2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season | |
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League: | NCAA Division I |
Sport: | Basketball |
Pixels: | 125px |
Duration: | November 2016 through March 2017 |
No Of Teams: | 11 |
Tv: | ESPN, CBS, ASN |
Season: | Regular Season |
Season Champs: | SMU |
Season Champ Name: | Champions |
Mvp: | Semi Ojeleye |
Mvp Link: | American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year |
Finals: | Tournament |
Finals Link: | 2017 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament |
Finals Champ: | SMU |
Finals Runner-Up: | Cincinnati |
Finals Mvp Link: | American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament#Champions |
Seasonslistnames: | American Athletic Conference men's basketball |
Prevseason Link: | 2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season |
Prevseason Year: | 2015–16 |
Nextseason Year: | 2017–18 |
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.
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 | |
style= | East Carolina | Jeff Lebo | 7 | 114–118 | 16–38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Houston | Kelvin Sampson | Houston Rockets (asst.) | 3 | 56–40 | 28–26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
style= | Memphis | Tubby Smith | Texas Tech | 1 | 19–13 | 9–9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
style= | SMU | Tim Jankovich | SMU (asst.) | 2 | 39–5 | 17–1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
style= | South Florida | South Florida (asst.) | 1 | 1–16 | 1–15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
style= | Temple | Fran Dunphy | Penn | 11 | 230–136 | 38–34 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
style= | Tulane | Mike Dunleavy | n/a | 1 | 6–25 | 3–15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
style= | Tulsa | Frank Haith | Missouri | 3 | 58–40 | 34–20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
style= | UCF | Johnny Dawkins | Stanford | 1 | 24–12 | 11–7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 |
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]
Increase in ranking | |||
Decrease in ranking | |||
Not ranked previous week |
See main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.
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 |
style= width="75" | Cincinnati | Connecticut | style= width="75" | East Carolina | Houston | Memphis | SMU | South Florida | Temple | Tulane | Tulsa | style= width="75" | UCF | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CON | ECU | HOU | MEM | SMU | USF | TEM | TULN | TULS | 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 | — | CON | ECU | HOU | MEM | SMU | USF | TEM | TULN | TULS | UCF --> |
Total | 16–2 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 17–1 | 1–17 | 7–11 | 3–15 | 8–10 | 11–7 |
Semi Ojeleye was an honorable mention AP All-American.[14]
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 |
See main article: 2017 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.
See main article: 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.
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 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 Total: 1–2 |
See main article: 2017 National Invitation Tournament.
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 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 Total: 3–2 |
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 |