AAC Basketball: 5 biggest questions heading into 2019-20 season

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 11: The AAC Championship trophy to be presented to the Cincinnati Bearcats after the final game of the 2018 AAC Basketball Championship against Houston Cougars at Amway Center on March 11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

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MIAMI, FL – DECEMBER 01: Head coach Penny Hardaway of the Memphis Tigers reacts against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Can the Memphis freshmen live up to the hype?

Almost all of the talk in the AAC has been about Memphis this offseason and their No. 1 recruiting class in the country and the huge expectations that have been put on them. With the addition of two five-star recruits and five four-stars, the Tigers are going to be young. Penny Hardaway will be starting just his second season coaching and the Tigers just missed out on an NCAA tournament birth after a loss in the conference tournament semifinals to Houston last season. Everyone should expect there to be a learning curve this season for both the players and the coaching staff, but people are going to want to know if they are legit and any early slip-ups will raise a lot of questions. Let’s take a look at who we know they’ll be playing.

Non-Conference Games to Watch

Nov 12th – Oregon

Nov 26th – North Carolina State

TBA – Northwestern (True Road Game)

Dec 14th – Tennessee (True Road Game)

Jan- 4th – Ole Miss

There are actually quite a few non-conference games that stand out for Memphis this year. This is a great chance for them to learn a lot before conference play begins and a great opportunity for fans to see what this team is all about.

*Memphis has not officially released their 2019/20 nonconference schedule*

Conference Games Against Quality Opponents

Home/Home – Cincinnati

Home/Home – Houston

Home/Home – UConn

Home/Home – Wichita State

Away – UCF

Since the conference is expected to be so deep, the Tigers will have a lot of chances to get some quality conference wins under their belt. I think it’s safe to say they’ll be a tournament team, but it’s hard to evaluate just how good a team full of freshman can be. We’ve seen it work wonders in some years with teams like Kentucky and Duke but there have been multiple instances where those freshman filled teams have flopped.