American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Report March 17, 2021 Contact: Tom Fenstermaker, Director of Communications ([email protected]) 545 E. John Carpenter Freeway, Third Floor • Irving, Texas, 75062 • 336.259.1708 TheAmerican.org • Twitter: @American_MBB • Facebook: fb.com/AmericanConf • Instagram: AmericanConf 2020-21 STANDINGS AMERICAN OVERALL SCHOOL W-L PCT PF PA W-L PCT PF PA H A N L10 STREAK NOTABLE Wichita State-/RV 11-2 .846 72.7 68.5 16-5 .762 72.4 67.4 10-2 5-2 1-1 8-2 L 1 First regular season title since joining league Houston6/6 14-3 .824 74.9 58.9 24-3 .889 77.6 57.9 15-0 5-3 4-0 9-1 W 7 Grimes named to three All-America Third Teams Memphis 11-4 .733 70.1 61.1 16-8 .667 72.1 62.9 10-1 4-3 2-4 7-3 L 1 Tigers recorded 20 steals vs. UCF (conference record) SMU 7-4 .636 68.9 67.2 11-5 .688 74.1 67.1 6-2 5-2 0-1 5-5 L 1 Kendric Davis conference-record 14 assists vs. Cincinnati Cincinnati 8-6 .571 71.1 71.9 12-11 .522 68.9 72.3 5-5 5-5 2-1 6-4 L 1 Won 7 straight conference championship games UCF 8-10 .444 66.9 69.8 11-12 .478 67.2 69.4 6-3 4-8 1-1 7-3 L 1 Knights won 4 in a row to finish regular season Tulsa 7-10 .412 63.5 66.6 11-12 .478 68.4 65.6 7-5 4-4 0-3 3-7 L 1 Win over Houston was 1st top-5 win since 1996 Tulane 5-12 .294 63.6 68.8 10-13 .435 63.9 66.5 6-6 3-6 1-1 3-7 L 1 Collins became 10th player in league with 1,500 pts. USF 4-10 .286 63.0 72.4 9-13 .409 65.9 71.4 4-6 3-4 2-3 2-8 L 1 Battle averaging 25 ppg in last 3 games Temple 4-10 .286 65.0 69.1 5-11 .313 65.8 68.8 3-5 2-5 0-1 2-8 L 1 Forbes 19.7 ppg in last 7 games, 15.0 ppg before that East Carolina 2-10 .167 62.8 70.1 8-11 .421 66.8 67.9 7-6 1-4 0-1 1-9 L 5 Gardner became 15th player in league with 1,400 pts. Rankings listed as AP/USA Today SCHEDULE & RESULTS THE AMERICAN TODAY ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS 2021 AIR FORCE RESERVE HOUSTON, WICHITA STATE EARN NCAA BIDS Player of the Year AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Houston, the 2021 Air Force Reserve Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball FORT WORTH, TEXAS Championship winner, and Wichita State, The Coach of the Year American’s regular-season champion, both earned Issac Brown, Wichita State* THURSDAY, MARCH 11 bids to the 2021 NCAA Championship. FIRST ROUND Defensive Player of the Year No. 8 USF 73, No. 9 Temple 71 MIDWEST NO. 2 SEED HOUSTON DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston No. 10 Tulane 77, No. 7 Tulsa 70 Houston is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region Freshman of the Year No. 6 UCF 72, No. 11 East Carolina 62 and will face No. 15 seed Cleveland State on Friday, Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis March 19 at 7:15 p.m. Eastern on truTV. FRIDAY, MARCH 12 Most Improved Player QUARTERFINALS Houston’s No. 2 seed is the highest seed the Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston No. 1 Wichita State 68, No. 8 USF 67 Cougars have earned since competing as a No. 2 Sixth Man of the Year No. 5 Cincinnati 74, No. 4 SMU 71 seed and advancing to the National Championship Boogie Ellis, So., G, Memphis No. 2 Houston 77, No. 10 Tulane 52 in the 1984 NCAA Tournament. Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa No. 3 Memphis 70, No. 6 UCF 62 This is Houston’s third consecutive NCAA Sportsmanship Award SATURDAY, MARCH 13 Tournament appearance, a first since 1982-84. J.P. Moorman II, Sr., F, Temple SEMIFINALS All-Conference First Team No. 5 Cincinnati 60, No. 1 Wichita State 59 The Cougars are 29-26 all-time in 22 NCAA Jayden Gardner, Jr., F, East Carolina No. 2 Houston 76, No. 3 Memphis 74 Tournaments with Final Four appearances in 1967, Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston* 1968, 1982, 1983 and 1984. Landers Nolley II, So., G, Memphis SUNDAY, MARCH 14 Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU* FINAL WEST NO. 11 SEED WICHITA STATE Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State* No. 2 Houston 91, No. 5 Cincinnati 54 Wichita State is one of the No. 