The AAC is a VERY good conference.

[Strummer]

I guess I'm just a make-the-best-of-it kind of guy.

Too much ACC envy, couched in bashing, and outright AAC hate for my taste.

We're here. It's home for now, and maybe for some time. The Big East is dead. Let's get on with it.

 

[Jluc]

Screw this league. As Uconn fans we are used to 10 teams competing for an NCAA tourney bid from our conference and a great matchup every game no matter who we are playing. It's just not the same anymore and it really sucks.

 

[metsfan2323]

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

Right, the C7 feared inviting them would mean being pushed farther down the conference standings, Villanova blocked Temple, USF blocked UCF, people thought Memphis was a dirty program, Texas was too far away, and going past 16 schools would be unwieldy.

 

[Goat]

Conference realignment is horrible because it is about more than the merits of the programs. Somehow schools like Rutgers and BC come out ahead. But, whatever league you look at there are schools that go after it and those that do not. Some spend the money and the effort and can't get it done, but commitment and effort are the keys.

I like the fact that the conference is going to be sorting itself out for a while.

UofMemphis basically comes from an inferior league, his team finally is in a much better place and they have to love not having their wins disparaged.
Cincinnati is the other real Big East team. They should be contenders or a solid program year in and out.
Central Florida has a great new facility for each of its new basketball teams and Orlando ought to be an alright recruiting destination
SMU is spendng the money and, in Brown, has a coach who knows how to do it. They are contenders as long as he remains and maybe he establishes a new culture before he does.
Dunphy is already improving his thin off year team. Temple will be strong next year and may breaks some hearts @ the AAC Tournament.
Houston is trying, didn't we drop the game when they opened a new building?
That is 6.

Lucky #7. Most importantly to me, I think UConn will carry this league and dominate it shortly. As good as we are, we did not have a long term coach when this year's freshman were recruited. Nolan was a late find the year before. Facey was the one with bonafides, Brimah was a good talent spot and great coaching, Samuel is similarly a good find and has come along. Brown talked about how the bigs committee has developed. KO gets some credit for Bazz who's wonderful skills last year have become sublime this year Guards want to be molded by KO and bigs will too, soon enough.

If he were in the class of 2015, I think KO could have landed Jabari Parker, KO just didn't have the situation to sell. Now he has a contract, winning seasons, a POY candidate, and whatever March brings. His bait is improving. Watch out AAC.

 

[UofMemphis]

Screw this league. As Uconn fans we are used to 10 teams competing for an NCAA tourney bid from our conference and a great matchup every game no matter who we are playing. It's just not the same anymore and it really sucks.

 

[metsfan2323]

Too much ACC envy, couched in bashing, and outright AAC hate for my taste.

We're here. It's home for now, and maybe for some time. The Big East is dead. Let's get on with it.

Yup, technically we are in the same league we have always been in, we have the headquarters in Providence and a pile of cash to prove it.

All of the new schools are here because we invited them and we invited them because we needed them. The competition they have given us in year one has been better than expected and will get better.

 

[Walker11]

I honestly thought it would be a worse league than it is but I am disgusted by the fact the Tulane and whoever the hell is is joining next year.

Unfortunately beggars can't be choosers and I think we all know where we fall.

 

[kobe]

"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?

Does it really matter? This year we play 10 conference games against teams with an RPI of 150 or worse. Each one of those 5 teams would be the worst team in any of the 7 RPI leagues ranked higher than the American. Since, the top of the league has only lost 3 games to the bottom (SMUx2 and UConn) it is no wonder why the top 5 all have gaudy league records.

Do we really have any idea how good these teams are? I am starting to get a Mountain West (from last year) vibe about this conference. Think about it, here are the meaningful OOC wins for the conference: Pittsburgh (Cincinnati), Florida (UConn), Oklahoma State (Memphis) and Gonzaga (Memphis). Outside of Florida, who was missing two key players, none of those teams are going to be better than a 7 seed. So all these "quality wins" in conference are just coming against each other. If you look at the NCAA tournament resume's of the MWC schools last year, you'll see basically all their quality wins were also against each other.

This is an okay league, it isn't as bad as it could have been...but that doesn't make it great. Next year we lose two games against rival Louisville and replace them with ECU, Tulane and Tulsa. I actually the FOOTBALL side of the league is in much better shape.

