Aac basketball predictions 202210/11/2023 ![]() 1 incoming class combine to give him the highly coveted formula of elite young talent, quality experience and proven depth. That's led him to a crescendo season in 2021-22, in which the holdovers from previous classes and the nation's No. In spite of the modest on-court success - an NIT title being the crowning achievement to date - Hardaway continues to recruit better than anyone in the sport. Is that a guarantee of success for Memphis? No, because for all the headlines and intrigue he's generated, fourth-year coach Penny Hardaway still hasn't fielded an NCAA Tournament team. This may be the most talented roster in the nation, not just the AAC. The consensus order as voted by our experts with how they voted below Together, the duo is expected to help lead Memphis to its first NCAA Tournament during Hardaway's tenure. His chief competition for the top freshman honors will likely be teammate Jalen Duren. Listed at 6-foot-9 and 190 pounds, he is projected to play a point guard type role much in the way that his coach, Hardaway, once did. The hype subsided when he stopped growing before reaching Kevin Durant's bodily dimensions, but Bates will still be an excellent college player and likely a future lottery pick in the NBA Draft. Once regarded by some as the greatest high school prospect since LeBron James, Bates enters the AAC as a well-known name across the basketball landscape. CBS Sports AAC Preseason Freshman of the Year Emoni Bates, Memphis The Tigers are awaiting a ruling from the IARP amid the fallout of the James Wiseman saga, and that looming decision looks far more capable of derailing this season than anything the Tigers will encounter in the AAC. Perhaps the only thing that can derail him now are the repercussions from his initial brashness. ![]() 1 recruiting class joining an impressive nucleus of returning talent, the Tigers should make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his tenure and advance beyond the first weekend. But as Hardaway enters Year Four, the former Tigers' great and NBA All-Star is poised for a breakthrough. He wanted "all the smoke," he said and has gotten plenty of it through three seasons on the job. For such a high-usage player, Etienne takes great care of the basketball, and if Wichita State makes a return trip the NCAA Tournament, he'll be a big reason why.ĬBS Sports AAC Preseason Coach of the Year Penny Hardaway, MemphisĮarly in his tenure, Penny Hardaway seemed hellbent on playing a villainous role in college basketball and sticking it to the sport's power establishment. He also turned in performance of 25, 29 and 25 points against quality foes Oral Roberts, Ole Miss and Houston earlier in the season. ![]() The 6-foot-2 long-range gunner caught fire during the Shockers' eight-game winning streak that spanned six weeks late in the season, as he averaged 18.1 points on 42.6% 3-point shooting during the span. Tyson Etienne won the AAC's Player of the Year award last season while keying an improbable regular-season league title for Wichita State during a breakout sophomore year. CBS Sports AAC Preseason Player of the Year Tyson Etienne, Wichita State If that group can collectively make progress in the 2021-22 season, then perhaps the AAC can position itself to retain "major conference" status among college basketball's punditry even after the Cougars and Bearcats are gone.įor now, though, Houston remains the league's most steady program, and the Cougars will try to fend off ultra-talented Memphis this season with defending regular-season champion Wichita State lurking nearby as a threat to return to the NCAA Tournament. Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA are in line to join the league once that trio departs, but those six won't come close to replacing the basketball clout of Cincinnati and Houston.įor the sake of the league's future it would be beneficial if Memphis, Wichita State, SMU, Tulsa and Temple could start to establish themselves as the class of the new-look league by displaying the basketball acumen that has defined their programs in the past. ![]() Ultimately, though, the Shockers made it to the Big Dance, Houston made a Final Four run and Memphis won the NIT as the league made the most of an otherwise down season with a good postseason.īut with the days now numbered for Cincinnati, Houston and UCF in the AAC, the pressure is on for the league to capitalize before it loses some of its muscle to the Big 12 in the future. For a moment during last season's AAC Tournament, the league's prognosis looked particularly bleak, as Wichita State's loss to Cincinnati in the semifinals put the Shockers on the NCAA Tournament bubble and moved the conference perilously close to being a one-bid league for the first time in its history.
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