Very Early AAC Preview

[GarradJ21]

If Semi doesn't return ,I really hope that a possible 2 loss conference season next year doesn't equal second place.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

IF Semi doesn't return its bad news for the conference. They just won't have any 4's or 5's on the team that can compete against UC and WSU.

As for McMurray, Im confused on what class he would be if he returned. He transferred in the middle of his sophomore year, so when he plays the 2nd semester for SMU, would he be a sophomore or a JR?

If he is a JR, he should no doubt redshirt. If he is a Sophomore, then he needs to play and move Shake to the 2 guard

I think he transferred early enough that it didn't burn a year of eligibility. I was under the impression that he'd be out until semester and be a SO. Not sure on that though. But he only appeared in 3 games last year. I guess if they struggle in the non-con they could hold him out, but I don't see the point.

 

[justinhub2003]

I think the league is going to be just like last year. 2 goods teams at the top and everyone else. I don't think anyone is even close to Uc and wsu. Not sure there is even another tourney team. Maybe ucf or uconn sneak in

I do like UCF to make a tourney run especially if SMU has a down year.

Also, UCONN still has a a bunch of 4 star guys on their team and can win but they really need good team chemistry. They could have won more last year even with the injuries if the team gelled better.

Obviously 3 transfers proves they had a locker room problem, not a talent one

 

[cincyguy13]

I do like UCF to make a tourney run especially if SMU has a down year.

Also, UCONN still has a a bunch of 4 star guys on their team and can win but they really need good team chemistry. They could have won more last year even with the injuries if the team gelled better.

Obviously 3 transfers proves they had a locker room problem, not a talent one

Agree, uconn has some players. They have zero size though. Like literally zero. They all transferred or graduated. I think that could be an issue

 

[justinhub2003]

I do expect the league to be top heavy.

That said; UCF, Tulsa, Temple, Tulane, UCONN, ECU should all improve

SMU, Memphis, Houston, USF will probably regress.

UC & WSU should hold steady


Reasons for each improvement/regression:
UCF: gets older, defense gets better, adds versatile talent
Tulsa: Gets older, Improves by developing a year longer
Temple: Has talent, returns experienced PG
Tulane: Dunleavy getting his team to play hard, should keep improving, best player back
UCONN: should improve just based on getting Gilbert and Larrier back and last year was so bad, the bar isnt high
ECU: Seemed to make strides at the end of season, returns best player.

SMU: Loses 2 players at minimum and maybe loses the AAC player of the year to NBA, no depth at the 4 and 5, hard to top last season performance
Memphis: Loses everyone on an already bad team, no good recruits, dumpster fire
Houston: zero big man talent, Loses Dotson who was a stat stuffer, no depth, little talent
USF Zero commits for incoming class, lost best players, hard to do worse than they did but they will find a way.

UC: Returns 3 starters, Expects big contribution from freshman of the year, adds high scoring point guard transfer
WSU loses no one. Would normally be an on the rise team but they upgraded in competition.

 

[justinhub2003]

Agree, uconn has some players. They have zero size though. Like literally zero. They all transferred or graduated. I think that could be an issue

I would say Zero experienced size. They bring in 2 4-star Freshman big men (one a PF and one a Center)

Josh Carlton: 4 Star 6'10
Tyler Polley: 4 Star 6'9

They are going to have to start as Freshman unless Ollie lands a transfer so they will struggle to adapt. But Rarely does UCONN rely on its big men to do more than just rebound and Block shots

 

[cincyguy13]

I do expect the league to be top heavy.

That said; UCF, Tulsa, Temple, Tulane, UCONN, ECU should all improve

SMU, Memphis, Houston, USF will probably regress.

UC & WSU should hold steady


Reasons for each improvement/regression:
UCF: gets older, defense gets better, adds versatile talent
Tulsa: Gets older, Improves by developing a year longer
Temple: Has talent, returns experienced PG
Tulane: Dunleavy getting his team to play hard, should keep improving, best player back
UCONN: should improve just based on getting Gilbert and Larrier back and last year was so bad, the bar isnt high
ECU: Seemed to make strides at the end of season, returns best player.

