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2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

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2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 2014
through March 2015
Number of teams11
TV partner(s)ESPN, CBS
Regular Season
Season MVPNic Moore
Tournament
American Athletic Conference men's basketball seasons
2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 18 SMU 15 3   .833 27 7   .794
Tulsa 14 4   .778 23 11   .676
Temple 13 5   .722 26 11   .703
Cincinnati 13 5   .722 23 11   .676
UConn 10 8   .556 20 15   .571
Memphis 10 8   .556 18 14   .563
Tulane 6 12   .333 15 16   .484
East Carolina 6 12   .333 14 19   .424
UCF 5 13   .278 12 18   .400
Houston 4 14   .222 13 19   .406
South Florida 3 15   .167 9 23   .281
The American Tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

The 2014–15 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season took place between November 2014 and March 2015. Practices began in October 2014, with conference play beginning in December, and the season ended with the 2015 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament. The season was the second since the split of the original Big East Conference into two separate leagues.

This was the first season for East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa in American Athletic competition.

Preseason

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Coaching changes

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Predicted American Athletic results

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At American Athletic Conference media day on October 29, the conference released their predictions for standings and All-Conference teams.[1]

Coaches
1. Connecticut (6)
2. SMU (5)
3. Memphis
4. Cincinnati
5. Tulsa
6. Temple
7. Houston
8. USF
9. UCF
10. East Carolina
11. Tulane

() first place votes

Preseason All-AAC Teams

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First Team Second Team
Ryan Boatright, G, UCONN
Shaq Goodwin, F, MEM
Austin Nichols, F, MEM
Nic Moore, G, SMU
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU
James Woodard, G, TULSA
Amida Brimah, C, UCONN
Anthony Collins, G, USF
Chris Perry, F, USF
Will Cummings, G, TEM
Quenton DeCosey, G, TEM

American Athletic Preseason Player of the Year: Ryan Boatright, Connecticut
American Athletic Preseason Rookie of the Year: Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut

Preseason Watchlists

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Naismith[2] John Wooden Award[3]
Ryan Boatright, G, UConn
Nic Moore, G, SMU
Nic Moore, G, SMU

Rankings

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Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
  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
Cincinnati AP RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV
Connecticut AP 17 17 24 RV
C 15 17 22 23 RV
East Carolina AP
C
Houston AP
C
Memphis AP RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV
SMU AP 22 23 RV RV RV 22 25 21 21 22 20
C 22 22 RV RV RV RV RV 22 25 22 21 22 21
South Florida AP
C
Temple AP RV RV
C RV
Tulane AP
C
Tulsa AP RV RV
C RV RV RV
UCF AP
C

AAC regular season

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This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

  Cincinnati Connecticut East Carolina Houston Memphis SMU South Florida Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF
vs. Cincinnati 1-1 1-1 0-2 1-1 0-2 0–1 1-1 1–1 0–1 0–2
vs. Connecticut 1-1 0–2 1–0 2–0 1–1 0-2 2-0 0–2 1-1 0-1
vs. East Carolina 1-1 2–0 1-1 1–1 1-0 1-1 2–0 1-0 2–0 0–2
vs. Houston 2-0 0–1 1-1 2-0 2–0 1-1 1–0 1-1 2-0 2-0
vs. Memphis 1-1 0–2 1–1 0-2 2-0 0–1 1–0 1-1 2-0 0-2
vs. SMU 2-0 1–1 0-1 0–2 0-2 0-2 0-2 0-1 0–2 0–2
vs. South Florida 1–0 2-0 1-1 1-1 1–0 2-0 2-0 2-0 2-0 1–1
vs. Temple 1-1 0-2 0–2 0–1 0–1 2-0 0-2 0-2 2–0 0-2
vs. Tulane 1–1 2–0 0-1 1–1 1-1 1-0 0-2 2-0 2–0 2-0
vs. Tulsa 1–0 1-1 0–2 0-2 0-2 2–0 0-2 0–2 0-2 0-1
vs. UCF 2–0 1-0 2-0 0-2 2-0 2–0 1–1 2-0 0-2 1-0
Total 13–5 10–8 6–12 4-14 10–8 15–3 3–15 13–5 6–12 14–4 5–13

