| 2020–21 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season | |
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| League: | NCAA Division I |
| Sport: | Basketball |
| Pixels: | 125px |
| Duration: | November 2020 through March 2021 |
| No Of Teams: | 11 |
| Tv: | CBS, ESPN, ESPN+ |
| Season: | Regular Season |
| Season Champs: | Wichita State |
| Mvp: | Tyson Etienne, Wichita State & Quentin Grimes, Houston |
| Mvp Link: | American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year |
| Finals: | Tournament |
| Finals Link: | 2021 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament |
| Finals Champ: | Houston |
| Finals Runner-Up: | Cincinnati |
| Finals Mvp Link: | American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament#Champions |
| Seasonslistnames: | American Athletic Conference men's basketball |
| Prevseason Link: | 2019–20 |
| Prevseason Year: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason Link: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason Year: | 2021–22 |
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).[1]
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.[2] Due to the coronavirus pandemic the tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020 – only minutes before the first game was set to begin.[3]
Precious Achiuwa from Memphis was named the AAC player of the year, Tulsa's Frank Haith was named coach of the year.[4]
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.[5]
On November 17, 2020: Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall resigned[6] 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.[7]
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 | 32–20 | 21–11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Carolina | Joe Dooley | Florida Gulf Coast | 7 | 94–106 | 10–35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Houston | Kelvin Sampson | Houston Rockets (asst.) | 7 | 167–64 | 85–40 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Memphis | Penny Hardaway | East HS | 3 | 63–32 | 31–19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SMU | Tim Jankovich | SMU (asst.) | 6 | 101–55 | 45–38 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| South Florida | Brian Gregory | Michigan State (advisor) | 4 | 57–66 | 23–46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Temple | Aaron McKie | Temple (asst.) | 2 | 19–28 | 10–22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulane | Ron Hunter | Georgia State | 2 | 22–31 | 8–26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulsa | Frank Haith | Missouri | 7 | 127–87 | 74–50 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| UCF | Johnny Dawkins | Stanford | 5 | 94–60 | 48–42 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wichita State | Isaac Brown | Wichita State (asst.) | 1 | 16–6 | 11–2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
On October 28, The American released the preseason Poll and other preseason awards[8]
| 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 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 II, Memphis | |||
| Alexis Yetna, USF | |||
| Tyson Jolly, SMU | |||
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This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| style= width=75 | Cincinnati | style= width=75 | East Carolina | style= width=75 | Houston | style= width=75 | Memphis | style= width=75 | SMU | style= width=75 | South Florida | style= width=75 | Temple | style= width=75 | Tulane | style= width=75 | Tulsa | style= width=75 | UCF | style= width=75 | Wichita State | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECU | HOU | MEM | SMU | USF | TEM | TULN | TULS | UCF | WSU --> | vs. Cincinnati | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | |
| vs. East Carolina | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. Houston | 0–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | |||||||||||
| vs. Memphis | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | |||||||||||
| vs. SMU | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. South Florida | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. Temple | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. Tulane | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. Tulsa | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. UCF | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–0 | |||||||||||
| vs. Wichita State | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | — | ECU | HOU | MEM | SMU | USF | TEM | TULN | TULS | UCF | WSU --> | |
| Total | 8–6 | 2–10 | 14–3 | 11–4 | 7–4 | 4–10 | 4–10 | 4–12 | 7–9 | 8–10 | 11–2 |
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 | [9] |
| Week 2 – Dec 7 | Kendric Davis, SMU | Tramon Mark (2), Houston | [10] |
| Week 3 – Dec 14 | David Collins, USF | Moussa Cissé, Memphis | [11] |
| Week 4 – Dec 21 | Brandon Mahan, UCF | Isaiah Adams, UCF | [12] |
| Week 5 – Dec 28 | Tyson Etienne, Wichita State | Caleb Murphy, USF | [13] |
| Week 6 – Jan 4 | Brandon Rachal, Tulsa | Caleb Murphy (2), USF | [14] |
| Week 7 – Jan 11 | Marcus Sasser (2), Houston | Ricky Council IV, Wichita State | [15] |
| Week 8 – Jan 18 | Morris Udeze, Wichita State | Damian Dunn, Temple | [16] |
| Week 9 – Jan 25 | Quentin Grimes, Houston | Moussa Cisse (2), Memphis | [17] |
| Week 10 – Feb 1 | Tyson Etienne (2), Wichita State | Tylan Pope, Tulane | [18] |
| Week 11 – Feb 8 | Jayden Gardner, East Carolina | Damian Dunn (2), Temple | [19] |
| Week 12 – Feb 15 | Kendric Davis (2), SMU | Jeremiah Williams, Temple | [20] |
| Week 13 – Feb 22 | Tyson Etienne (3), Wichita State | Isaiah Adams (2), UCF | [21] |
| Week 14 – Mar 1 | Quentin Grimes (2), Houston | Moussa Cisse (3), Memphis | [22] |
| Week 15 – Mar 8 | Dexter Dennis, Wichita State | Isaiah Adams (3), UCF | [23] |
| 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 | |||
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See main article: 2021 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament.
See 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Midwest | Houston | N/A | defeated (15) Cleveland State, 87–56 | defeated (10) Rutgers, 63–60 | defeated (11) Syracuse, 62–46 | defeated (12) Oregon State, 67–61 | eliminated by (1) Baylor, 59–78 | ||
| 11 | West | Wichita State | eliminated by (11) Drake, 52–53 | |||||||
| W–L (%): | Total: |
See main article: 2021 National Invitation Tournament.
| Seed | Bracket | School | First round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Memphis | Memphis | defeated (4) Dayton, 71–60 | defeated (2) Boise State, 59–56 | defeated (1) Colorado State, 90–67 | defeated (4) Mississippi State, 77–64 | |
| 3 | Memphis | SMU | eliminated by (2) Boise State, 84–85 | ||||
| W–L (%): | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 Total: 4–1 |
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2021 NBA draft.