. SMU

2. UConn

3. Memphis

4. Temple

5. Cincinnati

6. Tulsa

7. Houston

8. Tulane

9. East Carolina

10. UCF

11. South Florida