Impromptu Rothstein AAC Twitter Preview

[GAlawyer]

Also @GAlawyer: Atlanta!

Yes! Born and raised in CT and a UConn law grad. Happily lurking silently on the BoneYard since my move to Atlanta in 2009.

 

[CL82]

So what is Rothstein basing this on? Has he gone to a summer practice? This is probably just off of twitter and press. Shows the importance of media accessibility.

FWIW, the timing of this list doesn't hurt us for recruiting either.

 

[andy34]

Rob Gray is an idiot but still wildly underrated. Houston doesn't lose Gray and finish 3rd. Sorry.

Agreed. Gray won them games all by himself, a pure college scoring guard. Extremely hard to replace that skillset.

 

[Guapo]

A lot of ifs. Biggest impact would be Carlton breaking out and giving us an inside presence. We need rebounding and scoring from the front court to make our guards more effective and Carlton could be the player to do it.

I think what he was saying is "if Rothstein thinks we have all these players; why does he have us 6th in the power rankings?"

 

[Horatio]

Alterique Gilbert is the true impact freshman in the AAC. No ones even close.

 

[UconnU]

Alterique Gilbert is the true impact freshman in the AAC. No ones even close.

3rd year in a row.

 

[WrenchFan69]

I think the AAC is going to have it's deepest year yet. 8 teams that should be postseason bound. Hopefully it doesn't cannibalize itself too bad.

 

[intlzncster]

Alterique Gilbert is the true impact freshman in the AAC. No ones even close.

I agree, but technically he's a RS sophomore at this point. He could apply for a 6th year of eligibility when he becomes a senior in 3 years time.

 

[intlzncster]

I think the AAC is going to have it's deepest year yet. 8 teams that should be postseason bound. Hopefully it doesn't cannibalize itself too bad.

Dunno about that. Supposed to be a pretty down year overall. They might be balanced, but they don't compare to the other leagues. I'm thinking they'll be fortunate to get 3 in the dance.

 

[BFieldHusky]

A lot of ifs. Biggest impact would be Carlton breaking out and giving us an inside presence. We need rebounding and scoring from the front court to make our guards more effective and Carlton could be the player to do it.

Agreed but for every team in the top 8-9 there are a lot of big ifs. Which makes the conference wide open. One thing we have going is we return a lot to a league that lost a lot of good players last year.

1. UCF. How will falls and Dawkins be coming off big injuries? BJ taylor also has also had trouble staying healthy in his career.

2. Cincy. Lost their 3 best players. How does Cumberland go from being their 4th option to the man?

3. Houston. Lost their 2 best players, including the best player in the conference and someone who won a NCAA game by himself.

4. SMU. Lost a 1st round talent and a lot of questions about the coach. How does foster do after tearing his acl.

5. Temple. Reminds me a lot of uconn. Lot of talent but very inconsistent.

6. UConn. New coach. A lot of talent but how quickly does it come together.

7. Witchia State. Lot of talent and great coach but replacing the whole roster in a sense.

8. Memphis. New unproven game coach with a ton of talent but trying to mesh the upperclassmen with the new regime.

9. Tulsa. Returns a lot from a team that was Top 4 in the conference next year.

 

[Danzz]

Yakwe may surprise us there's too much there watching his freshman year video. I guess I have faith in Hurley and his ways to find the inner-Yakwe. Carltons potential is really good but I need to see a major improvement in the feet and a little more lift, not a lot. He will never be a leaper or explosive but he can still be an impact kid nonetheless.

As you said ifs galore. Whaley, Cobb too.

Cobb could be interesting. He has lost weight and looks to be in better shape. The talent is there if he can get his brain and feet to work together.
It will be interesting to see what Hurley can do with this group. Hurley is focused on toughness and that was something we lacked last year. I hope it all translates into better rebounding.

 

[JMick]

I think the AAC is going to have it's deepest year yet. 8 teams that should be postseason bound. Hopefully it doesn't cannibalize itself too bad.

Well that would be nice but I'm pretty confident in saying this is the weakest the conference has been since it's inception, at least on paper.

 

[BigEastLuva]

Hurley runs a guard-oriented offense. Adams and Vital are high usage guards who rarely pass inside unless defenses truly break down. These guards probably still don’t trust the frontcourt players. Don’t expect many plays to run through Carlton. Especially with Adams and Vital both trying to get to the league next year. X-factor this season is chemistry.

 

[Guapo]

Well that would be nice but I'm pretty confident in saying this is the weakest the conference has been since it's inception, at least on paper.

#power6#theconferenceisimproving

 

[Candyman]

UConn is a sleeper in the AAC .....I know I know we are on the way up from rock bottom but still hurts to read that.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

BJ Taylor has to be like 40

 

[pj]

UConn is a sleeper in the AAC .....I know I know we are on the way up from rock bottom but still hurts to read that.

