Memphis Basketball: 3 reasons why Tigers will win AAC title in 2019-20

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LOUISVILLE, KY – MARCH 19: The Cincinnati Bearcats mascot performs against the Purdue Boilermakers during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the KFC YUM! Center on March 19, 2015 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

2. The other contenders won’t be as good as in recent years

Of course, all of this looks good on paper and the players have to gel, but the pundits are buying in (and so am I), as our resident bracketologist has the Tigers as the No. 4 seed in the South Region in his preseason edition of bracketology.

In order to win the AAC, the Tigers will likely have to go through the usual suspects, namely Houston and Cincinnati and a team looking to have a bit of bounce-back season, in Wichita State. The good news for Memphis is that none of those teams have their talent level and while they will be good they are likely not to be at the level they have competed at in recent years.

Houston has dominated the last two seasons record-wise, winning 60 games, but they lose their top two scorers, Corey Davis, Jr., and Armoni Brooks, but they do return Dejon Jarreau, Fabian White and if they can get a waiver so that Kansas transfer Quentin Grimes is eligible immediately, they will likely challenge for the league title, but 30 wins or more might be a stretch.

Cincinnati has undergone some big changes this summer, gone is longtime head coach Mick Cronin who left for UCLA and former Northern Kentucky John Brannen now leads the program. The Bearcats do return their top three scorers, Jarron Cumberland, who is a Player of the Year candidate in the conference, Keith Williams, and Tre Scott, but basically all their depth is gone, all other returnees combined to score 5.7 points per game last season. Cincinnati will still be good, but the lack of depth and adjustment to a new coach leaves the Bearcats susceptible to some regression.

Wichita State won 22 games last season but do lose their top two scorers, Markis McDuffie and Samajae Haynes-Jones to graduation, while returning their next top seven scorers, that production should help the Shockers compete at the top of the conference, but it won’t be enough to hold off the ultra-talented Tigers.

Memphis is going to win the AAC because the teams they will likely battle for the title are either not on the level of Memphis’ talent or due for some regression compared to the last few seasons.