SMU: Loses 2 players at minimum and maybe loses the AAC player of the year to NBA, no depth at the 4 and 5, hard to top last season performance
Memphis: Loses everyone on an already bad team, no good recruits, dumpster fire
Houston: zero big man talent, Loses Dotson who was a stat stuffer, no depth, little talent
USF Zero commits for incoming class, lost best players, hard to do worse than they did but they will find a way.

UC: Returns 3 starters, Expects big contribution from freshman of the year, adds high scoring point guard transfer
WSU loses no one. Would normally be an on the rise team but they upgraded in competition.

Who will be worse, Memphis or USF? Also will either have enough for a team?

 

[justinhub2003]

Who will be worse, Memphis or USF? Also will either have enough for a team?

When they play its got to be called the Battle of the dumpster fire.

 

[cincyguy13]

Hard to believe Memphis will be that bad, kinda like mick's 1st year

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I do expect the league to be top heavy.

That said; UCF, Tulsa, Temple, Tulane, UCONN, ECU should all improve

SMU, Memphis, Houston, USF will probably regress.

UC & WSU should hold steady


Reasons for each improvement/regression:
UCF: gets older, defense gets better, adds versatile talent
Tulsa: Gets older, Improves by developing a year longer
Temple: Has talent, returns experienced PG
Tulane: Dunleavy getting his team to play hard, should keep improving, best player back
UCONN: should improve just based on getting Gilbert and Larrier back and last year was so bad, the bar isnt high
ECU: Seemed to make strides at the end of season, returns best player.

SMU: Loses 2 players at minimum and maybe loses the AAC player of the year to NBA, no depth at the 4 and 5, hard to top last season performance
Memphis: Loses everyone on an already bad team, no good recruits, dumpster fire
Houston: zero big man talent, Loses Dotson who was a stat stuffer, no depth, little talent
USF Zero commits for incoming class, lost best players, hard to do worse than they did but they will find a way.

UC: Returns 3 starters, Expects big contribution from freshman of the year, adds high scoring point guard transfer
WSU loses no one. Would normally be an on the rise team but they upgraded in competition.

Stop expecting things from Tulsa. They suck. Returning sucky players doesn't mean you won't suck. Frank Haith literally destroys everything he touches. They've gotten worse as his players have come in. He's an awful coach. They are bad. They will continue to be bad until he is gone. I know I joke about Haith a lot, but he really is that bad. They'll be incredibly lucky to go 8-10 in the league. Not every team gets better every year.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Who will be worse, Memphis or USF? Also will either have enough for a team?

Memphis will be so much better than USF it's not even funny. And that has not a thing to do with Memphis. USF is that bad. They'll be one of the worst teams in D1 basketball.

 

[cincyguy13]

Stop expecting things from Tulsa. They suck. Returning sucky players doesn't mean you won't suck. Frank Haith literally destroys everything he touches. They've gotten worse as his players have come in. He's an awful coach. They are bad. They will continue to be bad until he is gone. I know I joke about Haith a lot, but he really is that bad. They'll be incredibly lucky to go 8-10 in the league. Not every team gets better every year.

Agree. Just because a team is young, doesn't mean they will improve in my opinion. ECU will be the same also

 

[cincyguy13]

Memphis will be so much better than USF it's not even funny. And that has not a thing to do with Memphis. USF is that bad. They'll be one of the worst teams in D1 basketball.

Last I heard Memphis had 2 scholarship players and one of them is transferring. They may be better but they will still be terrible

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Agree. Just because a team is young, doesn't mean they will improve in my opinion. ECU will be the same also

Kind of like us from 2014-15 to 2015-16. We were obviously better than Tulsa is now, but just an example of returning players not meaning a whole lot if they aren't that great. Again, we were better, so no disrespect to those teams of ours. But we were kind if maxed out. Ellis, Thomas, etc didn't have much room left to grow. That's how Junior Etou is imo.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Last I heard Memphis had 2 scholarship players and one of them is transferring. They may be better but they will still be terrible

Damn I didn't know it was that bad for Memphis. Big spring for them.

