2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 2014 through March 2015
Number of teams	11
TV partner(s)	ESPN, CBS
Regular Season
Season MVP	Nic Moore
Tournament

	Conf				Overall
2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
#18 SMU †	15	–	3	.833	27	–	7	.794
Tulsa	14	–	4	.778	23	–	11	.676
Temple	13	–	5	.722	26	–	11	.703
Cincinnati	13	–	5	.722	23	–	11	.676
Connecticut	10	–	8	.556	20	–	15	.571
Memphis	10	–	8	.556	18	–	14	.563
Tulane	6	–	12	.333	15	–	16	.484
East Carolina	6	–	12	.333	14	–	19	.424
UCF	5	–	13	.278	12	–	18	.400
Houston	4	–	14	.222	13	–	19	.406
South Florida	3	–	15	.167	9	–	23	.281

† AAC Tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season will take place between November 2014 and conclude in March 2015. Practices will begin in October 2014, with conference play beginning in December, and the season will end with the 2015 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. The season will be the second since the split of the original Big East Conference into two separate leagues.

This will be the first season for East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa in American Athletic competition.

Preseason

Coaching changes

Tulsa Hired Frank Haith, after Former Coach Danny Manning took the Wake Forest job
Kelvin Sampson was hired at Houston after former coach James Dickey resigned for Personal reasons
Orlando Antigua was hired at USF, after USF rescinded their offer to Steve Masiello after it was reported that he had not graduated from the University of Kentucky, as his resume had stated. Masiello was originally hired to replace Stan Heath, who was fired

Predicted American Athletic results

At American Athletic Conference media day on October 29, the conference released their predictions for standings and All-Conference teams.^[1]

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

() first place votes

Preseason All-AAC Teams

First Team	Second Team
Ryan Boatright, G, UCONN Shaq Goodwin, F, MEM Austin Nichols, F, MEM Nic Moore, G, SMU Markus Kennedy, F, SMU James Woodard, G, TULSA	Amida Brimah, C, UCONN Anthony Collins, G, USF Chris Perry, F, USF Will Cummings, G, TEM Quenton DeCosey, G, TEM

American Athletic Preseason Player of the Year: Ryan Boatright, Connecticut
American Athletic Preseason Rookie of the Year: Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut

Preseason Watchlists

Naismith^[2]	John Wooden Award^[3]
Ryan Boatright, G, UConn Nic Moore, G, SMU	Nic Moore, G, SMU

Rankings

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

Main article: 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 7	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18
Cincinnati	AP	RV	RV	RV			RV					RV
Cincinnati	C		RV	RV			RV					RV
Connecticut	AP	RV	RV	RV			RV					RV
Connecticut	C	15	17	22	23	RV
East Carolina	AP
East Carolina	C
Houston	AP
Houston	C
Memphis	AP	RV	RV	RV
Memphis	C	RV	RV	RV	RV
SMU	AP	22	23	RV				RV	RV		22	25	21	21	22	20
SMU	C	22	22	RV	RV			RV	RV	RV	22	25	22	21	22	21
South Florida	AP
South Florida	C
Temple	AP						RV				RV
Temple	C						RV
Tulane	AP
Tulane	C
Tulsa	AP									RV	RV
Tulsa	C									RV	RV	RV
UCF	AP
UCF	C

AAC Regular Season

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Cincinnati	Connecticut	East Carolina	Houston	Memphis	SMU	South Florida	Temple	Tulane	Tulsa	UCF
vs. Cincinnati	–	1-1	1-1	0-2	1-1	0-2	0–1	1-1	1–1	0–1	0–2
vs. Connecticut	1-1	–	0–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	0-2	2-0	0–2	1-1	0-1
vs. East Carolina	1-1	2–0	–	1-1	1–1	1-0	1-1	2–0	1-0	2–0	0–2
vs. Houston	2-0	0–1	1-1	–	2-0	2–0	1-1	1–0	1-1	2-0	2-0
vs. Memphis	1-1	0–2	1–1	0-2	–	2-0	0–1	1–0	1-1	2-0	0-2
vs. SMU	2-0	1–1	0-1	0–2	0-2	–	0-2	0-2	0-1	0–2	0–2
vs. South Florida	1–0	2-0	1-1	1-1	1–0	2-0	–	2-0	2-0	2-0	1–1
vs. Temple	1-1	0-2	0–2	0–1	0–1	2-0	0-2	–	0-2	2–0	0-2
vs. Tulane	1–1	2–0	0-1	1–1	1-1	1-0	0-2	2-0	–	2–0	2-0
vs. Tulsa	1–0	1-1	0–2	0-2	0-2	2–0	0-2	0–2	0-2	–	0-1
vs. UCF	2–0	1-0	2-0	0-2	2-0	2–0	1–1	2-0	0-2	1-0	–
Total	13–5	10–8	6–12	4-14	10–8	15–3	3–15	13–5	6–12	14–4	5–13

