2019–20 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season explained

2019–20 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
Color:	081549
Color Text:	FFFFFF
League:	NCAA Division I
Sport:	Basketball
Pixels:	125px
Duration:	November 2019 through March 2020
No Of Teams:	12
Tv:	ESPN, CBSSN, CBS
Season:	Regular Season
Season Champs:	Cincinnati, Houston, Tulsa
Mvp:	Precious Achiuwa, Memphis
Finals:	Tournament
Finals Link:	2020 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Finals Mvp Link:	American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament#Champions
Seasonslistnames:	American Athletic Conference men's basketball
Prevseason Link:	2018–19
Prevseason Year:	2018–19
Nextseason Link:	2020–21
Nextseason Year:	2020–21

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.^[1]
• Tulane fired Mike Dunleavy after 3 seasons and replaced him with former Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter.^[2]
• 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.^[3]

Coaches

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Years at school	Overall record	AAC record	AAC titles	NCAA Tournaments*	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
style=	Cincinnati	John Brannen	Northern Kentucky	1	20–10	13–5	1	0	0	0
style=	Connecticut	Dan Hurley	Rhode Island	2	35–29	16–20	0	0	0	0
style=	East Carolina	Joe Dooley	Florida Gulf Coast	7	78–93	8–27	0	0	0	0
Houston	Kelvin Sampson	Houston Rockets (asst.)	6	138–59	71–37	2	2	0	0
style=	Memphis	Penny Hardaway	East HS	2	43–24	21–15	0	0	0	0
style=	SMU	Tim Jankovich	SMU (asst.)	5	90–46	38–31	1	2	0	0
style=	South Florida	Brian Gregory	Michigan State (advisor)	3	48–53	18–36	0	0	0	0
style=	Temple	Aaron McKie	Temple (asst.)	1	14–17	6–12	0	0	0	0
style=	Tulane	Ron Hunter	Georgia State	1	12–18	4–14	0	0	0	0
style=	Tulsa	Frank Haith	Missouri	6	116–76	67–41	1	1	0	0
style=	UCF	Johnny Dawkins	Stanford	4	83–48	40–32	0	1	0	0
style=	Wichita State	Gregg 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.^[4]

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

See main article: 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings.

