When the Big East tried to expand falling several of its members bolting for the ACC and the Big 12, the Catholic schools of the conference revolted and formed the new Big East, taking the name with them. The teams cast off by the new Big East formed the American, along with the schools that had were going to join the Big East originally. Despite the founding members of the conference being apart of a high major conference, the American is decidedly a mid major conference now, with only two or three teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament.
Southern Methodist won the conference this year, a season after being banned from postseason play. They are projected to be a 5 seed, along with the conference runner-up Cincinnati. Houston has been getting some looks of late, but they will need to do a lot to get to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars may just need to win the conference tournament to go dancing.
The tournament will take place from March 9th to 12th at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. All eleven teams of the conference will participate with the top five seeds getting a bye to the quarterfinals.
First Round-Thursday, March 9th
#9 East Carolina vs. #8 Temple
#10 Tulane vs. #7 Tulsa
#11 South Florida vs. #6 Connecticut
Quarterfinals-Friday, March 10th
#9 East Carolina vs. #1 Southern Methodist
#5 Memphis vs. #4 Central Florida
#10 Tulane vs. #2 Cincinnati
#6 Connecticut vs. #3 Houston
Semifinals-Saturday, March 11th
#4 Central Florida vs. #1 Southern Methodist
#6 Connecticut vs. #2 Cincinnati
Championship-Sunday, March 12th
The two teams split the season series, but Southern Methodist has been the more dominant team in the American, winning 13 in a row going into this tournament. Cincinnati won't have to worry about being left out when the bracket is announced shortly after this game ends, but Southern Methodist is the one that will have the automatic bid.
Cincinnati 64, Southern Methodist 70
No comments:
Post a Comment