AAC Basketball: 5 key questions and storylines for 2021-22 season

5. Which team from the projected bottom half (ECU, Tulane, South Florida, Tulsa, and Temple) has the best chance of being at least a “bubble team”?

Watson

Tulsa’s projected top seven rotation players will be five seniors and two juniors. This is a team that finished seventh in the AAC last season and has the experience and defensive ability necessary to sneak into the top 5 of the league for the fifth time in their eight years in the conference.

Burgess

I’ll go with Tulsa here. The Golden Hurricane got two big returns this summer, Darien Jackson returns for another year, and Jeriah Horne comes back after a season with Colorado. Another reason to like Tulsa is the addition of Sam Griffin from UT Arlington and LaDavius Draine from Southern Mississippi. Tulsa has had offensive issues, but I think Horne and Griffin will help alleviate that.

Loose

It’s hard to imagine one of these teams making the jump into the bubble conversation, though certainly, anything is possible in the world of college basketball.

If anyone, it’s possible it could be Temple, who return most of their talent from last season and desperately need to take a big step forward under third-year head coach Aaron McKie.