2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season took place between November 2015 and March 2016. Practices began in October 2015, with conference play beginning in December, and the season ended with the 2016 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. The season was the third since the split of the original Big East Conference into two separate leagues. The tournament had only 10 teams, as SMU is serving a postseason ban due to academic fraud and unethical conduct[1]

2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 2015
through March 2016
Number of teams11
TV partner(s)ESPN, CBS, ASN
Regular Season
ChampionsTemple
Tournament
ChampionsConnecticut
  Runners-upMemphis
2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
Temple144 .778  2112  .636
No. 24 SMU*135 .722  255  .833
Houston126 .667  2210  .688
Cincinnati126 .667  2211  .667
Tulsa126 .667  2012  .625
UConn117 .611  2511  .694
Memphis810 .444  1915  .559
UCF612 .333  1218  .400
East Carolina414 .222  1220  .375
South Florida414 .222  825  .242
Tulane315 .167  1222  .353
*Ineligible for postseason due to postseason ban
American Athletic Conference Tournament Champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason

At the 2015 American Athletic Conference media day on October 27, the conference released announced coaches predictions for standings and All-Conference teams[2]

See Also: Men's Basketball Media Day October 27 In Orlando

2015-16 Preseason Coaches' Poll

  1. SMU (8) 98
  2. Connecticut (2) 87
  3. Cincinnati (1) 84
  4. Tulsa 76
  5. Memphis 59
  6. Temple 54
  7. Houston 48
  8. East Carolina 31
  9. UCF 30
  10. USF 20
  11. Tulane 11

(First-Place Votes) Points

Preseason All-AAC Teams

First Team Second Team
Octavius Ellis, F, CIN
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, CONN
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
Nic Moore, G, SMU
James Woodard, G, TULSA
Troy Caupain, G, CIN
Amida Brimah, C, CONN
Sterling Gibbs, G, CONN
Shaq Goodwin, F, MEM
Shaquille Harrison, G, TULSA

denotes unanimous selection

  • American Athletic Preseason Player of the Year: Nic Moore, G, SMU
  • American Athletic Preseason Rookie of the Year: Jalen Adams, G, CONN

Rankings

Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
 PreWk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Wk
17
Wk
18
Wk
19
Final
Cincinnati AP RV RV 24 17 23 23 22 22 RV RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV 24 17 22 20 21 23 RV RV RV RV RV
Connecticut AP 20 19 18 RV RV 25 RV RV 23 RV RV RV RV
C т 24 24 21 RV RV RV RV RV 24 RV RV RV RV RV
East Carolina AP
C
Houston AP RV
C RV RV
Memphis AP
C
SMU AP RV RV т25 22 19 18 18 17 15 10 8 13 12 16 21 24 24 25 24
C
USF AP
C
Temple AP RV
C
Tulane AP
C
Tulsa AP RV
C RV RV
UCF AP
C

AAC regular season

Conference matrix

  Cincinnati Connecticut East Carolina Houston Memphis SMU USF Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF
vs. Cincinnati 0–20–21–11–11-10–22–00–11–10-1
vs. Connecticut 2–00–11–10–21-10–12–00–21–10-2
vs. East Carolina 2–01–01–01–12-01–11–11–12–02-0
vs. Houston 1–11–10–10–11-11–11–10–21–10-2
vs. Memphis 1–12–01–11–02-01–11–11–10–10-2
vs. SMU 1–11–10–21–10–20–21–00–21–10-1
vs. South Florida 2–01–01–11–11–12–02–01–11–02-0
vs. Temple 0–20–21–11–11–10–10–20–11–10-2
vs. Tulane 1–02–01–12–01–12–01–11–02–02-0
vs. Tulsa 1–11–10–21–11–01–10–11–10–20-2
vs. UCF 1–02–00–22–02–01–00–22–00–22–0
Total 12–611–74–1412–68–1013–54–1414–43–1512–66–12