 

[SMOOfan98]

SMU fan here:

Ponyfans is always a ton of rumors, which is what free boards are, but to clarify:

McMurray will not redshirt, unless something crazy happens, but haven't heard anything other than a rumor about that (He will be a Junior). Semi coming back is a 50/50. He is already considered "old" so another year won't matter, Semi enjoyed playing college ball this year and isn't in a "have to go situation." So it all depends on his draft grade. While I agree that his stock probably wouldn't go up a ton(there is still room for him to improve his game/stock AND next years draft is much lighter and could move up 10-15 spots just because it is not as deep. Last I heard, most people in the know felt good about the odds of Semi being back, but too early to know.

We are very guard heavy next year. Shake, Jimmy Whitt(who will start, looks real good in practice), Foster, Douglas(4-star freshman), McMurray(in December), along with Emelogu off the bench.

We are in the grad-transfer big man market (few good options) to go along with two 3-star big men coming in(one HS, one prep)

If Semi is back we should be real good (at least a Top 25 team), if he is not, we will likely be a bubble team.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Wow so by playing 3 games McMurray burned his SO year and only gets to play a little over half the year as a JR? Crazy. He could have as few as 23 games between 2 years of his eligibility.

 

[cincyguy13]

SMU fan here:

Ponyfans is always a ton of rumors, which is what free boards are, but to clarify:

McMurray will not redshirt, unless something crazy happens, but haven't heard anything other than a rumor about that (He will be a Junior). Semi coming back is a 50/50. He is already considered "old" so another year won't matter, Semi enjoyed playing college ball this year and isn't in a "have to go situation." So it all depends on his draft grade. While I agree that his stock probably wouldn't go up a ton(there is still room for him to improve his game/stock AND next years draft is much lighter and could move up 10-15 spots just because it is not as deep. Last I heard, most people in the know felt good about the odds of Semi being back, but too early to know.

We are very guard heavy next year. Shake, Jimmy Whitt(who will start, looks real good in practice), Foster, Douglas(4-star freshman), McMurray(in December), along with Emelogu off the bench.

We are in the grad-transfer big man market (few good options) to go along with two 3-star big men coming in(one HS, one prep)

If Semi is back we should be real good (at least a Top 25 team), if he is not, we will likely be a bubble team.

I hope he does come back. I hope that SMU is great. It is always a lot more fun season when there are a lot of good teams to play. (Like the big east days). I think you guys lost a lot losing brown and moore. Those guys were as solid as it gets, and seemed like they were there forever

 

[cincyguy13]

Damn I didn't know it was that bad for Memphis. Big spring for them.

I sometimes listen to gary Parrish radio show sometimes. Cbs college bball guy from Memphis, he says it's the worst Memphis team in his lifetime and he's 40 something years old. not a great situation according to him

 

[SMOOfan98]

I hope he does come back. I hope that SMU is great. It is always a lot more fun season when there are a lot of good teams to play. (Like the big east days). I think you guys lost a lot losing brown and moore. Those guys were as solid as it gets, and seemed like they were there forever

Yeah, we really hope he does too, but he is a GREAT kid so I just hope he makes the best decision for him. I would understand either way.

Brown and Moore will be loses for sure. Real good players. Brown was a swiss army knife do it all player, but I don't think we will feel his loss as much, just because Foster is such a similar player and we will have such a deep backcourt. Moore is really gonna hurt, because his versatility and our lack of frontcourt experience. Gary Clark is that kinda player for y'all, like Moore, who doesn't stand out on the stat sheet every night, but has real solid numbers and does everything you need.

Wow so by playing 3 games McMurray burned his SO year and only gets to play a little over half the year as a JR? Crazy. He could have as few as 23 games between 2 years of his eligibility.

Yeah.. it really is a bummer, wish he had sat out all year. If he wanted to redshirt, we would let him, but everything I have heard is that he wants to/is working to be ready for December.