The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Young AAC off to slow start
American Athletic Conference kicks off play in down year
Last year, the American Athletic Conference sent four of its 11 teams to the NCAA tournament. And it might have been five had SMU been postseason-eligible (though it’s a good bet Tulsa would have been nudged out, in that case).
This year, the AAC appears to be on a bit of a downturn.
The league currently has just one team in the AP Top 25 (Cincinnati, at No. 23). It also has just one team among the top 25 in RPI (Temple, at 25; Cincy is next, at 31). As things stand right now, the AAC would be a two-bid league, according to Jerry Palm at CBSsports.com.
There are reasons for the league’s slow start. The AAC is one of the youngest conferences in the nation, based on percentage of returning possession-minutes. With only 47.7 percent of possession minutes back, the AAC ranks 31st among 32 conferences.
No doubt, the league lost some top players from a year ago to graduation, early departure, transfer, etc.: two-time player of the year Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy of SMU, UConn’s Daniel Hamilton, Memphis’s Shaq Goodwin, Temple’s Quenton DeCosey and just about the entire roster of Tulsa.
Still, it feels like some of these teams should be better. Most notably, of course, UConn.
We all know the Huskies are injury-ravaged, but that wasn’t an excuse when they lost their first two games of the season, at home, to Wagner and Northeastern. With an RPI of 166 and not a whole lot more chances to significantly up that number, it’s not too early to suggest that UConn’s only chance at an NCAA tourney bid will be winning the league tournament. Which, of course, will be held in
Hartford.
As league play kicks off in earnest on Wednesday (SMU and Memphis got things started on Tuesday night), here’s a look at where the American is right now, and what we might expect moving forward.
BEST PLAYER
Dedric Lawson was the preseason co-player of the year, along with Cincinnati’s Troy Caupain, and Lawson has pretty much been in a zone of his own so far. The sophomore forward from Memphis leads the conference in scoring (21.3 points per game), is second in rebounding (11.3) and blocks (2.6) and first in offensive boards (3.9). He’s already notched 10 double-doubles this season. RUNNER-UP >> One broadcaster who’s called a good deal of AAC games so far says that SMU’s Semi Ojeleye has been the best player he’s seen in the league. The 6-foot-8 Duke transfer, who sat out last season, is averaging 18.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
While Lawson has lived up to his billing, Cincinnati’s Troy Caupain has gotten off to a curiously slow start. He’s averaging 10.3 points and shooting just 41.4 percent from the floor, 23.8 percent from 3-point land and a mere 60.7 percent from the foul line. He did hit a put-back in the waning seconds of overtime to give the Bearcats a win over Marshall in their last game on Dec. 22, so perhaps that jump-starts his season a bit.
MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM
Kind of a no-brainer, right?
MOST EMBARRASSING PROGRAM
Believe it or not, it’s not 3-9 Tulane, though Mike Dunleavy, Sr. is in for a long first year of coaching at the collegiate level. No, it’s South Florida, which has now parted ways with its three top scorers from last year’s 8-25 team. Chris Perry and Roddy Peters were dismissed last April for repeated violations of school policy. Now, Jahmal McMurray, an all-AAC rookie team pick last season after averaging 15.2 points per game, is transferring after playing just three games. He was suspended for the Bulls’ first six games for – you guessed it – a violation of school policy. Oh, and assistant coach Oliver Antigua – brother of head coach Orlando Antigua – resigned in July in the midst of an ongoing probe into potential academic fraud. Is this Rutgers South, or what?
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
A little over a year ago, Tacko Fall was little more than a 7-foot-6 curiosity with NCAA eligibility concerns. He’s now easily the best big man in the AAC. Fall leads the league in rebounding (12.3 per game) and field goal percentage (83.8 percent, on pace to break the NCAA record) and is second to Amida Brimah in blocks at 2.6. He’s also averaging 15.9 points, despite playing less than 28 minutes per game.
BEST COACH
Can we just rename the league’s coach of the year award after Temple’s Fran Dunphy? Dunphy, who’s won the award the past two seasons, could well be in the running again. Despite losing their top two players to graduation, the Owls are 9-4 with wins over a pair of Top 25 teams (West Virginia and Florida State).
BEST FRESHMAN
Although he played 10 games last season, K.J. Lawson (Dedric’s older brother) got a medical redshirt and is still considered a freshman. He’s among the league’s top scorers (15.0) and rebounders (8.9).The top true freshman has been Temple’s Quinton Rose.
ALL-CONFERENCE
FIRST TEAM Dedric Lawson, Memphis Semi Ojeleye, SMU Tacko Fall, UCF Kyle Washington, Cincinnati Damyean Dotson, Houston SECOND TEAM Rob Gray, Houston Jalen Adams, UConn Obi Enechionyia, Temple Jacob Evans, Cincinnati K.J. Lawson, Memphis