He put UConn 6th because we were 8th last year. Then he looked at the predictions and said, "Who's most likely to embarrass me out of this list?" Obviously, UConn. Don't know why he didn't put us 3rd at least, with the addition of Alterique and Sid, the maturation of the young forwards, and the change to Hurley we should take a big leap.

 

[Sphinx]

There would have to be a special category for Alterique, perhaps "Player under the MRI most likely to graduate to under the radar."

 

[champs99and04]

Well that would be nice but I'm pretty confident in saying this is the weakest the conference has been since it's inception, at least on paper.

I think people forget how bad the league was post Louisville and pre Wichita State. Tulsa finished second in the conference at 14-4 in 2015 and didn't come close to the tournament. Temple won the league outright at 14-4 in 2016 and barely got in. Houston is a combined 38-16 over the past three years with one tournament appearance to show for it. Memphis has ranked 85th, 75th, 101st, and 161st on KenPom over the past four years yet nearly bulldozed their way to an automatic bid one of those times. UConn has an average KenPom rank of 93.5 over that span yet is somehow 8-3 in the conference tournament with three appearances in the semi-finals and two in the finals.

Tulsa is a good litmus test for the league. When they're 8th or 9th, and Temple, UConn, and Memphis are near the top, the league is probably in decent health. When they're second or third with Frank Haith and a bunch of JuCo guys, your league probably sucks.

It looks unlikely that the league will be as good at the top as it was last year, but I see eight teams that should qualify for the NIT or better. From a numbers standpoint, that might be preferable to some of the top-heavy models we've seen in the past. From a ticket sales perspective, maybe not, but we played a solid home slate last year and nobody gave a damn because we sucked. With Hurley on board, the people will show up so long as they win.

 

[Austin316]

 

[BFieldHusky]

I think people forget how bad the league was post Louisville and pre Wichita State. Tulsa finished second in the conference at 14-4 in 2015 and didn't come close to the tournament. Temple won the league outright at 14-4 in 2016 and barely got in. Houston is a combined 38-16 over the past three years with one tournament appearance to show for it. Memphis has ranked 85th, 75th, 101st, and 161st on KenPom over the past four years yet nearly bulldozed their way to an automatic bid one of those times. UConn has an average KenPom rank of 93.5 over that span yet is somehow 8-3 in the conference tournament with three appearances in the semi-finals and two in the finals.

Tulsa is a good litmus test for the league. When they're 8th or 9th, and Temple, UConn, and Memphis are near the top, the league is probably in decent health. When they're second or third with Frank Haith and a bunch of JuCo guys, your league probably sucks.

It looks unlikely that the league will be as good at the top as it was last year, but I see eight teams that should qualify for the NIT or better. From a numbers standpoint, that might be preferable to some of the top-heavy models we've seen in the past. From a ticket sales perspective, maybe not, but we played a solid home slate last year and nobody gave a damn because we sucked. With Hurley on board, the people will show up so long as they win.

Good post.

 

[UConnStats]

Rose from Temple will be first team all conference. Kid is too good.

He’s posted a 98 Offensive Rating his first two years. He’s not a great passer and turnover prone. Good defender, but still has a lot of room to improve offensively.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think the AAC is going to have it's deepest year yet. 8 teams that should be postseason bound. Hopefully it doesn't cannibalize itself too bad.

We will know if that’s true by Dec 31
If these alleged deep teams hold their own in early season OCS . and there are 6-8 in the top 50-60
Then your assertion could be correct even with 0 top ten teams.
“The Proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I think Temple will be better than expected.

*They return their top two scorers with Rose and Alston
* Pierre-Louis, Moorman II and Perry had solid freshman years, especially Moorman II looking better in the 2nd half
* Freshman Parks is a big boy who helps replace Enechionyia. Add senior Aflakpui too to the frontcourt mix too.
* Sophomores Damion Moore and Alani Moore II finished the year on the downswing, but still provide depth to the squad.
* In 2019-2020 wing James Scott (17.3 PPG for Kennesaw State last season) will be eligible, so good news for sustaining success onto next year.

Their squad will look something like. Not bad depth at all:

4: Arashma Parks (6'9 232 FR) JP Mooreman II (6'7 205 SO),
3: Quinton Rose (6'8 185 JR), De'Vonte Perry (6'6 220 SO)
5: Aflakupi (6'10 240 SR), Damion Moore (6'11 225 JR)
2: Nate Pierre-Louis (6'4 200 SO)
1: Shizz Alston (6'4 180 SR), Alani Moore II (5'10 170 JR), Quentin Jackson (6'3 175 FR)

Gotta root for Dunphy with it being his last year coaching. Always respected him and always respected the Temple program. They'll be an AAC team I'll be rooting for when they aren't playing UConn.