11 seeds in the West All-Conference Second Team Region and will take on Drake in the First Four on Keith Williams, Sr., G, Cincinnati THURSDAY, MARCH 18 Thursday, March 18 at 6:27 p.m. Eastern on TBS. DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST FOUR Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA The winner of Wichita State and Drake will face Marcus Sasser, So., G, Houston No. 11 Wichita State vs. No. 11 Drake (TBS) ....6:37 p.m. No. 6 seed USC on Saturday, March 20 at 4:30 Brandon Rachal, Sr., F, Tulsa p.m. Eastern on TBS. All-Conference Third Team NIT FIRST ROUND (FRISCO, TEXAS) Brandon Mahan, Sr., G, UCF No. 3 SMU vs. No. 2 Boise State (ESPN) ........9 p.m. The Shockers have qualified for eight of the last Darius Perry, Sr., G, UCF nine NCAA Tournaments (2012-18, 2021). Feron Hunt, Sr., G, SMU FRIDAY, MARCH 19 Khalif Battle, So., G, Temple NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND Wichita State is 18-16 all-time in 16 NCAA Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane No. 15 Cleveland State vs. No. 2 Houston (truTV) .....7:15 p.m. Tournaments with Final Four appearances in 1965 Alterique Gilbert, R-Sr., G, Wichita State and 2013). All-Freshman Team SATURDAY, MARCH 20 Isaiah Adams, G, UCF NIT FIRST ROUND (DENTON, TEXAS) WSU has made one other First Four appearance, Tari Eason, F, Cincinnati No. 4 Dayton vs. No. 1 Memphis (ESPN) ...........Noon defeating Vanderbilt and then-No. 6 seed Arizona Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis in 2016. Caleb Murphy, G, USF Damian Dunn, G, Temple Ricky Council IV, G, Wichita State All times ET and subject to change * denotes unanimous selections OFFICIAL BRACKET PRESENTED BY 20162021 DIVISION NCAA I MEN’S DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND SECOND ROUND SWEET 16 ELITE 8® NATIONAL SEMIFINALS NATIONAL SEMIFINALS ELITE 8® SWEET 16 SECOND ROUND FIRST ROUND MARCH 20 MARCH 22 MARCH 27–28 MARCH 29–30 APRIL 3 APRIL 3 MARCH 29–30 MARCH 27–28 MARCH 21 MARCH 19 FIRST FOUR® 16 Norfolk St. (16-7) 11 Wichita St. (16-5) Mount St. Mary's (12-10) 16 Michigan St. (15-12) 11 Mar 18 Mar 18 MARCH 18 Mar 18 Mar 18 16 Appalachian St. (17-11) W 11 Drake (25-4) W E Texas Southern (16-8) 16 E UCLA (17-9) 11 1 Gonzaga (26-0) Baylor (22-2) 1 Mar 20 Mar 19 16 Norfolk St./App St. Hartford (15-8) 16 8 Oklahoma (15-10) North Carolina (18-10) 8 Mar 20 Mar 19 9 Missouri (16-9) Wisconsin (17-12) 9 5 Creighton (20-8) Villanova (16-6) 5 Mar 20 Mar 19 12 UCSB (22-4) Winthrop (23-1) 12 4 Virginia (18-6) Purdue (18-9) 4 Mar 20 Mar 19 13 Ohio (16-7) North Texas (17-9) 13 WEST SOUTH 6 USC (22-7) Texas Tech (17-10) 6 Mar 20 Mar 19 11 Wichita St./Drake Utah St. (20-8) 11 3 Kansas (20-8) Arkansas (22-6) 3 Mar 20 Mar 19 14 Eastern Wash. (16-7) Colgate (14-1) 14 7 Oregon (20-6) Florida (14-9) 7 Mar 20 Mar 19 10 VCU (19-7) NATIONAL Virginia Tech (15-6) 10 CHAMPIONSHIP 2 Iowa (21-8) APRIL 5 Ohio St. (21-9) 2 Mar 20 Mar 19 15 Grand Canyon (17-6) Oral Roberts (16-10) 15 1 Michigan (20-4) Illinois (23-6) 1 Mar 20 SEMIFINALS SEMIFINALS Mar 19 16 Mt. St. Mary’s/Texas So. Drexel (12-7) 16 8 LSU (18-9) Loyola Chicago (24-4) 8 Mar 20 Mar 19 9 St. Bonaventure (16-4) Georgia Tech (17-8) 9 5 Colorado (22-8) Tennessee (18-8) 5 Mar 20 Mar 19 12 Georgetown (13-12) Oregon St. (17-12) 12 4 Florida St. (16-6) Oklahoma St. (20-8) 4 Mar 20 Mar 19 13 UNC Greensboro (21-8) Liberty (23-5) 13 EAST MIDWEST 6 BYU (20-6) San Diego St. (23-4) 6 Mar 20 #MARCHMADNESS Mar 19 11 Watch the tournament on these networks 11 Michigan St./UCLA or online at NCAA.COM/MARCHMADNESS Syracuse (16-9) 3 Texas (19-7) West Virginia (18-9) 3 Mar 20 Mar 19 14 Abilene Christian (23-4) Morehead St. (23-7) 14 7 UConn (15-7) Clemson (16-7) 7 Mar 20 *On March 14, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee will select eight teams to play the First Four. Those games are scheduled for March 18 in West Lafayette and Bloomington. Mar 19 The four winning teams will advance to first-round sites to be determined by the committee during selection weekend.