The AAC is a VERY good conference.

[UofMemphis]

This conference is so much fun...Louisville, Cincy, UConn, Memphis and SMU all NCAA locks at this point...the Fightin' Larry Brown's are a very good basketball team.

With all the hemming and hawing, this has become a most impressive conference.

 

[Jaker]

wish the Cards were not leaving

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

No it's not. It has some good teams at the top but the bottom is very bad. Unfortunately, the only decent team our huskies can beat is your Tigers. That's very discouraging. Nobody wants to be in the conference and were 9-5 with cinci and l ville still to play. Not too good

 

[kobe]

With this loss, Connecticut is almost assuredly locked into the 4/5 game in the conference tournament. They are now 2 games back of SMU and 3 games back of UC/UofL.
-----------------------

To answer the OP's statement, no this isn't a VERY good conference. There are 5 pretty good teams, but to be honest I only see Louisville as a legitimate threat to get to the Final 4 and they are leaving next year. It is an OKAY league that will be worse next year.

 

[UofMemphis]

No it's not. It has some good teams at the top but the bottom is very bad. Unfortunately, the only decent team our huskies can beat is your Tigers. That's very discouraging. Nobody wants to be in the conference and were 9-5 with cinci and l ville still to play. Not too good

"Never mind that this conference has five top-25 caliber teams, It's terrible. Don't worry about the AAC potentially having two top-10 teams tomorrow, it means nothing. The bottom half of this conference is horrible, that's why Houston beat us"

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

"Never mind that this conference has five top-25 caliber teams, It's terrible. Don't worry about the AAC potentially having two top-10 teams tomorrow, it means nothing. The bottom half of this conference is horrible, that's why Houston beat us"

soooo the top is pretty good. Bottom half is terrible Top goes 40-3 or whatever against the bottom half making them appear slightly better than they are. The league isn't terrible but it certainly isn't VERY GOOD either. No great team. Cinci and l ville are top 15. Memphis smu and uconn are 20-25 but probably wouldn't be if the bottom wasn't so terrible. The rest of the league is awful. Overall it's an ok league Better than expected but as a uconn fan, I'm pretty disappointed to be 9-5.

 

[UofMemphis]

Louisville and Cincy are both top-10 teams...easy.

 

[metsfan2323]

The league will be better and more competitive next year top to bottom. SMU, UCONN, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, Tulsa and Houston should all have good teams.

The people who predicted this league would be weak could not be more wrong, it is so weak we are stuck in 5th place.

 

[UC990411]

Maybe compared to where you come from, for us this is awful. Thanks though.

 

[metsfan2323]

Maybe compared to where you come from, for us this is awful. Thanks though.

In the pre-season rankings next year we will at best be predicted 3rd, behind SMU and Memphis and maybe even Cincinnati.

 

[upstater]

UConn missed a bunch of open 3s.

 

[Fishy]

From our perspective, the AAC is a trailer park in tornado alley.

It really is an unpleasant assortment of schools.

 

[Durks07]

The league will be better and more competitive next year top to bottom. SMU, UCONN, Cincy, Memphis, Temple, Tulsa and Houston should all have good teams.

The people who predicted this league would be weak could not be more wrong, it is so weak we are stuck in 5th place.

This league is weak. I don't think there is a particularly strong argument to the contrary. The AAC is the 8th rated conference in the country despite having 5 teams in/around the top 25. By contrast, the A10 has 1 ranked team and is 7th. Being in 5th place (4th by default with one of the viable teams leaving) in this isolated year does not mean that the league is good. I have to see a level of sustained success from SMU before I can believe that they are a viable long-term team. Even then, those are only 4 teams you can project to be probably tournament teams in a given season. However, the rest of the league is a big problem.

The splits between the quality of teams is stark: 5 teams in the top 50 of the RPI and 5 between 150-200. That is not going to get markedly better when you replace Louisville (35) with Tulane (192), Tulsa (136), and East Carolina (194). Well, at least trading Rutgers (193) mitigates some of the damage. The conference is replacing one of the 5 viable teams it has with liquid garbage. Is the 9th best team in this league receiving an invite to the NCAA tournament? Once upon a time, that was a birthright of the conference we played in.