 

[Durks07]

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.

That's a fair enough of a point, the league is better this year than I anticipated. However, the league will regress in the near term with the three additions and the major loss. Whether they are easy games or not, I'm not going to speculate on (I'm not going to jinx that), but going forward, I'm not confident that the other teams are going to steadily improve a la SMU. They are located in Dallas, a good area for recruiting and have a legitimate hall of fame coach on the sidelines. A top half of UConn, SMU, Cincy, Menphis, and Temple will be ok, but the other programs are going to have a steeper learning curve. SMU might not turn out to be an anomaly, but these teams, while having no seniors of note, are not lighting the world on fire in C-USA right now either and the best team they have right now is Southern Miss. Projecting a few years down the road, the outcome is too unclear to anticipate massive success and to be fair, too early to project massive failure as well.

 

[ZenConn]

It's simple. This league isn't great but isn't the worst.

The strength of the league doesn't show how you will fare in the tournament either so I'm not sure why people are so hung up about it. Butler made the finals 2 years in a row coming from the Horizon league!

 

[Walker11]

good these teams are? I am starting to get a Mountain West (from last year) vibe about this conference. Think about it, here are the meaningful OOC wins for the conference: Pittsburgh (Cincinnati), Florida (UConn), Oklahoma State (Memphis) and Gonzaga (Memphis). Outside of Florida, who was missing two key players, none of those teams are going to be better than a 7 seed. So all these "quality wins" in conference are just coming against each other. If you look at the NCAA tournament resume's of the MWC schools last year, you'll see basically all their quality wins were also against each other.

You could certainly be correct with the MWC comparison. I am 100% getting that vibe from the nBE as well. I dunno, I feel like at least 4 teams in our league pass the eye test, but what does that even mean.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

That's a fair enough of a point, the league is better this year than I anticipated. However, the league will regress in the near term with the three additions and the major loss. Whether they are easy games or not, I'm not going to speculate on (I'm not going to jinx that), but going forward, I'm not confident that the other teams are going to steadily improve a la SMU. They are located in Dallas, a good area for recruiting and have a legitimate hall of fame coach on the sidelines. A top half of UConn, SMU, Cincy, Menphis, and Temple will be ok, but the other programs are going to have a steeper learning curve. SMU might not turn out to be an anomaly, but these teams, while having no seniors of note, are not lighting the world on fire in C-USA right now either and the best team they have right now is Southern Miss. Projecting a few years down the road, the outcome is too unclear to anticipate massive success and to be fair, too early to project massive failure as well.

Thank you.

Everyone keeps saying how good the top of the league is. Who has cinci or Louisville beaten? I honestly don't know but I can't remember them beating anyone good this year. Nobody really knows how good either of them are but to me they aren't top 10 teams.

This league sucks and we are in the middle of the pack. It's sad. Really sad. There is no way around it

 

[UofMemphis]

I honestly thought it would be a worse league than it is but I am disgusted by the fact the Tulane and whoever the hell is is joining next year.

Unfortunately beggars can't be choosers and I think we all know where we fall.

Speaking of Tulane, I can't wait to watch Memphis play at their new on-campus stadium, Yulman stadium:

I don't care if you hate the AAC, a trip to New Orleans is worth it...nothing like starting the day at cafe du monde, Bloody Mary's for lunch, fresh sea food for dinner...and a all night party.

NO is like Memphis on roids.

 

[TRest]

Speaking of Tulane, I can't wait to watch Memphis play at their new on-campus stadium, Yulman stadium:

I don't care if you hate the AAC, a trip to New Orleans is worth it...nothing like starting the day at cafe du monde, Bloody Mary's for lunch, fresh sea food for dinner...and a all night party.

NO is like Memphis on roids.

We can't make it a day trip. To their new, rumored 25k seats stadium.

 

[UofMemphis]

I'd much rather have Tulane fill a 25,000 seat stadium over bringing under 20k to the 80,000 seat SuperDome.

You're missing out if you don't visit New Orleans.

 

[TRest]

I'd much rather have Tulane fill a 25,000 seat stadium over bringing under 20k to the 80,000 seat SuperDome.

You're missing out if you don't visit New Orleans.

