Jon Rothstein on the AAC and UConn | The Boneyard

Jon Rothstein on the AAC and UConn

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Damn, I was hoping people wouldn't notice UConn and not put them in the top 25. Nothing earth shattering here but hey, it's the offseason so any little nugget out there I'll read.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...bryant-the-key-to-indianas-national-relevance

3. The AAC seems primed for a breakthrough season: This league has received one fewer NCAA Tournament spot than deserved the past two seasons, but that's likely to change in 2016. The American boasts four teams -- SMU, UConn, Cincinnati and Memphis -- that could spend time in the Top 25, and Tulsa and Temple return significant players from NIT teams. The main difference is the bottom of the league has caught up to the middle. Houston looks like a legitimate sleeper by adding former Purdue guard Ronnie Johnson and former Oregon wing Damyean Dotson. South Florida has retooled with transfers Roddy Peters (Maryland) and Angel Nunez (Gonzaga). After looking like the old Big East's leftovers upon formation, the American appears to have an identity. Garnering little national respect for two seasons, this conference is now on par with the Big East and likely better than the Atlantic 10 in terms of 2016 NCAA Tournament bid consideration.
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Not many teams have improved more during the spring recruiting period than UConn. The Huskies lost their best player (Ryan Boatright), but added two impact transfers who are immediately eligible: Sterling Gibbs (Seton Hall) and Shonn Miller (Cornell). The Huskies have gone from a team filled with questions to likely starting next season ranked in the Top 20 of every national poll.
 

ctchamps

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And better than the SEC and most likely better than the PAC and on par with the B!G which is why the B!G will want to change things by taking UConn!
 

Stainmaster

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How I thought this thread would read:

"Palpable buzz surrounding the American Athletic Conference."

"So much Metro Conference in the AAC..."

"(insert crummy directional school here) is primed for a bounceback year. Can (insert crummy coach here) lead them to an NIT berth? Not out of the question."

"Can someone please pass the meatballs? I hear they're off the charts..."
 
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This league has received one fewer NCAA Tournament spot than deserved the past two seasons, but that's likely to change in 2016.
I get the gripe from our perspective, but let's be real about this and look at it from a larger perspective, and our perspective as if we were looking at these teams as if we were already in the ACC/B1G. We'd be laughing at a statement like this. Without UConn, what has any AAC team done in the last 15 years (hint; outside Cal-era Memphis, nothing since Temple in 2001 and Tulsa in 2000)? So what has the league (outside UConn) done to deserve more respect and increased/better seeding?

Cincinnati, Southern Methodist, and Memphis would be battling it out for best in this conference without UConn. We say that the conference doesn't get respect; but we're really just talking in UConn's interest.
 
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I wouldn't go as far as to say the AAC is on par with the Big East, but I agree with his overall point.
 
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I'd take our top 5 over theirs any day of the week. The bottom of the Big East is better, tho - no question about that.

I'm not so sure. I'm extremely high on both Villanova and Georgetown this season - it wouldn't a surprise to me if they were in the conversation for the title hunt (and then those conversations will stop after the third or fourth day of the tournament, but you get the point). The amount of talent those schools are returning coupled with what they are bringing in make them as qualified as just about anybody to be ranked in the top ten at the beginning of the year in my opinion.

Butler and Xavier both return significant pieces from quality clubs a year ago, especially Butler. And Providence - though it seems like they'll need help fielding a team - still returns who I would argue to be the preseason favorite for the Wooden award in Kris Dunn. If kids like Bentil, Lindsey, and Cartwright can make the normal freshman to sophomore progressions, I suspect they'll be a tough out.

As for the AAC, I'm really high on UConn, Cincinnati, and SMU. With the former two, I still question whether they'll have enough scoring, and with the latter, enough size. Of the three, I'm probably most sold on UConn - on paper, they pass all the preliminary tests that they'll have to answer to, and paper is all we have right now.

Tulsa should dance, but when you watch them play, their ceiling is just so low that it isn't hard to envision teams jumping them in what I project to be a difficult bubble. Memphis is still coached by Josh Pastner - with him, my hope is he'll eventually establish himself as an early-season warrior, ala Rick Barnes, and gain some points for the conference before regressing to form during the gauntlet of conference play.

You probably weren't expecting a five paragraph reply, but I spend way too much thinking about these things, and after deliberation I view the top half of the respective conferences as roughly even.
 
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And better than the SEC and most likely better than the PAC and on par with the B!G
Who here would ever had thought the day would come that this statement would be posted here and be legitimate?
 

