AAC as a pretty good basketball league?

[StoneStFan]

Does anyone else think that the AAC could be shaping up as a pretty good baseball league? With Cincinnati, Houston, Wichita State, and a resurgent Memphis with Hardaway and UConn with Hurley?

 

[presskh]

Does anyone else think that the AAC could be shaping up as a pretty good baseball league? With Cincinnati, Houston, Wichita State, and a resurgent Memphis with Hardaway and UConn with Hurley?

Not sure about baseball but basketball - yes. I think you guys made a great hire in Hurley - a head coach who has proven he can build a team and win, even at a school without national name recognition. That’s my personal best indicator of a coach’s potential. Memphis is a bigger question. Penny is a pretty risky hire IMO - can probably initially get good players and bring fans back but it remains to be seen how well his high school and AAU coaching experience translates to the college game, plus his unknown ability to handle the other organizational and PR aspects of the job. I’m cautiously hopeful.

 

[willie99]

Yes

I'd throw in SMU, UCF and Temple as programs that can be good too. I expect the AAC to become 5+ bid conference per year, and if the football (conference) continues to play well and improve the money is going to flow

We need to start doing our part in both major sports, although we still are the only school to win National Championships representing the conference and have done such in multiple sports

 

[Mokum]

There are good teams, no question. But no rivalries. Conferences used to be regional. The traveling in the AAC is too much. I know fans in CT are not excited with playing ECU and some of these other schools. There is no way around it, regardless of how well some of the teams do.

 

[A10 fan]

There are good teams, no question. But no rivalries. Conferences used to be regional. The traveling in the AAC is too much. I know fans in CT are not excited with playing ECU and some of these other schools. There is no way around it, regardless of how well some of the teams do.

That's become the case in many of these leagues now. Hard to be worse than West Virginia. Creighton is another one. Would help if Temple could become what they were under Chaney again.

 

[Purple Stein]

Hard to get to excited yet when we can't get out of the first weekend of the tournament. But hopeful -- I would say I'm hopeful. It's in the air!

 

[Tex-Lager93]

Yes

I'd throw in SMU, UCF and Temple as programs that can be good too. I expect the AAC to become 5+ bid conference per year, and if the football (conference) continues to play well and improve the money is going to flow

We need to start doing our part in both major sports, although we still are the only school to win National Championships representing the conference and have done such in multiple sports

No doubt. It's a good league but could be much better if we would start pulling our weight. It feels like we've been a drag on the league rather than a positive force - although that is changing in football and now basketball.

 

[Kembacity]

Does anyone else think that the AAC could be shaping up as a pretty good baseball league? With Cincinnati, Houston, Wichita State, and a resurgent Memphis with Hardaway and UConn with Hurley?

The day after the Ollie news hit, when it suddenly seemed like our players would be sticking around before we even had a new coach in place, I started to get very optimistic about our future. That included the AAC even, sure I'd much rather be in the ACC or Big East, but if Wichita/Cinci stay sturdy, and we get back to where we belong, as well as Memphis and SMU being strong, then throw in a team like Houston or Temple and so on being a bubble team, this conference can absolutely be good enough for us to compete for titles.

I think it can be close to what we thought in our most optimistic days right after the NBE broke off when Lville and Rutgers were still around. It can be a good enough league where if we are battling for the title every year, we're a good team that is respected. We need to do our part and the league really wont hold us back.

Maybe a couple of top of the line 5 star kids will scoff at our recruiting because we aren't in the ACC, but most kids will be open to playing in our league and that's all that matters really to me

 

[SubbaBub]

This is not the year to discuss how great the AAC is. In facts no such year has ever been recorded.

 

[Dibbie]

Don't forget AAC also had the NCAA College Football National Champs, so we're on the rise!

 

[UConn990411]

This is not the year to discuss how great the AAC is. In facts no such year has ever been recorded.

Correction: the only such year was 2014.

 

[AdamaNation]

Can be elite. I think we need to ad some northern teams that are rising before the others take notice.

 

[HuskyBoi]

UCONN, Houston, Wichita State, Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU towards the top
Middle of the pack - UCF, Temple, Tulsa, Tulane
Bottom being ECU and USF

Conference is obviously stepping towards the right direction. We have a pretty good core. The first season I think we got like 4 teams in? I think if Memphis, UCONN of course, and SMU improve, we could be seeing at least 4 bids for years to come. This is why I jump with joy whenever an SMU or another team in our conference snags a top 100 recruit because it puts the conference on the map.

