The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies picked to finish 6th in AAC
PHILADELPHIA — Coaches in the American Athletic Conference aren’t expecting too much from UConn in its final goround through the league.
The Huskies were picked to finish sixth in their final season in the American Athletic Conference in the preseason coaches poll released Monday morning at the league’s annual media day.
“That’s for them to predict, I’m not here for predictions,” said senior guard Christian Vital. “I’m just here to talk on behalf of the team, and to get back to Storrs and make sure the team is ready for the season.”
Vital and junior guard Alterique Gilbert were selected to the AAC’s preseason second team.
Head coach Dan Hurley wasn’t surprised to be picked in the middle of the pack in the 12team league.
“We went 612 last year in the league, we lost Jalen Adams, who was clearly our best player,” the secondyear Huskies’ coach noted. “We return a number of veterans, but we had one player on the allconference team last year at season’s end, and he graduated.”
Still, Hurley isn’t overly concerned by it all.
“I don’t think any of it means anything,” he added. “Preseason awards, allconference, player of the year mean nothing.”
In fact, Hurley said he’s been “too busy recruiting, trying to get better” to worry about preseason predictions. He said he took about five minutes to fill out his own coaches’ ballot. His choice to win the league? Houston, followed by Memphis and Cincinnati (or possibly vice versa ... he couldn’t recall).
Houston and Memphis were picked to finish tied for first place in the league standings with 113 points apiece. Houston had more firstplace votes (seven) than Memphis (four), which features the topranked recruiting class in the country, including potential 2020 No. 1 overall draft pick James Wiseman.
Cincinnati, which earned the only other firstplace vote, was picked to finish third, followed by Wichita State, USF, UConn, Temple, SMU, UCF, Tulsa, ECU and Tulane.
Cincinnati’s Jarron Cumberland was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year. Cumberland won the award last season. Wiseman was selected as the Preseason Rookie of the Year.
The AAC preseason First Team picks were Cumberland (unanimous), Wiseman, Temple’s Quinton Rose, Houston’s DeJon Jarreau and USF’s Laquincy Rideau. Selected to the Second Team were Gilbert, Vital, USF’s Alexis Yetna, ECU’s Jayden Gardner, Temple’s Nate PierreLouis and USF’s David Collins.
UConn has never finished higher in the final league standings than its preseason selection by the league’s coaches.
VITAL SEASON
While Vital may not be in the prediction business, he is determined to get the Huskies to the NCAA tournament before he graduates in the spring. No UConn player has gone four seasons without even reaching the postseason since 1987.
“That’s definitely the reason why I came to UConn. I don’t plan on leaving without experiencing that,” he said. “You see all those banners, four national championships, all the lottery picks, all the AllAmericans. As being a guy who’s been here for four years and been somewhat productive, that’s the next step you try to get to in your career. You try to be mentioned with Kemba, Shabazz, Ray Allen. That’s a hell of a list to be a part of, but your goal has to be to try to be a part of that. I’m trying to work on my habits every day. Hopefully, we can win as a team, and maybe it’ll lead to that individual stuff.”
PRECIOUS MISS
Precious Achiuwa is one of Memphis’s heralded freshmen. The 6foot9 forward attended St. Benedict’s Prep in New Jersey, where Hurley served as head coach over a decade ago and turned it into a national powerhouse prep program.
Hurley made Achiuwa one of his most coveted recruits last year, but quickly realized it probably wasn’t going to work out
“I don’t think that we ever felt that we were in a very good position with him,” Hurley said. “Maybe early on, when we first arrived. But we felt that was going in a different direction fairly early, which is why we pivoted more towards Akok (Akok), even in the summer. Because in our opinion, they were both fourmen.”
Said Achiuwa: “They came to see me a couple of times at school, but (choosing Memphis) was a family decision.”
GEORGIA ON THEIR MINDS
Firstyear Tulane coach Ron Hunter recruited Gilbert when Hunter was head coach at Georgia State. His assistant for one season was Sharman White, who was Gilbert’s high school coach.
“He’s a great kid, he really is,” Hunter said of Gilbert. “I remember him when he was a freshman (in high school). Terrific player. I know he’s been slowed by injury, but just a tremendous player — but a better kid. I wish him all the success, except for when he has to play that team in New Orleans.”