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2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

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2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 2016
through March 2017
Number of teams11
TV partner(s)ESPN, CBS, ASN
Regular Season
ChampionsSMU
Season MVPSemi Ojeleye
Tournament
ChampionsSMU
  Runners-upCincinnati
American Athletic Conference men's basketball seasons
2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 11 SMU 17 1   .944 30 5   .857
No. 18 Cincinnati 16 2   .889 30 6   .833
Houston 12 6   .667 21 11   .656
UCF 11 7   .611 24 12   .667
Memphis 9 9   .500 19 13   .594
UConn 9 9   .500 16 17   .485
Tulsa 8 10   .444 15 17   .469
Temple 7 11   .389 16 16   .500
East Carolina 6 12   .333 15 18   .455
Tulane 3 15   .167 6 25   .194
South Florida 1 17   .056 7 23   .233
2017 AAC tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

The 2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2016, followed by the start of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. The conference held its media day on October 24, 2016. Conference play began on December 27, 2016 and concluded on March 4, 2017.

SMU won the regular season championship by one game over Cincinnati. The American Athletic Conference tournament was held from March 9 through March 12 at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. SMU defeated Cincinnati in the tournament championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Simi Ojeleye was named the Tournament MVP.[1]

SMU's Semi Ojeleye was also named the conference's Player of the Year.[2] SMU's head coach, Tim Jankovich, was named Coach of the Year.

Two AAC teams were invited to the NCAA Tournament, Cincinnati and SMU. Houston and UCF received bids to the NIT.

Head coaches

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Coaching changes

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Coaches

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Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record AAC record AAC titles NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA Championships
Cincinnati Mick Cronin Murray State 11 237–135 56–16 1 7 0 0
Connecticut Kevin Ollie Connecticut (asst.) 5 113–61 42–30 0 2 1 1
East Carolina Jeff Lebo Auburn 7 114–118 16–38 0 0 0 0
Houston Kelvin Sampson Houston Rockets (asst.) 3 56–40 28–26 0 0 0 0
Memphis Tubby Smith Texas Tech 1 19–13 9–9 0 0 0 0
SMU Tim Jankovich SMU (asst.) 2 39–5 17–1 1 1 0 0
South Florida Murry Bartow South Florida (asst.) 1 1–16 1–15 0 0 0 0
Temple Fran Dunphy Penn 11 230–136 38–34 1 7 0 0
Tulane Mike Dunleavy n/a 1 6–25 3–15 0 0 0 0
Tulsa Frank Haith Missouri 3 58–40 34–20 0 1 0 0
UCF Johnny Dawkins Stanford 1 24–12 11–7 0 0 0 0

Notes:

  • Overall and AAC records are from time at current school and are through the end of 2016–17 season. NCAA records include time at current school only.
  • AAC records are only from 2013–14 season to present, prior conference records not included.
  • Orlando Antigua was fired after the first 13 games of the season amid academic fraud allegations.[9][10] Murry Bartow was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.
  • Jeff Lebo underwent hip surgery on January 16, 2017 and missed the rest of the 2016–17 season. Assistant coach Michael Perry took over as head coach in Lebo's absence.[11]

Preseason

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Preseason Coaches Poll

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Alterique Gilbert at the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game

AAC Media Day took place October 24, 2016, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Cincinnati was picked to win the conference's regular season (six votes) with Connecticut a close second (five votes).[12]

Rank Team
1. Cincinnati (6)
2. Connecticut (5)
3. SMU
4. Houston
5. Memphis
6. Temple
7. East Carolina
8. UCF
9. Tulsa
10. South Florida
11. Tulane

first place votes in parentheses

Preseason All-AAC Teams

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Honor Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
Dedric Lawson, Memphis
Preseason All-AAC First Team
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
Gary Clark, Cincinnati
Dedric Lawson, Memphis
Ben Moore, SMU
Damyean Dotson, Houston
Preseason All-AAC Second Team
Shake Milton, SMU
Jalen Adams, Connecticut
Jahmal McMurray, USF
Rob Gray, Houston
B. J. Tyson, East Carolina
Preseason Rookie of the Year Alterique Gilbert, Connecticut

Source[13]

Rankings

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Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
  Pre Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Wk
17
Wk
18
Wk
19
Final
Cincinnati AP RV 24 RV RV 22 25 24 23 22 22 20 19 14 11 18 17 15 15 18
C 25 25 RV RV 23 23 23 23 22 22 20 19 14 11 17 16 20 18 16 22
Connecticut AP 18 RV
C 16 RV
East Carolina AP
C
Houston AP RV
C
Memphis AP
C
SMU AP RV RV RV RV RV 25 19 17 14 12 11
C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 23 21 19 15 13 23
South Florida AP
C
Temple AP RV RV
C RV
Tulane AP
C
Tulsa AP
C
UCF AP RV
C RV RV

