Adding Wichita State means the AAC must now be counted as a 'Major 7' conference

[HooperScooper]

If there was doubt about the American before, there can't be any longer. Not with Cincinnati (a top-25 all-time program) having its strongest team since the peak Huggins years, not with UConn (more titles since 1999 than any other school) ready to pounce back, not with SMU charging for a fifth consecutive 25-win season. Houston, UCF and Temple all will be above, on or near the bubble this season, and Memphis (traditionally/historically one of the three best programs in the conference) won't stay down for too long. The American has never finished better than seventh in KenPom's conference rankings, but this should be the year it breaks through that wall.

Adding Wichita State means the AAC must now be counted as a 'Major 7' conference

 

[DonaldDraper]

I like that the AAC has its PR team pitching stories to major CBB outlets like CBS. CBS needs more programs to boost CBB ratings across the board so it makes sense they would bite on the article.

I’d love it to actually be the case but they are going to need multiple teams going deep in the tourney to actually accomplish this. Preseason expectations don’t legitimize anything as we’ve witnessed over a couple years (with both high and low expectations). Would be super fun to have the AAC to beat up on a bunch of NBE teams this year.

 

[BUConn10]

UConn winning a title in AAC = G5 conference

New product being marketed WSU joining the AAC before a single game is played = P7 conference

Oh how the tides rise and fall.

 

[auror]

Basketball writers just want to coin a new term because they're tired of using football's Power 5 moniker.

Let's not let them see the bottom few teams in our conference.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Hopefully the resuscitation of AAC basketball will not be too late for our program
The killing of interest in B.B. in CT was criminal and as we see unnecessary. In the real world paradigms constantly change minimizing the negatives is key to survival.

.

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

The only way the AAC can be considered as a "Major 7" conference is if it performs in the NCAA tournament.
We need to get 4-5 bids, and have multiple teams make deep runs. Preferably UConn be one of those teams.

 

[Confident Carl]

It might also be that it's hard to call the current Big East a Power conference due to football. Regardless adding WSU was great move and heightened AAC status.

 

[HuskyHawk]

They have been using the P6, to include the Big East with the other P5 for basketball. We're making the argument that the AAC is the seventh member of that club now. We haven't been, since year 1, when UConn won a title and we still had Louisville. With WSU replacing Louisville, and SMU, Houston and UCF improving from where they were when the league started, I think it's a fair case. Now we need to live up to it. Like it our not, the main problem the league had had is that three of the four strongest programs, UConn, Memphis and Temple, haven't lived up to their historical capability.

We want the league to be good, it starts with UConn being much better.

 

[Paesano]

They have been using the P6, to include the Big East with the other P5 for basketball. We're making the argument that the AAC is the seventh member of that club now. We haven't been, since year 1, when UConn won a title and we still had Louisville. With WSU replacing Louisville, and SMU, Houston and UCF improving from where they were when the league started, I think it's a fair case. Now we need to live up to it. Like it our not, the main problem the league had had is that three of the four strongest programs, UConn, Memphis and Temple, haven't lived up to their historical capability.

We want the league to be good, it starts with UConn being much better.

It is sad that Wichita State has to be the face of the conference we reside in. I guess they can do that because the depth of their current senior class was not limited by a lack of recruiting contact when the kids were freshman in high school 7 years ago.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It is sad that Wichita State has to be the face of the conference we reside in. I guess they can do that because the depth of their current senior class was not limited by a lack of recruiting contact when the kids were freshman in high school 7 years ago.

I'm tired of that lame argument. They are good. They've been good through multiple classes of kids. We have failed to live up to our standards, and that is not because of those APR sanctions. Other programs have gone through much worse and have thrived. Our problems are self inflicted.