Postseason

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2015 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament seeds and results
Seed School Conf. Over. Tiebreaker First round
March 12
Quarterfinals
March 13
Semifinals
March 14
Championship
March 15
1. SMU ‡† 15-3 24-6 Bye vs. #8 East Carolina - W, 74-68 vs. #4 Temple - W, 69-56 vs. #6 Connecticut - W, 62-54
2. Tulsa † 14-4 21-9 Bye vs. #10 Houston - W, 59-51 vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 42–47
3. Cincinnati † 13-5 22-9 2-0 vs. SMU Bye vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 54–57
4. Temple† 13-5 22-9 0-2 vs. SMU Bye vs. #5 Memphis - W, 80-75 vs. #1 SMU - L, 56–69
5. Memphis† 10-8 18-13 2-0 vs. CONN Bye vs. #4 Temple - L, 75–80
6. Connecticut 10-8 17-13 0-2 vs. MEM vs. #11 South Florida - W, 69-43 vs. #3 Cincinnati - W, 47-44 vs. #2 Tulsa - W, 47-42 vs. #1 SMU - L, 54–62
7. Tulane 6-12 15-15 1-0 vs. ECU vs. #10 Houston - L, 60–66
8. East Carolina 6-12 13-18 0-1 vs. TULN vs. #9 UCF - W, 81-80 OT vs. #1 SMU - L, 68–74
9. UCF 5-13 12-17 vs. #8 East Carolina - L, 80–81 OT
10. Houston 4-14 12-18 vs. #7 Tulane - W, 66-60 vs. #2 Tulsa - L, 51-59
11. South Florida 3-15 9-22 vs. #6 Connecticut - L, 43-69
‡ – American regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed.
† – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament.

NCAA tournament

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Seed Region School First Four Round of 64 Round of 32 Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
6 South SMU Bye vs. #11 UCLA - L, 59-60
8 Midwest Cincinnati Bye vs. #9 Purdue - W, 66-55 OT vs. #1 Kentucky - L, 64-51
W–L (%): 0–0 – 1–1 .500 0–1 .000 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – 0–0 – Total: 1–2 .333

National Invitation tournament

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Seed Bracket School First round Second round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
1 Temple Temple vs. #8 Bucknell - W, 73-67 vs. #5 George Washington - W, 90-77 vs. #3 Louisiana Tech - W, 77-59 vs. #2 Miami (FL) - L, 57-60
2 Old Dominion Tulsa vs. #7 William & Mary - W, 70-67 vs. #3 Murray State - L, 62-83
4 Richmond Connecticut vs. #5 Arizona State - L, 61-68
W–L (%): 2–1 .667 1–1 .500 1–0 1.000 0–1 .000 0–0 – Total: 4–3 .571

Awards and honors

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Conference awards and teams

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All Conference and All Rookie teams were announced on March 10, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man Award, Most Improved Player, and Sportsmanship Award were announced on March 11. Player of the Year and Coach of the year were announced on March 12

2015 American Athletic Conference Basketball Individual Awards
Award Recipient(s)
American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Nic Moore G., SMU
Coach of the Year Fran Dunphy , TEMP
Rookie of the Year Daniel Hamilton G/F., CONN
Scholar-Athlete of the Year Pat Lenehan G., CONN
Most Improved Player Yanick Moreira C., SMU
Sixth Man Award Markus Kennedy F., SMU
Sportsmanship Award Shaq Goodwin F., MEMPHIS
2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams|[4]
First Team Second Team Honorable Mention All-Rookie Team
Ryan Boatright , G., CONN
Austin Nichols, F., MEMPH
Nic Moore , G., SMU
Will Cummings, G., TEMP
James Woodard, G., TULSA
Octavius Ellis, F., CIN
Markus Kennedy, F., SMU
Yanick Moreira, C., SMU
Louis Dabney, G., TULN
Shaquille Harrison, G., TULSA
Troy Caupain, G., CIN
Amida Brimah, C., CONN
Daniel Hamilton, G/F., CONN
Jaylen Bond, F., TEMP
Adonys Henriquez, G., UCF
B. J. Taylor, G., UCF
Gary Clark, F., CIN
Daniel Hamilton , G/F., CONN
B. J. Tyson , G., ECU
- denotes unanimous selection

References

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  1. ^ "UConn Chosen as Men's Basketball Preseason Favorite". Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  2. ^ "Naismith Trophy Men's 50 Watch List". Naismith Trophy. Archived from the original on December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  3. ^ Medcalf, Myron. "Wooden Top 50 watch list unveiled". ESPN.com. ESPN. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  4. ^ "2015 American Athletic Conference All-Conference Teams". theAmerican.org. Sidearmsports. Retrieved March 10, 2015.