Busting Brackets
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AAC Basketball power rankings: Wichita State rises to the top

By Ben Andreatta

WICHITA, KS - JANUARY 25: Darral Willis Jr. #21 of the Wichita State Shockers reacts after scoring a basket against UCF Knights during the first half on January 25, 2018 at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
WICHITA, KS - JANUARY 25: Darral Willis Jr. #21 of the Wichita State Shockers reacts after scoring a basket against UCF Knights during the first half on January 25, 2018 at Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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ANAHEIM, CA – DECEMBER 01: Trevon Reddish #23 of the Charleston Cougars defends a shot by Dazon Ingram #12 of the UCF Knights (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA – DECEMBER 01: Trevon Reddish #23 of the Charleston Cougars defends a shot by Dazon Ingram #12 of the UCF Knights (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

12. UCF Knights (Prior Ranking: 7)

0-4 to conference play is a straight-up disaster. I talked about Johnny Dawkins setting up his team pretty well at 9-3 in non-conference play and all of that has been undone in a matter of four games.

Losses to Temple, Houston, SMU, and Cincinnati ensure that UCF plummets from the number seven ranking they had last time. I thought the Knights would be better than this.

Outside of Smith and DeJesus, UCF doesn’t have many scorers, Matt Milon got hot and went for 19 against SMU in just his third start of the season but even that wasn’t enough to get the Knights their first conference win.

Central Florida will have Tulane and South Florida and need to win both of those to have any chance of salvaging this horrific start to conference play. I expect things to get better but for now, they’ll sit rock bottom.

11. South Florida Bulls  (Prior Ranking: 10)

1-3 in conference play and 8-9 overall, the Bulls looked to be on the brink of a big-time upset over Memphis before Memphis was able to climb back in and scrape the win. The struggle continues on offense for Brian Gregory and company who are in the bottom 50 in the country in points per game.

If South Florida can’t figure out how to put up more points they’re not going to win a lot of games, they managed to get 75 against UConn and won. South Florida is one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the nation averaging a little over 60% which won’t help them in close games.

South Florida will get Central Florida next before games against Wichita and Houston, things won’t get easier for a Bulls team that had high expectations entering the season.