2020–21 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2020–21 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season is scheduled to begin with practices in October 2020, followed by the start of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November 2020. Conference play will begin in December and conclude with the 2021 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. With UConn's departure on July 1, 2020, the American is back at 11 teams.

2020–21 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 2020
through March 2021
Number of teams11
TV partner(s)CBS, ESPN, ESPN+
Regular Season
Tournament
2020–21 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 5 Houston10–2 .833  16–2  .889
Wichita State7–2 .778  11–4  .733
Memphis8–3 .727  12–6  .667
SMU6–4 .600  10–4  .714
Tulsa6–6 .500  9–8  .529
South Florida3–3 .500  7–5  .583
Cincinnati3–4 .429  5–7  .417
Temple3–7 .300  4–7  .364
UCF3–8 .273  5–9  .357
East Carolina2–7 .222  8–7  .533
Tulane2–7 .222  7–7  .500
† 2021 AAC Tournament winner
As of February 7, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

Previous Season

Cincinnati, Houston and Tulsa were declared co-champions. The 2020 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was supposed to be held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.[1] Due to the coronavirus pandemic the tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020 – only minutes before the first game was set to begin.[2]

Precious Achiuwa from Memphis was named the AAC player of the year, Tulsa's Frank Haith was named coach of the year.[3]

2020–21 will mark the first year of the AAC's new TV Contract. The deal includes a minimum of 65 regular-season games per season on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, with at least 25 on ESPN or ESPN2. Complete annual coverage of the conference tournament across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, including the championship game on ESPN.[4]

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On November 17, 2020: Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall resigned[5] following an investigation into allegations of verbal and physical abuse, Wichita State promoted assistant coach Isaac Brown, to interim coach

Coaches

Note: Stats are through the beginning of the season. All stats and records are from time at current school only

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record AAC record AAC titles NCAA Tournaments* NCAA Final Fours NCAA Championships
Cincinnati John Brannen Northern Kentucky 2 20–10 13–5 1 0 0 0
East Carolina Joe Dooley Florida Gulf Coast 8 78–93 8–27 0 0 0 0
Houston Kelvin Sampson Houston Rockets
(asst.)		 7 138–59 71–37 2 2 0 0
Memphis Penny Hardaway East HS 3 43–24 21–15 0 0 0 0
SMU Tim Jankovich SMU
(asst.)		 6 90–46 38–31 1 2 0 0
South Florida Brian Gregory Michigan State
(advisor)		 4 48–53 18–36 0 0 0 0
Temple Aaron McKie Temple
(asst.)		 2 14–17 6–12 0 0 0 0
Tulane Ron Hunter Georgia State 2 12–18 4–14 0 0 0 0
Tulsa Frank Haith Missouri 7 116–76 67–41 1 1 0 0
UCF Johnny Dawkins Stanford 5 83–48 40–32 0 1 0 0
Wichita State Isaac Brown (Interim) Wichita State (asst.) 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0 0

Notes:

  • Overall and AAC records are from time at current school and are through the end of 2019–20 season. NCAA records include time at current school only.
  • AAC records only, prior conference records not included.
  • *In current job

Preseason

Preseason media poll

On October 28, The American released the preseason Poll and other preseason awards[6]

Coaches Poll
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1Houston99 (9)
2Memphis90 (2)
3SMU80
4Cincinnati77
5South Florida61
6Tulsa50
7Wichita State44
8UCF37
9East Carolina34
10Temple18
11Tulane15

Preseason All-AAC
Honor Recipient
Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Mills, Houston
Preseason Rookie of the Year Moussa Cissé, Memphis
Preseason All-AAC First Team
Keith Williams, Cincinnati
Jayden Gardner, East Carolina*
Caleb Mills, Houston*
Kendric Davis, SMU
Brandon Rachal, Tulsa
Preseason All-AAC Second Team
Chris Vogt, Cincinnati
D. J. Jeffries, Memphis
Landers Nolley, Memphis
Alexis Yetna, USF
Tyson Jolly, SMU
*Unanimous selections

Regular season

Rankings
Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
    First Place votes shown in ()
Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings
 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
C N/A
East Carolina AP
C N/A
Houston AP 17 10
C 18 N/A
Memphis AP RV
C RV N/A
SMU AP
C N/A
South Florida AP
C N/A
Temple AP
C N/A
Tulane AP
C N/A
Tulsa AP
C N/A
UCF AP
C N/A
Wichita State AP
C N/A

