2019–20 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2019–20 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2019 followed by the start of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. The conference held its media day in October 2019. Conference play began in December 2019 and concluded in March 2020.

Head coaches

Coaching changes Cincinnati hired former Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen after coach Mick Cronin departed for the same role at UCLA. Tulane fired Mike Dunleavy after 3 seasons and replaced him with former Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter. Temple head coach Fran Dunphy retired at the end of the 2018–19 season and was succeeded by assistant coach and Temple alum Aaron McKie.

Coaches

Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Overall record AAC record AAC titles NCAA Tournaments* NCAA Final Fours NCAA ChampionshipsCincinnati John BrannenNorthern Kentucky 1 20–10 13–5 1 0 0 0ConnecticutDan HurleyRhode Island 2 35–29 16–20 0 0 0 0East CarolinaJoe DooleyFlorida Gulf Coast 7 78–93 8–27 0 0 0 0HoustonKelvin SampsonHouston Rockets(asst.) 6 138–59 71–37 2 2 0 0MemphisPenny HardawayEast HS 2 43–24 21–15 0 0 0 0SMUTim Jankovich SMU(asst.) 5 90–46 38–31 1 2 0 0South FloridaBrian GregoryMichigan State(advisor) 3 48–53 18–36 0 0 0 0TempleAaron McKieTemple(asst.) 1 14–17 6–12 0 0 0 0TulaneRon HunterGeorgia State 1 12–18 4–14 0 0 0 0TulsaFrank HaithMissouri 6 116–76 67–41 1 1 0 0UCFJohnny Dawkins Stanford 4 83–48 40–32 0 1 0 0Wichita StateGregg Marshall Winthrop 13 337–119 35–19 0 7 1 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 Coaches Poll The AAC Coaches poll was released on October 14, 2019, with the Cougars predicted to finish first in the AAC.

Coaches poll T–1 Houston 113 (7) T–1 Memphis 113 (4) 3 Cincinnati 94 (1) 4 Wichita State 88 5 USF 79 6 UConn 75 7 Temple 72 8 SMU 47 9 UCF 40 10 Tulsa 36 11 East Carolina 20 12 Tulane 15

Preseason All-AAC Teams Honor Recipient Preseason Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati Preseason All-AAC First Team Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati Quinton Rose, Temple DeJon Jarreau, Houston James Wiseman, Memphis Laquincy Rideau, USF Preseason All-AAC Second Team Alexis Yetna, USF Jayden Gardner, ECU Nate Pierre-Louis, Temple Alterique Gilbert, UConn David Collins, USF Christian Vital, UConn Preseason Rookie of the Year James Wiseman, Memphis

Regular season

Rankings + Legend   Increase in ranking   Decrease in ranking   Not ranked previous week

  Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 FinalMemphis AP 14 13 16 16 15 13 11 9 9 21 22 20 RV C 15 15 20 20 18 17T 13 10 11 22 22 20 RV Wichita State AP RV RV 24 23 16 RV 23 RV C RV RV RV RV 25 23 23 16 22 22 RV Houston AP RV RV RV RV RV 25 21 25 20 22 25 21 22-T 22C RV RV RV RV RV 24 20 25 19 22 RV 21 24 23Cincinnati AP RV RV RV RV C RV RV RV RV RV RV SMU AP RV RV C Tulsa AP RV RV C RV RV RV

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games: one game vs. four opponents and two games against seven opponents.  CincinnatiConnecticutEast CarolinaHoustonMemphisSMUSouth FloridaTempleTulaneTulsaUCFWichita Statevs. Cincinnati–1–10–21–11–10–10–10–21–00–11–10–2vs. Connecticut1–1–0–11–11–11–01–11–10–21–10–11–0vs. East Carolina2–01–0–1–01–01–11–11–10–22–02–01–0vs. Houston1–11–10–1–1–11–10–20–10–11–10–10–2vs. Memphis1–11–10–11–1–2–01–10–10–21–00–11–1vs. SMU1–00–11–11–10–2–1–11–11–11–01–11–0vs. South Florida1–01–11–12–01–11–1–0–10–11–01–12–0vs. Temple2–01–11–11–01–01–11–0–1–12–00–11–1vs. Tulane0–12–02–01–02–01–11–01–1–2–01–11–0vs. Tulsa1–01–10–21–10–10–10–10–20–2–1–11–1vs. UCF1–11–00–21–01–01–11–11–01–11–1–2–0vs. Wichita State2–00–10–12–01–10–10–21–10–11–10–2–Total13–510–85–1313–510–89–97–116–124–1413–57–1111–7

