AAC Basketball Power Rankings: Memphis on top, Cincinnati Struggles

AAC Basketball Power Rankings: Memphis holds top spot, Cincinnati Struggles

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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DALLAS, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 09: The East Carolina Pirates mascot at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on November 09, 2019 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

12. East Carolina Pirates

A dreadful start to the campaign for the Pirates who finished last year at 10-21 and had only three wins in conference play. They’ve started this year off on the wrong foot already falling to 2-7.

Jayden Gardner has been a huge bright spot for East Carolina regardless of the Pirates’ struggles, the extremely talented sophomore has started hot averaging almost 20 points and nine rebounds in their first nine games. He should most definitely earn some postseason honors from the AAC from his efforts but his team is very likely to remain bottom feeders of the AAC this season.

East Carolina will start conference play with a road game in Wichita on January 1st.

11. Tulane Green Wave

Don’t think many people thought Tulane would be sitting at 7-2 with a win against Utah. New head coach Ron Hunter has the Wave playing well to start the season and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue to make the program better. Tulane has already almost doubled their win total of four from last season through just nine games.

Teshaun Howard, KJ Lawson, and Christion Thompson are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for this Wave team that boasts a lot of youth, Thompson is the only senior on this team. Ron Hunter should be able to keep Tulane off the bottom of the AAC this season and there’s hope for the future of Tulane in what has been a bleak history for this program.