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

  Cincinnati East Carolina Houston Memphis SMU South Florida Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF Wichita State
vs. Cincinnati —0–11–00–10–11–01–01–0
vs. East Carolina —0–12–01–01–01–11–01–0
vs. Houston 1–0—0–20–20–21–10–20–1
vs. Memphis 0–2—1–10–10–12–00–20–1
vs. SMU 1–00–12–01–1—0–20–10–1
vs. South Florida 0–10–11–0—1–00–11–0
vs. Temple 1–02–02–0—1–10–10–11–0
vs. Tulane 1–01–12–01–01–1—1–0
vs. Tulsa 0–10–11–10–21–00–11–0—1–02–0
vs. UCF 0–10–12–02–01–01–01–00–1—1–0
vs. Wichita State 0–11–01–00–10–10–10–20–1—
Total 3–42–710–28–36–43–33–72–76–63–87–2

Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the American Athletic Conference named a player and rookie of the week.

Week Player of the week Freshman of the week Ref.
Week 1 – Nov 30 Marcus Sasser, Houston Tramon Mark, Houston [7]
Week 2 – Dec 7 Kendric Davis, SMU Tramon Mark (2), Houston [8]
Week 3 – Dec 14 David Collins, USF Moussa Cisse, Memphis [9]
Week 4 – Dec 21 Brandon Mahan, UCF Isaiah Adams, UCF [10]
Week 5 – Dec 28 Tyson Etienne, Wichita State Caleb Murphy, USF [11]
Week 6 – Jan 4 Brandon Rachal, Tulsa Caleb Murphy (2), USF [12]
Week 7 – Jan 11 Marcus Sasser (2), Houston Ricky Council IV, Wichita State [13]
Week 8 – Jan 18 Morris Udeze, Wichita State Damian Dunn, Temple [14]
Week 9 – Jan 25 Quentin Grimes, Houston Moussa Cisse (2), Memphis [15]
Week 10 – Feb 1 Travis Etienne (2), Wichita State Tylan Pope, Tulane [16]

All-AAC Awards and Teams
Honor Recipient
Player of the Year
Coach of the Year
Freshman of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Most Improved Player
Sixth Man of the Year
Sportsmanship Award
All-AAC First Team
All-AAC Second Team
All-AAC Third Team
All-Freshman Team
*Unanimous selections

Postseason

American Athletic Conference Tournament
Main article: 2021 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
  First round
Thursday, March 11		 Quarterfinals
Friday, March 12		 Semifinals
Saturday, March 13		 Championship
Sunday, March 14
                                     
8 TBD  
9 TBD  
  1 TBD  
     
     
       
   
   
       
       
  4 TBD
    5 TBD  
     
       
 
 
7 TBD  
10 TBD  
  2 TBD
     
     
       
 
   
6 TBD  
11 TBD  
  3 TBD
     
     

[17]

NCAA Tournament
Main article: 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament

The winner of the 2021 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament.

Seed Region School First Four First Round Second Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship
W–L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) Total: 0–0 (–)

National Invitation Tournament
Main article: 2021 National Invitation Tournament
Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
W–L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) Total: 0–0 (–)

College Basketball Invitational
School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals (Best-of-three)
W–L (%): 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) Total: 0–0 (–)

NBA Draft

The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2021 NBA draft.

Player Position School Round Pick Team

References
  1. McGrath, Shawn. "AAC Men's Basketball Tournament Headed to Fort Worth for 2020–2022". The UConn Blog. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  2. http://theamerican.org/news/2020/3/11/american-athletic-conference-statement-on-2020-air-force-reserve-mens-basketball-championship.aspx
  3. "American Athletic Conference Announces Individual Awards". theamerican.org. sidearmsports.com. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  4. "American Athletic Conference and ESPN Agree to 12-Year Media Rights Extension". theAmerican.org. SidearmSports. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  5. "Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall resigns after misconduct probe". NBCSports.com. NBC Universal.
  6. "Houston Tabbed as 2020-21 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Favorite". theAmerican.org. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  7. "Houston Sweeps First Men's Basketball Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  8. "SMU's Davis, Houston's Mark Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2020-12-10.
  9. "USF's Collins, Memphis' Cisse Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  10. "UCF Sweeps Men's Basketball Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  11. "Wichita State's Etienne, USF's Murphy Earn Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  12. "Tulsa's Rachal, USF's Murphy Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  13. "Houston's Sasser, Wichita State's Council Earn Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  14. "Wichita State's Udeze, Temple's Dunn Earn Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-01-18.
  15. "Houston's Grimes, Memphis' Cisse Earn Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  16. "Wichita State's Etienne, Tulane's Pope Earn Weekly Honors". theamerican.org. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  17. "American Athletic Conference – 2020 MBB Championship Bracket" (PDF). theamerican.org.
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