One of the reasons why the SEC has such great fanbases and game day atmosphere is that the schools are all within a workable distance for road trips. UConn's football fanbase is largely contained within the state's borders, so we aren't likely to send 5-10k fans to any road games a thousand miles away. Tulane works great for the former southern CUSA schools, so enjoy I guess. It does nothing for me.

 

[Pudge]

Pissing at each other is no fun.

Look ... in the beginning of the Big East, there were a bunch of schools simply not ready for the competitiveness that quickly came to the top. That is where we are today in AAC basketball. UConn, by the way, was one of the Programs that was just getting lapped by a few tougher Programs. Georgetown with John Thompson; St. John's with Carnesecca; Syracuse with Boeheim; Villanova with Massimino. Within a year or TWO, Dr. Tom Davis had a nice formula at BC. Seton Hall sucked. Dom Perno made us suck. When Pitt joined, they recruited well for a day or two under Paul Evans; but, mostly they weren't competitive.

UCF has never played at this level. They can get athletes. Will Donnie Jones raise their level? Dunno. USF? They suck today after 10 years in the BE; start all over again. Fire Heath. Houston? Man ... they have really impressive athletes. They aren't going to succeed with Dickey; that reminds me of us and Perno. Just not going to rise to compete. Temple? Again ... I have no doubt that Dunphy can be a solid competitor. Let's see what 2015 brings. And F Rutgers. Tulane, Tulsa and ECU? Tulsa has some pedigree actually. They are going to be just as awful as the current 5 dregs ... unless they quickly pull up their pants and play big boy. UConn took a while to learn. I think that's the lesson (Fishy): it can be a far better conference. Or we are going to see more 40 point losses going forward. I actually think that the dregs will re-calibrate and compete. Expect Heath and Dickey to be gone soon.

Of course Memphis is happy. That's clearly the easiest thing to predict.

 

[mauconnfan]

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

LVille is tough and good, can score in spurts and will move on through the first weekend…….Cincy may be a Top 10 team but also one that could go out quick because of their inability to score the ball sometimes, especially when Kilpatrick doesn't have it going. Sounds all too familiar!

 

[60'sfan]

The AAC has some good teams but is not a strong conference. Having come from the best basketball conference of all, it is tough transition. Unfortunately, we are losing Louisville (a tough loss) and Rutgers (no big deal). We have three weak programs joining and one of the top programs (Cincinnati) openly looking for a new home. Clearly, the conference will be weaker next year whether Cincinnati leaves or stays.

Given whom KO is already bringing in, we should still be a top 20 team but a weak schedule will not help us prepare for the NCAA tournament. I guess I also feel sorry for the women who will have no in-conference competition next year. How many fans are going to continue to want to watch 40 to 50 point blow-outs.

 

[NickyNewark]

The AAC has some good teams but is not a strong conference. Having come from the best basketball conference of all, it is tough transition. Unfortunately, we are losing Louisville (a tough loss) and Rutgers (no big deal). We have three weak programs joining and one of the top programs (Cincinnati) openly looking for a new home. Clearly, the conference will be weaker next year whether Cincinnati leaves or stays.

Given whom KO is already bringing in, we should still be a top 20 team but a weak schedule will not help us prepare for the NCAA tournament. I guess I also feel sorry for the women who will have no in-conference competition next year. How many fans are going to continue to want to watch 40 to 50 point blow-outs.

I think Geno and WBB has more staying power than MBB and its funny how perception changes every 10 or 20 years? Pre-Geno UConn WBB won less than 40% of their games yet some diss RU who until joining the BE in MBB were the NYC metro team when they played at the Barn and in 76? I think Phil Sellers, MikeDabney,Eddie Jordan,Bailey,Hollis Copeland and Abdel Anderson led them to 32+? straight wins and a Final 4 finish when Dicky V was AC and stayed pretty good for about 15 years(91?) then slowly lost ground and never recovered yet and now people think they were always dregs? RU's WBB so far have stood the test of time(since TShank-Grentz) with only a few down yrs. How humbling some will find life to be with that attitude of entitlement. Thats why its imperative to get out of the AAC ASAP or who knows where the program will be? For UConn to stay a must see in hoops a relevant conference is almost a must but esp in FB.

 

[pj]

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.

