AAC Basketball Tournament: Houston and Cincinnati favored

Quarterfinals

No 1. Houston vs. No. 8 South Florida

The Cougars won the league championship and did so by sweeping their closest competitor, Cincinnati in their two meetings. Houston lost two league games and neither came at the hands of South Florida, in the two meetings the Bulls were held to 59 and 60 points in the two games and Houston forced 17 turnovers per game in the season series. Offensively, Houston is balanced with seven players that score six points per game and their defensive ability will move them past South Florida. Prediction: Houston

No. 4 Central Florida vs No. 5 Memphis

In what may be the most intriguing quarterfinal of the four in this tournament, with Memphis playing on its home floor and Jeremiah Martin gets to match up with the Knights’ B.J. Taylor and Aubrey Dawkins. In the first meeting, the Memphis win, those two combined for 12 points and the Tigers had five players in double figures. Central Florida has 7-6 Tacko Fall in the middle and he had 15 points for the Knights in their win over Memphis. As is often the case, the No. 4 vs. No. 5 game is a coin flip, home court advantage wins out and Memphis reaches the semifinals. Prediction: Memphis

No. 2 Cincinnati vs. No. 7 Tulsa

The Bearcats won both games against Tulsa including a 24-point blowout at home. In that game, they shot nearly 50% from the field and made 14 three-pointers and leading scorer Jarron Cumberland had 23 points. That is the same number that Tulsa hit in their first meeting, a 70-65 OT loss, but neither team is likely to match that in the third meeting, but I’ll take the higher-seeded Bearcats in a relatively close game where they pull away a bit in the end. Prediction: Cincinnati

No. 3 Temple vs. No. 6 Wichita State

This is the game that almost wasn’t. Wichita State needed a late three-pointer to beat Tulane in their regular-season finale, a win that made Temple the No. 3 seed instead of the No. 4. As for these two teams, in their lone meeting in Wichita, Temple came away with an 85-81 OT win. Shizz Alston, Jr., Nate Pierre-Louis, and Quinton Rose combined for 60 of the Owls’ 85 points and they had 12 steals that led to 21 Wichita State turnovers, nine more than their season average. In the rematch, expect Wichita State to protect the ball much better and get monster games from McDuffie and Haynes-Jones to pull the upset. Prediction: Wichita State