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NCAA Basketball: AAC’s best and mid-major threats among biggest questions

By Tristan Freeman

DAYTON, OHIO - JANUARY 14: Trey Landers #3 and Jalen Crutcher #10 of the Dayton Flyers celebrate against the VCU Rams at UD Arena on January 14, 2020 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OHIO - JANUARY 14: Trey Landers #3 and Jalen Crutcher #10 of the Dayton Flyers celebrate against the VCU Rams at UD Arena on January 14, 2020 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Basketball
CINCINNATI, OH – FEBRUARY 13: Tre Scott #13 and Jarron Cumberland #34 of the Cincinnati Bearcats (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Which NCAA Basketball games and mid-majors should we be looking at this week? We answer that and more in this week’s roundtable.

Between 13 ranked NCAA Basketball teams losing last week and several quality matchups for this upcoming week, there’s a lot to talk about overall in the sport, including some questions that need to be asked. For this edition of Busting Brackets roundtable, we have a new batch of talented cbb analysts to contribute to five new burning questions. Here are the writers participating:

Connor Gluck – @GluckConnor

Matthew Winick – @MatthewWinick

Brandon Simberg – @BrandonSimberg

Arden Cravalho – @a_cravalho

1. Who is the best team in the AAC right now?

Gluck

Do I really have to answer this one? Cause no one in the AAC seems to want to answer it for themselves and take charge in the league as it seems like there’s always a new team at the top every week or so. Tulsa had their mini-run there for a bit before losing two ugly ones to UCONN and UCF. I guess I’ll go with Houston. Despite their recent loss at SMU, the Cougars currently still have the best record in the conference and are the only team in the AAC in the top-45 in the NET rankings. The next closest team is Cincinnati at 48. The leader of the conference could easily be any one of 4 to 5 different teams at the end of the year, but none of them are really going to strike fear into the hearts of their NCAA tourney opponent.

Winick

Currently, I would say it’s a toss-up between Houston and Cincinnati, both tied at the top of the AAC at 10-3 in conference play. Given what I’ve seen from both teams, I give the edge to Cincinnati right now. This squad really has the feel of a team that is starting to figure it out. While some might argue against the Bearcats given that they struggled to beat East Carolina on Sunday, I would say that the resolve of a team that went on the road and won in Overtime with their best player (Jarron Cumberland) fouled out, can only make you better. The March 1st matchup between the Bearcats and Cougars will be a telling game.

Simberg

That question can be a different answer depending on the day. But on this current day, I’ll take Cincinnati. After some early-season struggles, the Bearcats have turned it around under first-year head coach John Brannen. Houston is right their with them, but the Bearcats beat them head to head and have arguably the league’s best player in Jarron Cumberland.

Cravalho

I would’ve 100% said Memphis at the beginning of the season but at this point, it’s Cincinnati. The Bearcats have been playing good ball lately (winning 7 of their last 8 matchups including a win over Houston) and Jarron Cumberland is back to looking like an All-American candidate.

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