AAC Basketball Power Rankings: Temple, UCF, Houston in top tier
By Brian Rauf
10) ECU Pirates (8-10, 1-5)
LW: 11
East Carolina has lost four games in a row and has a 28-point defeat to SMU on their AAC resume, but that also have that huge win over Cincinnati. That win over the Bearcats gives them the nod over Wichita for this spot.
LIke the Shockers, four of their five losses in the American have come to teams that have one conference loss. They have also proven to be an above-average defensive team thanks to their length, which has helped make them great at defending the three-point line (opponents are shooting just 28.1 percent from deep against the Pirates, which ranks 11th nationally).
Their offense can still be too reliant on freshman Jayden Gardner – who is one of the best freshmen in the entire conference – even though Shawn Williams and Seth LeDay are capable of holding their own, too.
9) SMU Mustangs (11-7, 3-3)
LW: 8
The Mustangs might be the most inconsistent team in the American. On the plus side, they have a 20-point win over a solid Tulsa team. On the downside, they followed that up with a double-digit loss to UConn.
In total, SMU has lost three of their last four games because of a breakdown in their offense. Despite ranking in the top 50 in the country in offensive efficiency, the Mustangs have been held to 65 points or less in all three of their losses in this stretch. For comparison, that had only failed to reach that mark in three of their first 14 games.
SMU can boost their schedule with an easy week coming up but face a murderer’s row (at Cincinnati, USF, UCF, at Temple, UConn, at UCF, Cincinnati) in February. We could see them tumble down these rankings then.