Conference matrix

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  Cincinnati Connecticut East Carolina Houston Memphis SMU South Florida Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF
vs. Cincinnati 0–2 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–1
vs. Connecticut 2–0 1–1 2–0 1–1 2–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–0 0–2
vs. East Carolina 1–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–1 2–0
vs. Houston 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 2–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–1
vs. Memphis 1–0 1–1 0–1 1–1 2–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 1–1 1–1
vs. SMU 1–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–1
vs. South Florida 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 2–0
vs. Temple 2–0 2–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–0 2–0
vs. Tulane 2–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 0–2 2–0 1–1 1–0
vs. Tulsa 2–0 0–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 2–0 0–2 0–1 1–1 1–1
vs. UCF 1–1 2–0 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–1
Total 16–2 9–9 6–12 12–6 9–9 17–1 1–17 7–11 3–15 8–10 11–7

Honors and awards

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Semi Ojeleye was an honorable mention AP All-American.[14]

All-AAC awards and teams

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On March 7, the AAC announced its conference awards.[15]

Honor Recipient
Player of the Year Semi Ojeleye, SMU
Coach of the Year Tim Jankovich, SMU
Scholar-Athlete of the Year Semi Ojeleye, SMU
Rookie of the Year K. J. Lawson, Memphis
Defensive Player of the Year Tacko Fall, UCF
Most Improved Player Cameron Reynolds, Tulane
Sixth Man Award Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Ben Emelogu, SMU
Sportsmanship Award Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
All-AAC First Team Jalen Adams, Connecticut
Damyean Dotson, Houston
Rob Gray, Houston
Dedric Lawson, Memphis
Semi Ojeleye, SMU
All-AAC Second Team Sterling Brown, SMU
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
Shake Milton, SMU
Ben Moore, SMU
B. J. Taylor, UCF
Kyle Washington, Cincinnati
All-Rookie Team Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati
Vance Jackson, Connecticut
K. J. Lawson, Memphis
Quinton Rose, Temple
Jeremy Sheppard, East Carolina

Postseason

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2017 American Athletic Conference tournament

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Session Game Time* Matchup Score Television Attendance
First round – Thursday, March 9
1 1 3:30 PM No. 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Temple 80–69 ESPNU 4,874
2 6:00 PM No. 10 Tulane vs. No. 7 Tulsa 60–66 ESPNews
3 8:00 PM No. 11 South Florida vs. No. 6 Connecticut 66–77
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 10
2 4 Noon No. 9 East Carolina vs No. 1 SMU 77–81 ESPN2 1,844
5 2:00 PM No. 5 Memphis vs No. 4 UCF 54–84
3 6 7:00 PM No. 7 Tulsa vs No. 2 Cincinnati 61–80 ESPNU 7,365
7 9:00 PM No. 6 Connecticut vs No. 3 Houston 74–65
Semifinals – Saturday, March 11
4 8 3:00 PM No. 1 SMU vs No. 4 UCF 70–59 ESPN2 8,117
9 5:00 PM No. 2 Cincinnati vs No. 6 Connecticut 81–71
Championship – Sunday, March 12
5 10 3:15 PM No. 1 SMU vs. No. 2 Cincinnati 71–56 ESPN 6,856
*Game times in ET. No. -Rankings denote tournament seeding.


NCAA tournament

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Seed Region School First Four First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship
6 East SMU N/A eliminated by (11) USC 65–66
6 South Cincinnati N/A defeated (11) Kansas State 75–61 eliminated by (3) UCLA 67–79
W–L (%): 0–0 1–1 (.500) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 Total: 1–2 (.333)

NIT

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Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
2 California Houston eliminated by (7) Akron 75–78
4 Illinois State UCF defeated (5) Colorado 79–74 defeated (1) Illinois State 63–62 defeated (2) Illinois 68–58 eliminated by (4) TCU 53–68
W–L (%): 1–1 (.500) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 (–) Total: 3–2 (.600)

NBA draft

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The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2017 NBA draft.

Player Position School Round Pick Team
Semi Ojeleye F SMU 2 37 Boston Celtics
Damyean Dotson SG Houston 2 44 New York Knicks
Sterling Brown SG SMU 2 46 Philadelphia 76ers

References

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  1. ^ "Cincinnati vs. SMU - Game Recap - March 12, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  2. ^ "SMU's Ojeleye Named Player, Scholar-Athlete of the Year as American Awards Announced". www.theamerican.org. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  3. ^ "Memphis hires Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith". ESPN.com. April 14, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  4. ^ "Larry Brown resigns as SMU coach". Insidebayarea.com. July 8, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  5. ^ "Conroy Relieved of Duties as Head Basketball Coach at Tulane". tulanegreenwave.com. March 14, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  6. ^ "Former NBA coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. agrees to take Tulane job".
  7. ^ Goodman, Jeff (March 11, 2016). "UCF dismisses coach Donnie Jones after sixth season". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  8. ^ "Dawkins' Debut". Archived from the original on March 28, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  9. ^ "Struggling South Florida fires coach Antigua". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  10. ^ "South Florida fires Orlando Antigua amid academic fraud investigation". UPI. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  11. ^ "ECU sticking with basketball coach Lebo". North State Journal. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  12. ^ "Cincinnati Voted as 2016–17 American Men's Basketball Favorite" (Press release). American Athletic. October 24, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
  13. ^ "Cincinnati Voted as 2016-17 American Men's Basketball Preseason Favorite". theamerican.org. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  14. ^ "Full AP men's All-America team breakdown". NCAA Men's Basketball. March 28, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  15. ^ "Men's Basketball All-Conference, All-Rookie Teams Announced". theamerican.org. Retrieved June 7, 2017.