Note: table updated through end of 2019–20 season

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 Rookie of the week Reference Week 1 – Nov 11 Nate Pierre-Louis – Temple James Wiseman – Memphis Week 2 - Nov 18 Brandon Rachal – Tulsa Lester Quiñones – Memphis Week 3 - Nov 25 Precious Achiuwa – Memphis James Bouknight – UConn Week 4 - Dec 2 Quinton Rose – Temple Boogie Ellis – Memphis Week 5 - Dec 9 Quentin Grimes – Houston Tyson Etienne – Wichita State Week 6 - Dec 16 Erik Stevenson – Wichita State Caleb Mills – Houston Week 7 - Dec 23 Jayden Gardner – East Carolina Precious Achiuwa – Memphis Week 8 - Dec 30 Fabian White Jr. – Houston Grant Sherfield – Wichita State Week 9 - Jan 6Erik Stevenson (2) – Wichita StatePrecious Achiuwa (2) – MemphisWeek 10 - Jan 13Jayden Gardner (2) – East CarolinaPrecious Achiuwa (3) – MemphisWeek 11 - Jan 20Brandon Rachal (2) – TulsaD. J. Jeffries – MemphisWeek 12 - Jan 27Martins Igbanu – TulsaCaleb Mills (2) – HoustonWeek 13 - Feb 3Elijah Joiner – TulsaPrecious Achiuwa (4) – MemphisWeek 14 - Feb 10James Bouknight – UConnDarin Green Jr. – UCFWeek 15 - Feb 17Trevon Scott – CincinnatiJames Bouknight (2) – UConnWeek 16 - Feb 24Teshaun Hightower – TulanePrecious Achiuwa (5) – MemphisWeek 17 - March 2Christian Vital – UConnMarcus Sasser – HoustonWeek 18 - March 9Christian Vital (2) – UConnPrecious Achiuwa (6) – Memphis

Honors and awards

All-AAC Awards and Teams Honor Recipient Player of the Year Precious Achiuwa, Memphis Coach of the Year Frank Haith, Tulsa Freshman of the Year Precious Achiuwa, Memphis Defensive Player of the Year Trevon Scott, Cincinnati Most Improved Player Trevon Scott, Cincinnati Sixth Man of the Year Martins Igbanu, Tulsa Sportsmanship Award Trevon Scott, Cincinnati All-AAC First Team Precious Achiuwa, Memphis* Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati Martins Igbanu, Tulsa Trevon Scott, Cincinnati Christian Vital, UConn All-AAC Second Team Jaime Echenique, Wichita State Jayden Gardner, East Carolina Nate Hinton, Houston Caleb Mills, Houston Quinton Rose, Temple All-AAC Third Team James Bouknight, UConn Kendric Davis, SMU Tyson Jolly, SMU Isiaha Mike, SMU Brandon Rachal, Tulsa All-Freshman Team Precious Achiuwa, Memphis* James Bouknight, UConn* Caleb Mills, Houston* Lester Quiñones, Memphis Marcus Sasser, Houston* Unanimous Selection

Postseason

American Athletic Conference tournament

Due to the coronavirus pandemic the tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020 – only minutes before the first game was set to begin.

NCAA Tournament

On March 12, the tournament, as well as all other postseason tournaments for the remainder of the academic season, was cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. It was the first time the tournament had been cancelled since its creation in 1939.

NBA draft The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2020 NBA draft.

Player Position School Round Pick Team James Wiseman C Memphis 1 2 Golden State Warriors Precious Achiuwa PF Memphis 1 20 Miami Heat

References