Postseason

Main article: 2015 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

March 12–15, 2015 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT

Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker	First Round March 12	Quarterfinals March 13	Semifinals March 14	Championship March 15
2015 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament seeds and results
1.	SMU ‡†	15-3	24-6		Bye	vs. #8 East Carolina - W, 74-68	vs. #4 Temple - W, 69-56	vs. #6 Connecticut - W, 62-54
2.	Tulsa †	14-4	21-9		Bye	vs. #10 Houston - W, 59-51	vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 42–47
3.	Cincinnati †	13-5	22-9	2-0 vs. SMU	Bye	vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 54–57
4.	Temple†	13-5	22-9	0-2 vs. SMU	Bye	vs. #5 Memphis - W, 80-75	vs. #1 SMU - L, 56–69
5.	Memphis†	10-8	18-13	2-0 vs. CONN	Bye	vs. #4 Temple - L, 75–80
6.	Connecticut	10-8	17-13	0-2 vs. MEM	vs. #11 South Florida - W, 69-43	vs. #3 Cincinnati - W, 47-44	vs. #2 Tulsa - W, 47-42	vs. #1 SMU - L, 54–62
7.	Tulane	6-12	15-15	1-0 vs. ECU	vs. #10 Houston - L, 60–66
8.	East Carolina	6-12	13-18	0-1 vs. TULN	vs. #9 UCF - W, 81-80 OT	vs. #1 SMU - L, 68–74
9.	UCF	5-13	12-17		vs. #8 East Carolina - L, 80–81 OT
10.	Houston	4-14	12-18		vs. #7 Tulane - W, 66-60	vs. #2 Tulsa - L, 51-59
11.	South Florida	3-15	9-22		vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 43-69
‡ – American regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament.

NCAA Tournament

Main article: 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

Seed	Region	School	First Four	Round of 64	Round of 32	Sweet 16	Elite Eight	Final Four	Championship

		W–L (%):	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –Total: 0–0 –

National Invitation Tournament

Main article: 2015 National Invitation Tournament

Seed	Bracket	School	First round	Second round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals

		W–L (%):	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 –	0–0 – Total: 0–0 –

College Basketball Invitational

Main article: 2015 College Basketball Invitational

School	First round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals

W–L (%):	0–0 1.000	0–0 .000	0–0 –	0–0 – Total: 0–0 –

Awards and honors

Conference awards and teams

All Conference and All Rookie teams were announced on March 10, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man Award, Most Improved Player, and Sportsmanship Award were announced on March 11. Player of the Year and Coach of the year were announced on March 12

Award	Recipient(s)
2015 American Athletic Conference Basketball Individual Awards
American Athletic Conference Player of the Year	Nic MooreG., SMU
Coach of the Year	Fran Dunphy, TEMP
Rookie of the Year	Daniel HamiltonG/F., CONN
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Pat LenehanG., CONN
Most Improved Player	Yanick MoreiraC., SMU
Sixth Man Award	Markus KennedyF., SMU
Sportsmanship Award	Shaq Goodwin F., MEMPHIS

First Team	Second Team	Honorable Mention	All-Rookie Team
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams\|^[4]
Ryan Boatright ^†, G., CONN Austin Nichols, F., MEMPH Nic Moore ^†, G., SMU Will Cummings, G., TEMP James Woodard, G., TULSA	Octavius Ellis, F., CIN Markus Kennedy, F., SMU Yanick Moreira, C., SMU Louis Dabney, G., TULN Shaquille Harrison, G., TULSA	Troy Caupain, G., CIN Amida Brimah, C., CONN Daniel Hamilton, G/F., CONN Jaylen Bond, F., TEMP	Adonys Henriquez, G., UCF B.J. Taylor, G., UCF Gary Clark, F., CIN Daniel Hamilton ^†, G/F., CONN B.J. Tyson ^†, G., ECU
^† - denotes unanimous selection

National awards and teams

Award finalists

Wooden	Naismith

2015 NBA Draft

PG	Point guard	SG	Shooting guard	SF	Small forward	PF	Power forward	C	Center

Rnd.	Pick	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Team	School / club team

References

↑ "UConn Chosen as Men's Basketball Preseason Favorite". Retrieved 17 November 2014.
↑ "Naismith Trophy Men’s 50 Watch List". Naismith Trophy. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
↑ Medcalf, Myron. "Wooden Top 50 watch list unveiled". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
↑ "2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams". theAmerican.org. Sidearmsports. Retrieved 10 March 2015.

American Athletic Conference men's basketball

Teams	Cincinnati Bearcats Connecticut Huskies East Carolina Pirates Houston Cougars Memphis Tigers SMU Mustangs South Florida Bulls Temple Owls Tulane Green Wave Tulsa Golden Hurricane UCF Knights

Championships & awards	Conference Tournament Player of the Year

Seasons	2013–14 2014–15

2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball conference seasons

America East American Atlantic 10 ACC Atlantic Sun Big 12 Big East Big Sky Big South Big Ten Big West CAA C-USA Horizon Ivy MAAC MEAC Mid-American Missouri Valley Mountain West Northeast Ohio Valley Pac-12 Patriot SEC Southern Southland Summit League Sun Belt SWAC WAC West Coast