	Pre	Wk 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
Memphis	AP	<	-- AP Preseason -->14	<	-- AP Week 2 -->13	<	-- AP Week 3 -->16	<	-- AP Week 4 -->16	<	-- AP Week 5 -->15	<	-- AP Week 6 -->13	<	-- AP Week 7 -->11	<	-- AP Week 8 -->9	<	-- AP Week 9 -->9	<	-- AP Week 10 -->21	<	-- AP Week 11 -->22	<	-- AP Week 12 -->20	<	-- AP Week 13 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 14 -->	<	-- AP Week 15 -->	<	-- AP Week 16 -->	<	-- AP Week 17 -->	<	-- AP Week 18 -->	<	-- AP Week 19 -->	<	-- AP Final -->
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason --> 15	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->15	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->20	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->20	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->18	<	-- Coaches Week 6 -->17T	<	-- Coaches Week 7 -->13	<	-- Coaches Week 8 -->10	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->11	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->22	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->22	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->20	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->	<	-- Coaches Final -->
Wichita State	AP	<	-- AP Preseason -->	<	-- AP Week 2 -->	<	-- AP Week 3 -->	<	-- AP Week 4 -->	<	-- AP Week 5 -->	<	-- AP Week 6 -->	<	-- AP Week 7 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 8 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 9 -->24	<	-- AP Week 10 -->23	<	-- AP Week 11 -->16	<	-- AP Week 12 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 13 -->23	<	-- AP Week 14 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 15 -->	<	-- AP Week 16 -->	<	-- AP Week 17 -->	<	-- AP Week 18 -->	<	-- AP Week 19 -->	<	-- AP Final -->
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason -->	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 6 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 7 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 8 -->25	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->23	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->23	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->16	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->22	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->22	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->	<	-- Coaches Final -->
Houston	AP	<	-- AP Preseason --> RV	<	-- AP Week 2 --> RV	<	-- AP Week 3 -->	<	-- AP Week 4 -->	<	-- AP Week 5 -->	<	-- AP Week 6 -->	<	-- AP Week 7 -->	<	-- AP Week 8 -->	<	-- AP Week 9 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 10 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 11 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 12 -->25	<	-- AP Week 13 -->21	<	-- AP Week 14 -->25	<	-- AP Week 15 -->20	<	-- AP Week 16 -->22	<	-- AP Week 17 -->25	<	-- AP Week 18 -->21	<	-- AP Week 19 -->22-T	<	-- AP Final -->22
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 6 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 7 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 8 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->24	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->20	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->25	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->19	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->22	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->21	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->24	<	-- Coaches Final -->23
Cincinnati	AP	<	-- AP Preseason --> RV	<	-- AP Week 2 -->	<	-- AP Week 3 -->	<	-- AP Week 4 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 5 -->	<	-- AP Week 6 -->	<	-- AP Week 7 -->	<	-- AP Week 8 -->	<	-- AP Week 9 -->	<	-- AP Week 10 -->	<	-- AP Week 11 -->	<	-- AP Week 12 -->	<	-- AP Week 13 -->	<	-- AP Week 14 -->	<	-- AP Week 15 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 16 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 17 -->	<	-- AP Week 18 -->	<	-- AP Week 19 -->	<	-- AP Final -->
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->	<	-- Coaches Final -->
SMU	AP	<	-- AP Preseason -->	<	-- AP Week 2 -->	<	-- AP Week 3 -->	<	-- AP Week 4 -->	<	-- AP Week 5 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 6 -->	<	-- AP Week 7 -->	<	-- AP Week 8 -->	<	-- AP Week 9 -->	<	-- AP Week 10 -->	<	-- AP Week 11 -->	<	-- AP Week 12 -->	<	-- AP Week 13 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 14 -->	<	-- AP Week 15 -->	<	-- AP Week 16 -->	<	-- AP Week 17 -->	<	-- AP Week 18 -->	<	-- AP Week 19 -->	<	-- AP Final -->
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason -->	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 6 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 7 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 8 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->	<	-- Coaches Final -->
Tulsa	AP	<	-- AP Preseason -->	<	-- AP Week 2 -->	<	-- AP Week 3 -->	<	-- AP Week 4 -->	<	-- AP Week 5 -->	<	-- AP Week 6 -->	<	-- AP Week 7 -->	<	-- AP Week 8 -->	<	-- AP Week 9 -->	<	-- AP Week 10 -->	<	-- AP Week 11 -->	<	-- AP Week 12 -->	<	-- AP Week 13 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 14 -->RV	<	-- AP Week 15 -->	<	-- AP Week 16 -->	<	-- AP Week 17 -->	<	-- AP Week 18 -->	<	-- AP Week 19 -->	<	-- AP Final -->
C	<	-- Coaches Preseason -->	<	-- Coaches Week 2 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 3 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 4 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 5 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 6 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 7 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 8 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 9 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 10 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 11 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 12 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 13 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 14 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 15 -->RV	<	-- Coaches Week 16 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 17 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 18 -->	<	-- Coaches Week 19 -->	<	-- Coaches Final -->

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.

	Cincinnati	Connecticut	East Carolina	Houston	Memphis	SMU	South Florida	Temple	Tulane	Tulsa	UCF	Wichita State
vs. Cincinnati	–	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–2
vs. Connecticut	1–1	–	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–0
vs. East Carolina	2–0	1–0	–	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–0
vs. Houston	1–1	1–1	0–1	–	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–2
vs. Memphis	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	–	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1
vs. SMU	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	–	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0
vs. South Florida	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	–	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0
vs. Temple	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	–	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1
vs. Tulane	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	–	2–0	1–1	1–0
vs. Tulsa	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	–	1–1	1–1
vs. UCF	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	–	2–0
vs. Wichita State	2–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	–
Total	13–5	10–8	5–13	13–5	10–8	9–9	7–11	6–12	4–14	13–5	7–11	11–7

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	^[5]
Week 2 - Nov 18	Brandon Rachal – Tulsa	Lester Quiñones – Memphis	^[6]
Week 3 - Nov 25	Precious Achiuwa – Memphis	James Bouknight – UConn	^[7]
Week 4 - Dec 2	Quinton Rose – Temple	Boogie Ellis – Memphis	^[8]
Week 5 - Dec 9	Quentin Grimes – Houston	Tyson Etienne – Wichita State	^[9]
Week 6 - Dec 16	Erik Stevenson – Wichita State	Caleb Mills – Houston	^[10]
Week 7 - Dec 23	Jayden Gardner – East Carolina	Precious Achiuwa – Memphis	^[11]
Week 8 - Dec 30	Fabian White Jr. – Houston	Grant Sherfield – Wichita State	^[12]
Week 9 - Jan 6	Erik Stevenson (2) – Wichita State	Precious Achiuwa (2) – Memphis	^[13]
Week 10 - Jan 13	Jayden Gardner (2) – East Carolina	Precious Achiuwa (3) – Memphis	^[14]
Week 11 - Jan 20	Brandon Rachal (2) – Tulsa	D. J. Jeffries – Memphis	^[15]
Week 12 - Jan 27	Martins Igbanu – Tulsa	Caleb Mills (2) – Houston	^[16]
Week 13 - Feb 3	Elijah Joiner – Tulsa	Precious Achiuwa (4) – Memphis	^[17]
Week 14 - Feb 10	James Bouknight – UConn	Darin Green Jr. – UCF	^[18]
Week 15 - Feb 17	Trevon Scott – Cincinnati	James Bouknight (2) – UConn	^[19]
Week 16 - Feb 24	Teshaun Hightower – Tulane	Precious Achiuwa (5) – Memphis	^[20]
Week 17 - March 2	Christian Vital – UConn	Marcus Sasser – Houston	^[21]
Week 18 - March 9	Christian Vital (2) – UConn	Precious Achiuwa (6) – Memphis	^[22]