 

[amory]

I'm impressed with SMU rising to the occasion to make this league more than just us, Memphis, Cincy and a lame duck Louisville team. I think some of the other schools will eventually follow suit. Coming from the former Big East, no, this isn't anywhere close. But it's the best place to be stuck basketball-wise if you can't be in a P5 conference.

 

[metsfan2323]

This league is weak. I don't think there is a particularly strong argument to the contrary. The AAC is the 8th rated conference in the country despite having 5 teams in/around the top 25. By contrast, the A10 has 1 ranked team and is 7th. Being in 5th place (4th by default with one of the viable teams leaving) in this isolated year does not mean that the league is good. I have to see a level of sustained success from SMU before I can believe that they are a viable long-term team. Even then, those are only 4 teams you can project to be probably tournament teams in a given season. However, the rest of the league is a big problem.

The splits between the quality of teams is stark: 5 teams in the top 50 of the RPI and 5 between 150-200. That is not going to get markedly better when you replace Louisville (35) with Tulane (192), Tulsa (136), and East Carolina (194). Well, at least trading Rutgers (193) mitigates some of the damage. The conference is replacing one of the 5 viable teams it has with liquid garbage. Is the 9th best team in this league receiving an invite to the NCAA tournament? Once upon a time, that was a birthright of the conference we played in.

Spoiled UCONN fans with short memories and tiny perspectives.

There have been many years when the ACC only received 4 bids, and before the Big East expanded to 16 members 5 bids out of the Big East was typical.

Ranking on the AAC when we are in 5th place even though we have a 1st team all american on our team and a coach the NBA is hot for seems petty.

Today I read in the boneyard that the AAC is a trailer park of schools. Nice. I guess Fishy should change his screen name to Enos.

 

[UofMemphis]

This league is weak. I don't think there is a particularly strong argument to the contrary. The AAC is the 8th rated conference in the country despite having 5 teams in/around the top 25. By contrast, the A10 has 1 ranked team and is 7th. Being in 5th place (4th by default with one of the viable teams leaving) in this isolated year does not mean that the league is good. I have to see a level of sustained success from SMU before I can believe that they are a viable long-term team. Even then, those are only 4 teams you can project to be probably tournament teams in a given season. However, the rest of the league is a big problem.

The splits between the quality of teams is stark: 5 teams in the top 50 of the RPI and 5 between 150-200. That is not going to get markedly better when you replace Louisville (35) with Tulane (192), Tulsa (136), and East Carolina (194). Well, at least trading Rutgers (193) mitigates some of the damage. The conference is replacing one of the 5 viable teams it has with liquid garbage. Is the 9th best team in this league receiving an invite to the NCAA tournament? Once upon a time, that was a birthright of the conference we played in.

The RPI is a tool, not the gospel...and I love how you assume Temple stays down.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

Spoiled UCONN fans with short memories and tiny perspectives.

There have been many years when the ACC only received 4 bids, and before the Big East expanded to 16 members 5 bids out of the Big East was typical.

Ranking on the AAC when we are in 5th place even though we have a 1st team all american on our team and a coach the NBA is hot for seems petty.

Today I read in the boneyard that the AAC is a trailer park of schools. Nice. I guess Fishy should change his screen name to Enos.

Even when the ACC is down, they at least have legit D1 programs at the bottom. As mediocre (or terrible) as BC Nc st Clemson va tech, wake etc can be, at least they represent legitimate athletic programs. The bottom of the AAC is a joke. Anybody who says otherwise is in denial or is delusional.

 

[UofMemphis]

"The bottom of the AAC is a joke. Anybody who says otherwise is in denial or is delusional."

So UConn didn't lose to Houston?

 

[TRest]

"The bottom of the AAC is a joke. Anybody who says otherwise is in denial or is delusional."

So UConn didn't lose to Houston?

That doesn't mean Houston is good, now or long term. When the ACC would get 4 teams in the dance, there would be a few more at least on the bubble. Our conference junior varsity is really weak.

 

[dante]

The bottom is bad but unlike what the acc where it was duke and unc, or the pac 10 where it was just arizona and ucla or the big 12 where it pretty much it was kansas or the sec where it was kentucky and florida the american has depth at the top. Next year SMU is going be the favorite to win, I dont think Cincy is going be as good as they are this year Memphis is going loose 4 senior guards, Temple should be improved and while we loose bazz the team should be more talented then this year I'm actually looking forward to battling these teams because these are our training buddies to get us ready for the big tournament

 

[Durks07]

Spoiled UCONN fans with short memories and tiny perspectives.