I think considering the fact that we have former C-USA teams in , it wouldn't hurt to contact middle tennessee and take out east carolina for GOD SAKE.

 

[whaler11]

You’d think at this point one would wait for the AAC to do ANYTHING before discussing it’s potential greatness but that doesn’t seem to faze many.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I think our ceiling is peak CUSA before all the good teams left

 

[AdamaNation]

UCONN, Houston, Wichita State, Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU towards the top
Middle of the pack - UCF, Temple, Tulsa, Tulane
Bottom being ECU and USF

Conference is obviously stepping towards the right direction. We have a pretty good core. The first season I think we got like 4 teams in? I think if Memphis, UCONN of course, and SMU improve, we could be seeing at least 4 bids for years to come. This is why I jump with joy whenever an SMU or another team in our conference snags a top 100 recruit because it puts the conference on the map.

I think considering the fact that we have former C-USA teams in , it wouldn't hurt to contact middle tennessee and take out east carolina for GOD SAKE.

Let’s see what Odom can do at ECU. There is a lot of talent in the Carolinas that wants to stay here and the school itself is growing due to its medical program. In fact the acc schools loathe the attention and money it receives and the football rivalries are huge. ECU can be big. But I’m with you on adding milddle Tennessee maybe plucking a vcu, a Dayton, an Illinois state, an Akron or Miami of Ohio, even yes, URI and UMESS( only if we can get some other teams) to add some local/ regional rivalries. This is only based on us being relegated to this purgatory of a conference of course. If so, I figure poach everything between the Mississippi River and I95 that for the taking.

 

[Horatio]

The AAC just needs its Blue Blood, 4 championship Juggernaut to rise to its feet again. That's all. Rise!!!!!! Rise!!!!!!

 

[tzznandrew]

You’d think at this point one would wait for the AAC to do ANYTHING before discussing it’s potential greatness but that doesn’t seem to faze many.

Greatness is not what we should be looking for. Competence should be it.

The best case scenario is a conference that is better than mid-2000s CUSA in part because it is a few schools smaller than mid-2000s CUSA, and will only have 2 schools at the absolute bottom of the RPI. They can get 4-6 teams in rather than the 2-3 once UConn and Memphis play.

But it won't be the league we had, nor will it be a league we care all that much about for basketball. But as long as we can make tournament runs out of the league, it is what it is for now.

 

[UConnSwag11]

You’d think at this point one would wait for the AAC to do ANYTHING before discussing it’s potential greatness but that doesn’t seem to faze many.

Winning OOC games against good teams is a start. Then winning a weekend in the NCAA tourney

 

[SubbaBub]

When this league is getting 5 bids and multiple teams in the second weekend you can unlock this thread. Until then you can mothball that talk.

Even when we turn it around that is no guarntee that WSU, Houston, or even Cincinnati will be any good.

That fact that we have not been competitive in league is the biggest reason Hurley is the new coach.

 

[Slasher]

Yes

I'd throw in SMU, UCF and Temple as programs that can be good too. I expect the AAC to become 5+ bid conference per year, and if the football (conference) continues to play well and improve the money is going to flow

We need to start doing our part in both major sports, although we still are the only school to win National Championships representing the conference and have done such in multiple sports

The league has only been around since 2014, how many national championships should they have? Or did you mean teams in the conference that have national titles? In that 2nd case, Cincinnati has two. But also Houston has two title game appearances, Memphis also has two, and Cincinnati has three.

 

[whaler11]

Winning OOC games against good teams is a start. Then winning a weekend in the NCAA tourney

One year where the league doesn’t embarrass itself would be a start.

 

[navery12]

One year where the league doesn’t embarrass itself would be a start.

 

[whaler11]

Obviously the conversation is about the non-UConn teams.

That UConn won with players recruited to a different league doesn’t really matter anyway.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I kind of love these threads.

Well, if UConn is back, then Memphis is back, Wichita State remains good, Temple returns, Cincinnati maintains success under Cronin, UCF is solid, SMU is alright, USF was ok that one time 7 years ago, and don't forget about Tulsa.

You realize, that some teams have to lose, right? As a 12 team league, it would be very difficult for all these teams to be that good. I think we saw it a few years ago, when the top 5 (or 4?) were ranked and then the bottom 5 were some of the dregs of the world.

The league can be what it is - the 6th/7th best hoop league in a good year.

UConn is never going to be what we were (impossible standards from Calhoun), but we can win in the AAC and make the tournament more often than not. It just not may be with 5 other league members.