AAC Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season
By Joey Loose
7. South Florida
The Bulls have not finished above .500 in conference play since helping found the AAC nine years ago, and the last five of those seasons fall under the watch of current coach Brian Gregory. Last year’s squad was just 8-23 and was one of the worst offensive units in the entire nation. However, the defense was solid and there’s optimism that season will be a step in the right direction.
Losing guard Caleb Murphy to DePaul hurts the Bulls, but they’ve more than replaced him on the roster. They’ll work former Kansas State guard Selton Miguel and former Memphis point guard Tyler Harris immediately into the starting lineup. Center Russell Tchewa is back for another season, and the Bulls will hope he continues to develop into a force down low. Returning players like Jamir Chaplin and Sam Hines will have bigger roles moving forward as well.
South Florida has a chance to take a step forward based just on how some of these other teams are expected to regress. If they can figure things out on the offense, that alone will help make this a more competitive basketball team. With those new additions in the backcourt, it’s expected that they will take a step forward, especially shooting the ball, but it’s still probably nowhere near enough of an improvement to actually compete for a conference title.