There have been many years when the ACC only received 4 bids, and before the Big East expanded to 16 members 5 bids out of the Big East was typical.

Ranking on the AAC when we are in 5th place even though we have a 1st team all american on our team and a coach the NBA is hot for seems petty.

Today I read in the boneyard that the AAC is a trailer park of schools. Nice. I guess Fishy should change his screen name to Enos.

If pointing out that the conference has five teams that are ranked or near that line but the conference doesn't unquestionably surpass the Atlantic 10, which has one ranked team is petty than call me petty. While the RPI is not gospel [to borrow a phrase] it is still hard to imagine how that might occur in normal circumstances. Ignore that aside from those four other teams at the top that the others are bad. Ignore that the AAC is trading

I wonder, out of curiosity, do you see the irony in saying that someone has a tiny perspective when you are basing your assessment for the strength of the league going forward on the standings after only five months of its existence? Is it a broad or tiny perspective to note that losing Louisville hurts this league and eliminates two games against a perennially good program, and that while Temple probably bounces back, they the league is still deprived of that? Especially, when 6 games against Tulane, East Carolina (two teams that are below .500 over the past five years in Conference USA), and Tulsa (probably somewhat better than they are this year) may help with the win percentages for the better teams early on, but that they are historically weak programs that hurt the RPI and hurt tourney seedings? Or is that not broad enough?

 

[dante]

Why do you guys worry about the bottom? Let the bottom worry about themselves we should worry about the top because thats who we competing against because like Ollie said we want to compete for championships and even if those bottom teams drop our rpi and whatever at the end of the day we're still UConn and we still are able to beat the Michigan STs and the Floridas even with our depleted roster.

 

[UofMemphis]

Coming from CUSA, 5 teams out of 10 are NCAA locks...the other 5 are quality teams like Temple and Rutgers...not one member has an RPI over 200.

Perspective.

 

[Fishy]

Spoiled UCONN fans with short memories and tiny perspectives.

There have been many years when the ACC only received 4 bids, and before the Big East expanded to 16 members 5 bids out of the Big East was typical.

Ranking on the AAC when we are in 5th place even though we have a 1st team all american on our team and a coach the NBA is hot for seems petty.

Today I read in the boneyard that the AAC is a trailer park of schools. Nice. I guess Fishy should change his screen name to Enos.

We don't have short memories - we're just smarter than you are.

It's a bad league - slathering whatever brand of false hope you'd like on it doesn't change a blessed thing.

There's a reason none of these schools could get the Big East to answer the phone.

 

[metsfan2323]

If pointing out that the conference has five teams that are ranked or near that line but the conference doesn't unquestionably surpass the Atlantic 10, which has one ranked team is petty than call me petty. While the RPI is not gospel [to borrow a phrase] it is still hard to imagine how that might occur in normal circumstances. Ignore that aside from those four other teams at the top that the others are bad. Ignore that the AAC is trading

I wonder, out of curiosity, do you see the irony in saying that someone has a tiny perspective when you are basing your assessment for the strength of the league going forward on the standings after only five months of its existence? Is it a broad or tiny perspective to note that losing Louisville hurts this league and eliminates two games against a perennially good program, and that while Temple probably bounces back, they the league is still deprived of that? Especially, when 6 games against Tulane, East Carolina (two teams that are below .500 over the past five years in Conference USA), and Tulsa (probably somewhat better than they are this year) may help with the win percentages for the better teams early on, but that they are historically weak programs that hurt the RPI and hurt tourney seedings? Or is that not broad enough?

If I said two years ago that in our first season the AAC we would lose to Houston once and SMU twice I would be mocked. Are you really confident that playing at East Carolina or Tulsa next year in sold out arenas will be an easy game because I am not. Each of those teams has used their invite to the AAC as an opportunity to improve their programs (just like SMU), they each have young rosters and no seniors of importance.

You are failing to understand that the CUSA schools are upgrading, they will get better and so will the league, SMU will not be an anomaly.

The bottom of our league right now includes Temple, Rutgers, and South Florida, that's two Big East schools and the best A10 school. They are hurting this conference right now more than the CUSA schools.