Postseason

American Men's Basketball Championship

2016 American Men's Basketball Championship seeds and results
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First Round
March 10
Quarterfinals
March 11
Semifinals
March 12
Championship
March 13
1. Temple ‡ # 14-4 20-10 Bye vs. #9 South Florida - W, 79-62 vs. #5 Connecticut - L, 62-77
2. Houston # 12-6 22-8 1-0 vs. MEM Bye vs. #10 Tulane - L, 69-72
3. Tulsa # 12-6 20-10 0-1 vs. MEM Bye vs. #6 Memphis - L, 67-89
4. Cincinnati # 12-6 22-9 0-2 vs. TEMP Bye vs. #5 Connecticut - L, 97-104 4OT
5. Connecticut # 11-7 21-10 Bye vs. #4 Cincinnati - W, 104-97 4OT vs. #1 Temple - W, 77-62 vs. #6 Memphis - W, 72-58
6. Memphis # 8-10 17-14 Bye vs. #3 Tulsa - W, 89-67 vs. #10 Tulane - W, 74-54 vs. #5 Connecticut - L, 58-72
7. UCF 6-12 12-17 vs. #10 Tulane - L, 63-65
8. East Carolina 4-14 12-19 1-1 vs. TEMP vs. #9 South Florida - L, 66-71
9. South Florida 4–14 7–24 0–2 vs. TEMP vs. #8 East Carolina - W, 71-66 vs. #1 Temple - L, 62-79
10. Tulane 3–15 10–21 vs. #7 UCF - W, 65-63 vs. #2 Houston - W, 72-69 vs. #6 Memphis - L, 54-74
‡ – American regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.
# – Received a bye in the conference tournament.
Overall records include all games prior to the AAC Tournament.

* SMU is banned from postseason play due to academic fraud and unethical conduct[4]

NCAA tournament

Seed Region School First Four Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
9 South Connecticut Bye vs. #8 Colorado - W, 74-67 vs. #1 Kansas - L, 61-73
9 West Cincinnati Bye vs. #8 St. Joseph's - L, 76-78
10 South Temple Bye vs. #7 Iowa - L, 70-72 OT
11 East Tulsa vs. #11 Michigan - L, 62-67
W–L (%): 0–1 (.000) 1–2 (.333) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 () 0–0 () 0–0 () 0–0 () Total: 1–4 (.200)

National Invitation Tournament

Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
5 South Carolina Houston vs. #4 Georgia Tech - L, 62-81
W–L (%): 0–1 (.000) 0–0 () 0–0 () 0–0 () 0–0 () Total: 0–1 (.000)

Honors and awards

All-Americans

All-AAC awards and teams

2016 American Men's Basketball Individual Awards
Award Recipient(s)
Player of the Year Nic Moore, G,SMU
Coach of the Year Fran Dunphy,TEMP
Scholar-Athlete of the Year Shaquille Harrison, G,TULSA
Rookie of the Year Dedric Lawson, F,MEM
Defensive Player of the Year Gary Clark, F, CIN
Most Improved Player Prince Williams, G, ECU
Sixth Man Award Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
Sportsmanship Award Ruben Guerrero, C, USF
2016 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams|[5]
First Team Second Team Honorable Mention All-Rookie Team
Troy Caupain, G, CIN
Shaq Goodwin, F, MEM
Nic Moore, G, SMU
Quenton DeCosey, G, TEM
James Woodard, G, TULSA
Daniel Hamilton, G/F, CONN
Gary Clark, F, CIN
Devonta Pollard, F, HOU
Dedric Lawson, F, MEM
Shaquille Harrison, G, TULSA
Shonn Miller, F, CONN
Damyean Dotson, G, HOU
Kentrell Barkley, G/F, ECU
Dedric Lawson, F, MEM
Galen Robinson, G, HOU
Jahmal McMurray, G, USF
Shake Milton, G, SMU
denotes unanimous selection

NBA Draft

The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2016 NBA draft.

Player Position School Round Pick Team
Daniel Hamilton SG/SF Connecticut 2 56 Denver Nuggets

References

  1. "NCAA bans SMU from 2016 postseason, Larry Brown for nine games". ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  2. "SMU Picked to Win 2015-16 American Men's Basketball Title". American Athletic Conference. SideArm Sports. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  3. "2016 American Men's Basketball Championship". American Athletic Conference. SideArm Sports. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  4. "NCAA bans SMU from 2016 postseason, Larry Brown for nine games". ESPN. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  5. "AMERICAN MEN'S BASKETBALL ALL-CONFERENCE AND ALL-ROOKIE TEAMS ANNOUNCED". American Athletic Conference. Sidearm Sports. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
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