This is just an artifact of bad scheduling by a number of teams. They are not gaming the RPI the way other schools and leagues are. SOS hurts not only your own RPI, but the RPI of all your conference mates, since opponents SOS is a huge factor in the RPI. If the AAC teams would just lift the OOC SOS a bit, the AAC would be a highly ranked conference, comparable to the ACC.

A lot of these schools have no experience being in a power conference. Aresco has to lay down the basketball scheduling law to these schools.

 

[pj]

Do we really have any idea how good these teams are? I am starting to get a Mountain West (from last year) vibe about this conference. Think about it, here are the meaningful OOC wins for the conference: Pittsburgh (Cincinnati), Florida (UConn), Oklahoma State (Memphis) and Gonzaga (Memphis). Outside of Florida, who was missing two key players, none of those teams are going to be better than a 7 seed. So all these "quality wins" in conference are just coming against each other. If you look at the NCAA tournament resume's of the MWC schools last year, you'll see basically all their quality wins were also against each other.

This is an okay league, it isn't as bad as it could have been...but that doesn't make it great. Next year we lose two games against rival Louisville and replace them with ECU, Tulane and Tulsa. I actually the FOOTBALL side of the league is in much better shape.

We'll find out in March. But I think the top 5 AAC teams pass the eye test. Most should win at least 1 game in the tourney. The league as a whole should be .500.

 

[Husky25]

I think Geno and WBB has more staying power than MBB...

All due respect, Nicky (and I mean that. After thinking you were a troll, I've really come around on you), I stopped reading after this. How young do you think Geno is? Don't let his Grecian formula fool you, he turns 60 in less than a month. He is absolutely in rarified air, but he is rounding Amen Corner. Who come in behind him? Who replaces Chris Dailey? As recruiting coordinator, she is just as instrumental in the Women's success as Geno.

Ollie is about to put Napier in the NBA, with potentially Boatright, Daniels, and Brimah to follow and has good/great recruiting classes (by the rankings) coming up in for the 2014/15 and 15/16 seasons.

When it comes to rating a conference like the AAC, fans cannot miss the forest for the trees like what is going on above. Individual teams, as they currently are playing, mean exactly zero. What matters is the quality of the programs that make up the league. Temple is down, but they are a good program. Memphis has had some recent success and Pastner seems like he has them on an upward trajectory. SMU will be good for as long as Brown is there. Cinci is quality, and UConn at this point is the Crème de la Crème in terms of the overall program.

For a comparison, look at the Big 12. Only 2 teams are shoe-ins for the Tournament. The AAC has four by my count.

 

[NickyNewark]

Sorry after reading it over I considered deleteing but no flame was intended and I do agree we(AAC) have some top hoop school's IC and doubtless can overcome by lifting the couple schools behind. I shouldn't have posted so soon after reading a couple of the humbling remarks/comments about RU's terrible team's over the last 20 years or so(tough to say) but as long as UConn is in the AAC I'll follow and support it because UConn has earned their seat in almost all respects in an amazingly short time relatively speaking. No doubt theres no one like Geno(even Summit/Stringer) and I respect WBB more than MBB even though I played HSBB for 3 years before going into the service.Please don't think the post was meant disrespectfully because it wasn't. I sometimes let a comment or 2 get under my skin but won't dis UConn for inconsiderate fan's.btw I thought Geno was about 48/49...unbelieveable he's that old(near my age?) though I think Chris Dailey was an early RUWBB player in the early yrs?

 

[Husky25]

Sorry after reading it over I considered deleteing but no flame was intended and I do agree we(AAC) have some top hoop school's IC and doubtless can overcome by lifting the couple schools behind. I shouldn't have posted so soon after reading a couple of the humbling remarks/comments about RU's terrible team's over the last 20 years or so(tough to say) but as long as UConn is in the AAC I'll follow and support it because UConn has earned their seat in almost all respects in an amazingly short time relatively speaking. No doubt theres no one like Geno(even Summit/Stringer) and I respect WBB more than MBB even though I played HSBB for 3 years before going into the service.Please don't think the post was meant disrespectfully because it wasn't. I sometimes let a comment or 2 get under my skin but won't dis UConn for inconsiderate fan's.btw I thought Geno was about 48/49...unbelieveable he's that old(near my age?) though I think Chris Dailey was an early RUWBB player in the early yrs?

Born in March 1954.