New article - a look at the AAC teams

[HuskyNan]

from CTBasketball

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Solid breakdown. Although anybody who's not a Uconn fan (and probably most actual Uconn fans) would say it's crazy to have Daniels as Preseason POY over Russ Smith and Napier.

 

[mcs333]

Agree. However as we saw late in the season, it is not a stretch for DD to be conf. POY. He surely has the ability. I doubt the coaches will vote him the pre season POY.

 

[freescooter]

This league is awful...worse than I thought, actually. but when you really read about the teams, and imagine it without Louisville, its just sad. When you are looking at SMU as one of your top teams, well it just says how bad thing are going to be. If we ever lose more than 3 league games in a season, UConn should just drop basketball and sell Gampel to the Pequots to convert into a giant slot machine...

 

[mauconnfan]

This league is awful...worse than I thought, actually. but when you really read about the teams, and imagine it without Louisville, its just sad. When you are looking at SMU as one of your top teams, well it just says how bad thing are going to be. If we ever lose more than 3 league games in a season, UConn should just drop basketball and sell Gampel to the Pequots to convert into a giant slot machine...

Why do you post? Why are you a fan.....better question, are you really??

 

[Kemba Time]

This league is awful...worse than I thought, actually. but when you really read about the teams, and imagine it without Louisville, its just sad. When you are looking at SMU as one of your top teams, well it just says how bad thing are going to be. If we ever lose more than 3 league games in a season, UConn should just drop basketball and sell Gampel to the Pequots to convert into a giant slot machine...

Sean Kilpatrick is one of the best college basketball players in America. And he's (rightfully) second-team all-conference in this league. Maybe the AAC is a tad better than you think.

 

[EricLA]

The hoops league looks better than I anticipated. But let's be honest - not anywhere near the Big East, and once L'ville and RU leave, it will be weaker. Still, might as well enjoy it while we are here. I certainly hope it's for a short duration, but I do think the hoops conference will be fun!

 

[freescooter]

Sean Kilpatrick is one of the best college basketball players in America. And he's (rightfully) second-team all-conference in this league. Maybe the AAC is a tad better than you think.

2013 RPI of AAC members
Louisville (leaving after this season)3-replaced by East Carolina 105
Memphis 14
Temple 41
UConn 49
Cincinnati 50
UCF 102
Rutgers 109(leaving after this season)replaced by Tulsa 139
USF 151
Houston 197
SMU 218
(Tulane-2014)179
Here are some teams with higher RPI than USF: Robert Morris, Wagner, Mount St Marys
Higher than Houston: Bryant, LIU, Quinpiac, Boston University, Hartford,
And SMU:Central Connecticut, Texas Southern, Yale, Army

Yeah, it isn't better than I think. Might even be worse...I realize that RPI can differ from year to year, but it seldom moves 50 places, so based on last year's final RPI, we only have 6 games against top 100 RPI assuming we play every one twice!

 

[SubbaBub]

Nope. It's just as I thought. 4 legit NCAA programs and a lot of flotsam.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[freescooter]

The hoops league looks better than I anticipated. But let's be honest - not anywhere near the Big East, and once L'ville and RU leave, it will be weaker. Still, might as well enjoy it while we are here. I certainly hope it's for a short duration, but I do think the hoops conference will be fun!

Seriously? I guess if you define "fun" as watching us kick the ever loving out of teams like Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, East Carolina...or watching them try and play against each other, then you're right. It will be like watching a perpetual Seton Hall-DePaul game...except those teams make up more than 50% of the league.

 

[EricLA]

Seriously? I guess if you define "fun" as watching us kick the ever loving out of teams like Houston, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa, East Carolina...or watching them try and play against each other, then you're right. It will be like watching a perpetual Seton Hall-DePaul game...except those teams make up more than 50% of the league.

Yes seriously. I suppose I could be all doom and gloom about it. Of course I don't want to stay in the new conference, but here we are. And yes, given how close in general MCBB games are from a competitive standpoint, I will seriously enjoy kicking the ever-lovin crap out of some of those other teams.

 

[CTGoonie]

"and once L'ville and RU leave, it will be weaker." RU leaving in basketball will improve the league.

 

[freescooter]

"and once L'ville and RU leave, it will be weaker." RU leaving in basketball will improve the league.

hard as it is to believe, and it is incredibly difficult, rutgers leaving makes th eleague weaker. consider that when you try and be all Rah Rah about this league. A program that last went to the NCAA tournament in 1991. And when they leave the league will get WORSE!

 

[Kemba Time]

Yeah, it isn't better than I think. Might even be worse...I realize that RPI can differ from year to year, but it seldom moves 50 places, so based on last year's final RPI, we only have 6 games against top 100 RPI assuming we play every one twice!

Using RPI as a be-all end-all is a mistake but since you insist on cherry pick stats, I can cherry pick too.

1. Griping about the bottom few teams in the conference is ridiculous. South Florida (except for 2011-12), Providence, DePaul and Rutgers all made habit of posting 150+ RPIs despite playing in a Big East conference where SOS made that almost impossible to pull off. Speaking of 2011-12: The Big East put nine teams in the Dance that year despite having four teams with RPI greater than 150. Do you ever recall the weak RPI of the bottom schools brought up against the strength of the conference, ever? Ever?

2. The AAC has five teams that had top-50 RPIs last year. Last year's ACC had 4 top-50 RPI teams, I don't recall it being denounced as a horrible basketball league last season. How does five top-50 RPI teams compare to some other power leagues? The Big 12, MWC had five. The Pac-12 had four. The SEC had three.

3. RPI's seldom change 50 spots in a year. Really? Top of mind: South Florida's fell from 51 to 151 last year. Kentucky's from 2 to 56. West Virginia's from 53 to 145. Baylor's from 9 to 67. Boise State's rose from 172 to 44. Miami's from 54 to 4. BC's from 243 to 112. Providence's from 155 to 89. Nova's from 117 to 51. And I can keep going with as many as you need to hear until you drop 'seldom' from your statement. And if we're betting on a school to move 50+ RPI spots, wouldn't the one Larry Brown took over, dropped almost the whole team and started bringing in his guys -- including a top-50 national recruit -- be at the top of that list?

Listen, if you want to compare the AAC to the prime years of the Big East, it's no comparison. But compare it to a major conference in a normal year and it stacks right up. Sounds to me like it's a tad better than you think.

 

[CTGoonie]

hard as it is to believe, and it is incredibly difficult, rutgers leaving makes th eleague weaker. consider that when you try and be all Rah Rah about this league. A program that last went to the NCAA tournament in 1991. And when they leave the league will get WORSE!

Nah. Addition by subtraction. The new AAC bottom-feeders will improve over time. Rutgers has proven that they cannot improve in basketball. Like Uconn did in the BE it will make these other programs better.