AAC looking like a one-bid league

STORRS — Might the American Athletic Conference be only a one-bid league?

It certainly looks that way.

Only UConn is currently ranked in either the Associated Press or Coaches Polls. A lack of quality wins has caused the conference’s RPI to fall all the way down to No. 9, behind the Missouri Valley and Ivy League.

Barring a surprise, it’ll be putting UConn, and only UConn (20-2), in the NCAA tournament next month.

“The problem we’ve had in this league is they don’t win enough non-conference games,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Every game you lose in the conference is doubly bad. Usually, if you win enough non-conference games, losing to a team in your conference doesn’t hurt you.”

If UConn wins out — and that’s a big if, considering they’re at No. 1 South Carolina on Monday — a No. 1 seed is a possibility. Everyone else is just teetering along. At 56, UCF has the second-best RPI among AAC teams. Next up are South Florida (66), Temple (72) and Cincinnati (84). Tulane, despite being second in the conference standings at 12-11 and 7-3, is all the way down at 145.

So far, the league’s best win is undoubtedly UConn over DePaul. Four others own non-conference top-50 wins: UCF (Central Michigan-18), South Florida (Texas-31), Wichita State and Houston (both Oklahoma-38). Nobody besides UConn has beaten a team that’s currently ranked.

“If you took us out of this league right now, over the past seven years, it’s a very competitive league among themselves,” said Auriemma, whose program is 130-0 all-time in AAC play, but will rejoin the Big East next season. “But you’ve got to do better nonconference. That’s where your reputation is made.”

Last year, the AAC placed two teams in the tournament, with UCF grabbing one of the final at-large bids to join UConn. But ESPN’s latest projection has only UConn in the field of 64.

Auriemma’s solution? Schedule up.

“Who you play really

matters,” he said. “Who you lose to really matters. That goes for our league. That goes for any league.” UConn drops a spot: Despite its 18-point loss to Oregon, UConn extended its streak of top-5 appearances, falling to No. 5 in the AP poll. The Huskies have been in the top-5 for 253 straight weeks.

South Carolina (27 firstplace votes), Baylor (three first-place votes) and Oregon remained in the top three spots. North Carolina State jumped to fourth, earning its highest ranking in 20 years.

Mississippi State, UCLA, Stanford, Louisville and Maryland rounded out the top-10.

Qualifying complete for Team USA: The U.S. women’s national team survived a scare to beat Nigeria 76-71 in its final game at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Sunday in Serbia. Team USA finished 3-0 and will now set its sights on the Summer Games in Tokyo.

Team USA was down 63-55 with 7:22 left, but used a 15-5 run to pull ahead by two. Nigeria then tied it at 70 before a A’ja Wilson bucket gave the Americans a 72-70 lead with 1:06 remaining.

Brittney Griner finished with a game-high 18 points. Chelsea Gray scored 12, Nneka Ogwumike added 11 and Katie Lou Samuelson chipped in 10 for the Americans (17-1), who were without Breanna Stewart due to a leg contusion.

With the qualifying tournament over, the field for the Olympics is now set: Japan (host), USA, Canada, China, France, Nigeria, Australia, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Serbia, South Korea and Spain.

Cards lose two: Louisville lost to both Florida State and Syracuse this week, causing the Cardinals to drop four spots to No. 9 in the poll. The Cardinals were notably without sophomore Elizabeth Balogun, who was playing for the Nigerian national team. The Georgia Tech transfer has made 21 starts and is averaging 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Willie J. Allen Jr. / Associated Press Central Florida coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson yells at her players during the first half of a game against UConn in Orlando, Fla., in January.