AAC Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2022-23 season

Houston starting the season at the top of the AAC pecking order should be of little surprise. Not only should the Cougars be the best team in the conference, but they should be one of the best teams in the whole country … again.

The Cougars dominated during the regular season last year, going 26-5 and winning the conference title during the regular season. They proceeded to trounce the opposition in the AAC Tournament and made it to the Elite Eight, where they lost in an ugly, low-scoring affair to Villanova.

It was the second straight year Houston made it to the last three rounds of the Big Dance. They didn’t spend a single day outside of the top 20 in the AP poll. Kelvin Sampson was the AAC Coach of the Year, while four players made an All-AAC team.

So why is Houston in line for an encore? They lost plenty during the offseason. Fabian White Jr., Josh Carlton, and Kyler Edwards are all gone, with the latter becoming a member of the San Antonio Spurs.

Marcus Sasser is back, though, and hopefully healthy. He was leading the Cougars with 17.7 points per game before a toe injury ended his season before conference play was even underway. Who knows what would’ve happened last year if he was healthy, but now we’ll have a chance to find out.

Third Team All-AAC guard Jamal Shead is back too. He was the best distributor in the entire conference last season, averaging 5.8 assists per game, in addition to double-digit scoring. He and Sasser form a really strong tandem.

Tramon Mark rounds out the group of guards. After being one of the conference’s best ball thieves and passers as a freshman, injuries limited Mark to seven games last season. Fans will be just as grateful to see him healthy as Sasser.

The one area Houston is thin is the frontcourt, especially after the departures of White and Carlton. Forward Jarace Walker enters the picture as one of the best recruits in Houston history, a consensus five-star recruit. His 6-8 frame is the biggest on the team and he’ll be expected to keep the frontcourt thriving.

Kelvin Sampson has the Cougars in position to be a consistent national contender, but things may be different when the team makes the move to the Big 12 next year. They should put a stamp on a dominant AAC run in 2022-23.