AtlHusky

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I get the gripe from our perspective, but let's be real about this and look at it from a larger perspective, and our perspective as if we were looking at these teams as if we were already in the ACC/B1G. We'd be laughing at a statement like this. Without UConn, what has any AAC team done in the last 15 years (hint; outside Cal-era Memphis, nothing since Temple in 2001 and Tulsa in 2000)? So what has the league (outside UConn) done to deserve more respect and increased/better seeding?

Cincinnati, Southern Methodist, and Memphis would be battling it out for best in this conference without UConn. We say that the conference doesn't get respect; but we're really just talking in UConn's interest.

An AAC rep on the selection committee may have made the difference the last two years...and it doesn't look like we have one for '16 either.

edit: The link is to a list of the '15 committee members. I'm not sure how much it will change, but it normally does year to year.
 
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Fishy

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An AAC rep on the selection committee may have made the difference the last two years...and it doesn't look like we have one for '16 either.

edit: The link is to a list of the '15 committee members. I'm not sure how much it will change, but it normally does year to year.


The AAC will not have a rep on the committee next year.

Joe Castiglione, from Oklahoma, will chair it.

The SEC, the Big 10, CUSA, the Big East, the Big 12, the Pac 12, the CAA, the Big South, the Mountain West and the West Coast Conference will be represented.

Expect very little change in how the conference is treated.
 

WestHartHusk

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I don't get this. Aren't we the actual Big East conference, which happened to sell its name? How is the new conference (BE) getting representation when the existing conference (AAC) doesn't?
 

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I don't get this. Aren't we the actual Big East conference, which happened to sell its name? How is the new conference (BE) getting representation when the existing conference (AAC) doesn't?

Look at who's in this conference vs. theirs.

As great as the old-time basketball tradition possessed by schools like UCF and ECU is, I don't think it compares to the public's perception of Villanova and Georgetown.
 

junglehusky

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How I thought this thread would read:

"Palpable buzz surrounding the American Athletic Conference."

"So much Metro Conference in the AAC..."

"(insert crummy directional school here) is primed for a bounceback year. Can (insert crummy coach here) lead them to an NIT berth? Not out of the question."

"Can someone please pass the meatballs? I hear they're off the charts..."
Death. Taxes. Unoriginal cut-and-paste Rothstein tweet.
 
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These last two years the AAC has been snubbed without a doubt, but I expect this year to be different. If UConn, SMU and Cincy don't make the tournament something has gone seriously wrong (important injury or another major factor). Additionally, Memphis and Tulsa both have very solid rosters that should consistently compete, and I expect 1 or both to get a bid. The key will be having big non conference wins. I would really like to see 2-3 AAC teams in the sweet sixteen and I truly believe that is decent possibility.
 
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The NBE has had 1 S16 team in 2 years. That conference is average at best.

The Big 12 hasn't accomplished much in the tournament the past two years, but I don't consider that to be an average conference. The tournament is meaningful, but also fickle, especially when you're assessing an entire conference of teams.
 

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The Big 12 hasn't accomplished much in the tournament the past two years, but I don't consider that to be an average conference. The tournament is meaningful, but also fickle, especially when you're assessing an entire conference of teams.

The B12's deal is that everyone beats each other up during the regular season. Aside from TCU and Texas Tech, pretty much every team in that league can run with each other. With so many hard-fought, evenly-matched games, they wear each other down come tourney time. It makes for great regular season ball to watch on TV though.
 
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The B12's deal is that everyone beats each other up during the regular season. Aside from TCU and Texas Tech, pretty much every team in that league can run with each other. With so many hard-fought, evenly-matched games, they wear each other down come tourney time. It makes for great regular season ball to watch on TV though.
Is that why the old Big East teams never got very far?

Not buying that argument.
 
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The B12's deal is that everyone beats each other up during the regular season. Aside from TCU and Texas Tech, pretty much every team in that league can run with each other. With so many hard-fought, evenly-matched games, they wear each other down come tourney time. It makes for great regular season ball to watch on TV though.

The Big East could just as easily make the same argument. In either case, it makes no sense at all.
 
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The Big 12 hasn't accomplished much in the tournament the past two years, but I don't consider that to be an average conference. The tournament is meaningful, but also fickle, especially when you're assessing an entire conference of teams.
The Big12 has had 4 times as many S16 in that time span
 

CTBasketball

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The AAC will not have a rep on the committee next year.

Joe Castiglione, from Oklahoma, will chair it.

The SEC, the Big 10, CUSA, the Big East, the Big 12, the Pac 12, the CAA, the Big South, the Mountain West and the West Coast Conference will be represented.

Expect very little change in how the conference is treated.
This is all that matters. Expect 1-3 teams who are under seeded.
 
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