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

^{[23] [24]}

Postseason

American Athletic Conference tournament

See main article: 2020 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic the tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020 – only minutes before the first game was set to begin.^[25]

NCAA Tournament

See main article: 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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

Notes and References

1. News: Fay . John . Williams . Jason . Perry . Michael . What you need to know about new University of Cincinnati basketball coach John Brannen . January 3, 2020 . . April 14, 2019.
2. News: Smith . Guerry . Georgia State's Ron Hunter hired as new Tulane coach, vows to 'turn the program around' . January 3, 2020 . . March 24, 2019.
3. News: Temple Coach Fran Dunphy Deserved Better . January 3, 2020 . . February 4, 2019.
4. Web site: Houston, Memphis Tabbed 2019–20 American Men's Basketball Preseason Favorites. American Athletic Conference . October 24, 2019 . October 14, 2019.
5. Web site: Pierre-Louis, Wiseman Earn Weekly Awards. American Athletic Conference. November 11, 2019. January 3, 2019.
6. Web site: Tulsa's Rachal, Memphis' Quinones Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Awards. American Athletic Conference. November 18, 2019. January 3, 2019.
7. Web site: Memphis' Achiuwa, UConn's Bouknight Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. November 25, 2019. January 3, 2019.
8. Web site: Temple's Rose, Memphis' Ellis Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Awards. American Athletic Conference. December 2, 2019. January 3, 2019.
9. Web site: Houston's Grimes, Wichita State's Etienne Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. December 9, 2019. January 3, 2019.
10. Web site: Wichita State's Stevenson, Houston's Mills Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. December 16, 2019. January 3, 2019.
11. Web site: ECU's Gardner, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. December 23, 2019. January 3, 2019.
12. Web site: Houston's White, Wichita State's Sherfield Earn Weekly Awards. American Athletic Conference. December 30, 2019. January 3, 2020.
13. Web site: Wichita State's Stevenson, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. 2020-01-06. 2020-02-18.
14. Web site: ECU's Gardner, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. 2020-01-13. 2020-02-18.
15. Web site: Tulsa's Rachal, Memphis' Jeffries Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. 2020-01-20. 2020-02-18.
16. Web site: Tulsa's Igbanu, Houston's Mills Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. 2020-01-27. 2020-02-18.
17. Web site: Tulsa's Joiner, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Weekly Honors. American Athletic Conference. 2020-02-03. 2020-02-04.
18. Web site: UConn's Bouknight, UCF's Green Jr. Earn Weekly Honors. theamerican.org. en. 2020-02-10. 2020-02-12.
19. Web site: Cincinnati's Scott, UConn's Bouknight Earn Weekly Honors. theamerican.org. en. 2020-02-17. 2020-02-18.
20. Web site: Tulane's Hightower, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Awards. theamerican.org. en. 2020-02-24. 2020-02-24.
21. Web site: UConn's Vital, Houston's Sasser Earn Men's Basketball Weekly Honors. theamerican.org. en. 2020-03-02. 2020-03-10.
22. Web site: UConn's Vital, Memphis' Achiuwa Earn Weekly Honors. theamerican.org. en. 2020-03-09. 2020-03-10.
23. Web site: American Athletic Conference Announces All-Conference, All-Freshman Teams. theamerican.org. en. 2020-03-10. 2020-03-10.
24. Web site: American Athletic Conference Announces Individual Awards. theamerican.org. en. 2020-03-11. 2020-03-11.
25. Web site: American Athletic Conference Statement on 2020 Air Force Reserve Men's Basketball Championship - American Athletic Conference . 2020-04-09 . 2020-03-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200312111523/http://theamerican.org/news/2020/3/11/american-athletic-conference-statement-on-2020-air-force-reserve-mens-basketball-championship.aspx . dead .