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. For the 2020-21 Season due to COVID-19 pandemic The scheduling format was changed to a 20-game, double round-robin conference schedules. Conference play in men's basketball will began with three windows for games in December (Dec. 14–17, Dec. 21-23 and Dec. 28–31).

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

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

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.

Head coaches

Coaching changes On November 17, 2020: Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall resigned following an investigation into allegations of verbal and physical abuse, Wichita State promoted assistant coach Isaac Brown, to interim coach. On February 26, 2021, he was named permanent head coach, agreeing to a five-year deal.

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 ChampionshipsCincinnati John BrannenNorthern Kentucky 2 32–20 21–11 1 0 0 0East CarolinaJoe DooleyFlorida Gulf Coast 7 94–106 10–35 0 0 0 0HoustonKelvin SampsonHouston Rockets(asst.) 7 167–64 85–40 2 3 1 0MemphisPenny HardawayEast HS 3 63–32 31–19 0 0 0 0SMUTim Jankovich SMU(asst.) 6 101–55 45–38 1 1 0 0South FloridaBrian GregoryMichigan State(advisor) 4 57–66 23–46 0 0 0 0TempleAaron McKieTemple(asst.) 2 19–28 10–22 0 0 0 0TulaneRon HunterGeorgia State 2 22–31 8–26 0 0 0 0TulsaFrank HaithMissouri 7 127–87 74–50 1 1 0 0UCFJohnny Dawkins Stanford 5 94–60 48–42 0 1 0 0Wichita State Isaac Brown Wichita State (asst.) 1 16–6 11–2 1 1 0 0 Notes: Overall and AAC records are from time at current school and are through the end of 2020–21 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

Coaches Poll 1 Houston 99 (9) 2 Memphis 90 (2) 3 SMU 80 4 Cincinnati 77 5 South Florida 61 6 Tulsa 50 7 Wichita State 44 8 UCF 37 9 East Carolina 34 10 Temple 18 11 Tulane 15

Preseason All-AAC Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Mills, Houston Preseason Rookie of the Year Moussa Cissé, MemphisPreseason 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 II, Memphis Alexis Yetna, USF Tyson Jolly, SMU*Unanimous selections

Regular season

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.   CincinnatiEast CarolinaHoustonMemphisSMUSouth FloridaTempleTulaneTulsaUCFWichita Statevs. Cincinnati — 0–1 1–0 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–0vs. East Carolina 1–0 — 0–1 2–0 2–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–0 1–0 0–0vs. Houston 0–1 1–0 — 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–1vs. Memphis 0–1 0–2 1–0 — 1–1 0–2 0–0 0–2 2–0 0–2 0–1vs. SMU 1–0 0–2 2–0 1–1 — 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–0vs. South Florida 0–1 0–1 2–0 2–0 0–0 — 1–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 2–0vs. Temple 2–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 1–1 — 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–0vs. Tulane 2–0 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–0 0–1 1–1 — 0–1 2–0 2–0vs. Tulsa 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 — 2–0 2–0vs. UCF 1–1 0–2 2–0 2–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–2 — 2–0vs. Wichita State 0–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–2 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–2 — Total 8–6 2–10 14–3 11–4 7–4 4–10 4–10 4–12 7–9 8–10 11–2

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 Week 2 – Dec 7 Kendric Davis, SMU Tramon Mark (2), Houston Week 3 – Dec 14 David Collins, USF Moussa Cissé, Memphis Week 4 – Dec 21 Brandon Mahan, UCF Isaiah Adams, UCF Week 5 – Dec 28 Tyson Etienne, Wichita State Caleb Murphy, USF Week 6 – Jan 4 Brandon Rachal, Tulsa Caleb Murphy (2), USF Week 7 – Jan 11 Marcus Sasser (2), Houston Ricky Council IV, Wichita State Week 8 – Jan 18 Morris Udeze, Wichita State Damian Dunn, Temple Week 9 – Jan 25 Quentin Grimes, Houston Moussa Cisse (2), Memphis Week 10 – Feb 1 Tyson Etienne (2), Wichita State Tylan Pope, Tulane Week 11 – Feb 8 Jayden Gardner, East Carolina Damian Dunn (2), Temple Week 12 – Feb 15 Kendric Davis (2), SMU Jeremiah Williams, Temple Week 13 – Feb 22 Tyson Etienne (3), Wichita State Isaiah Adams (2), UCF Week 14 – Mar 1 Quentin Grimes (2), Houston Moussa Cisse (3), Memphis Week 15 – Mar 8 Dexter Dennis, Wichita State Isaiah Adams (3), UCF

All-AAC Awards and Teams Player of the Year Quentin Grimes, Houston Tyson Etienne, Wichita State Coach of the Year Isaac Brown, Wichita State* Freshman of the Year Moussa Cissé, Memphis Defensive Player of the Year DeJon Jarreau, Houston Most Improved Player Justin Gorham, Houston Sixth Man of the Year Boogie Ellis, Memphis Darien Jackson, Tulsa Sportsmanship Award J. P. Moorman II, Temple All-AAC First Team Jayden Gardner, East Carolina Quentin Grimes, Houston* Landers Nolley II, Memphis Kendric Davis, SMU* Tyson Etienne, Wichita State* All-AAC Second Team Keith Williams, Cincinnati DeJon Jarreau, Houston Justin Gorham, Houston Marcus Sasser, Houston Brandon Rachal, Tulsa All-AAC Third Team Brandon Mahan, UCF Darius Perry, UCF Feron Hunt, SMU Khalif Battle, Temple Jaylen Forbes, Tulane Alterique Gilbert, Wichita State All-Freshman Team Isaiah Adams, UCF Tari Eason, Cincinnati Moussa Cissé, Memphis Caleb Murphy, South Florida Damian Dunn, Temple Ricky Council IV, Wichita State*Unanimous selections

Postseason

American Athletic Conference tournament

NCAA 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 2 Midwest HoustonN/Adefeated (15) Cleveland State, 87–56defeated (10) Rutgers, 63–60defeated (11) Syracuse, 62–46defeated (12) Oregon State, 67–61eliminated by (1) Baylor, 59–78 11 West Wichita Stateeliminated by (11) Drake, 52–53W–L (%): Total:

National Invitation tournament

Seed Bracket School First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals1 Memphis Memphis defeated (4) Dayton, 71–60 defeated (2) Boise State, 59–56 defeated (1) Colorado State, 90–67 defeated (4) Mississippi State, 77–643 Memphis SMU eliminated by (2) Boise State, 84–85 W–L (%):1–1 ()1–0 ()1–0 ()1–0 () Total: 4–1 ()

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

Player Position School Round Pick TeamQuentin GrimesSGHouston125Los Angeles Clippers

References