AAC Basketball: Houston, Memphis tied in 2019-20 preseason polls

The AAC Basketball Preseason Poll was released Monday morning, how did the coaches vote and what were the major surprises?

The Conference announced on Monday morning the preseason favorites to win AAC Basketball as voted on by the coaches. It’s always cool to see how the coaches think the conference will shake out and where teams will land. For the most part, I think the results of the preseason poll were pretty accurate, there wasn’t a team I felt was way off from where they should be, I might have flipped a team here and there but it was nothing major.

I’ll take a look at the entire AAC preseason poll from top to bottom. Talk about where each team is ranked and whether or not I think they deserve to be there. I’ll mention a few things that caught my attention with the poll including where the first-place votes were cast.

2019-20 American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll

T-1: Houston (7) 113

Probably the biggest surprise from the voting would be Houston getting seven number one votes. This speaks volumes about Kelvin Sampson as he enters the season without Corey Davis and Armoni Brooks. DeJon Jarreau found himself on the Preseason First-Team and will look to carry a lot of the weight for Houston this season. Houston is a contender but I think it’s surprising coaches voted them ahead of Memphis. Other AAC coaches must not be convinced about Memphis yet.

T-1: Memphis (4) 113

I think everyone expected Memphis to be the preseason favorites after Penny Hardaway brought in the number one recruiting class in the country. Other conference favorites lost a lot of key pieces or are going through a coaching change. Freshman James Wiseman was voted to the Preseason First-Team and rightfully so. He’ll be a matchup nightmare for every team he comes up against, he has a unique skill set and will be one of the most exciting players in the country as well as a lottery pick. Memphis are dangerous.

3: Cincinnati (1) 94

This is right where I had Cincinnati in the preseason rankings but the only surprise here would be them receiving a number one vote. Have to think either Sampson or Hardaway put their vote towards Cincinnati. A transition year for the Bearcats who lost Mick Cronin to UCLA but bring in John Brannen to replace him. Jarron Cumberland is back and was voted the Preseason Player of the Year, Cumberland is out to prove himself and will be a leader on the court for the Bearcats. There’s a lot of good pieces around him especially with the transfer of Jaevin Cumberland. Jaevin will provide the Bearcats another deep shooter, something they struggled with last season.

4: Wichita State 88

Never count out a Greg Marshall team. Dexter Dennis will be an exciting player for Shockers. Their two leading scorers from last season are gone but the fact that they’re still picked to finish fourth shows the amount of respect coaches have for Marshall as a coach. The Shockers will quietly fly under the radar until conference time.

5: USF 79

Brian Gregory has a lot of returners back and they will be very intriguing, Laquincy Rideau was voted to the Preseason First Team and Collins and Yetna both made the Preseason Second Team. Funnily enough, USF actually had the most players of any time on the First and Second Team combined. The Bulls are a team that will cause chaos in conference play and is certainly good enough to get a tournament bid if they play as well as they’re capable of.

6: UConn 75

UConn is probably the hardest team to figure out where to put, they have a lot of talent with Alterique Gilbert and Christian Vitale who were both voted to the Preseason Second Team. A talented group of freshmen and a few other returners make UConn a threat. I think six is too low for them but based on their past few seasons it’s easy to see why they’re so low. Their likely a year away but by that time they’ll be out of the AAC and on to the Big East.

7: Temple 72

Temple has some talent on their roster, they’ll rely on Nate Pierre-Louis and Quinton Rose to lead the Owls. This is the right spot for them, after Temple, there’s a big drop off in talent. Dunphy is a great coach and will try to bring the Owls to back to back tournament appearances. This is a good spot for them.

8: SMU 47

SMU has a solid core coming back but it won’t be enough to compete at the top of the AAC, only six wins in conference play they’ll likely be right around that mark again.

9: UCF 40

A lot of last seasons roster is gone including Tacko Fall, Aubrey Dawkins, and BJ Taylor, this will be a rebuilding year for UCF. Interested to see how Johnny Dawkins responds, they’ll likely struggle a lot this season as they try and move forward.

10: Tulsa 36

A team that returns two of their top three scorers from a team that went 8-10 in conference play last season. There’s been a big shakeup on the roster from transfers both in and out. Don’t expect Tulsa to do much this season.

11: ECU 20

Jayden Gardner was voted to the Preseason Second Team, if he played on a better team he’d probably find himself on the First Team. After only three conference wins last season it’s hard to see much improvement.

12: Tulane 15

This roster is almost unrecognizable, they didn’t win a single conference game last year. No surprise here as Tulane brings up the rear.