2026 American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament Basics
Format
The American Conference has implemented a stepladder bracket to protect the higher seeds, and reduced the field to 10.
Site
After spending the past five years in Fort Worth, the event is set for Legacy Arena in Birmingham (UAB’s home before Bartow Arena opened).
Participants
Only the top 10 finishers in the American’s regular-season standings qualified, so Rice (13-18, 7-11, 11th), East Carolina (11-20, 6-12, 12th), and UTSA (5-25, 1-17, 13th) all missed out.
Schedule
Downloadable PDF Bracket
First Round (Wed. 3/11)
Gm. 1: (9) Tulane (17-14, 8-10) vs. (8) Memphis (13-18, 8-10),
7 (ESPN News) Road split: Green Wave 78-76 on 2/1 and Tigers 96-95 (OT) last Sunday. Gm. 2: (10) Temple (16-15, 8-10) vs. (7) Florida Atlantic (17-14, 9-9), 9:30* (ESPN+ ($)) The FAU Owls swept: 79-73 (away) on 1/18 and 77-73 (home) on 2/26.
Second Round (Thurs. 3/12)
ESPNU will air both games.
Gm. 3: Gm. 1 winner vs. (5) Charlotte (15-16, 9-9), 7
Gm. 4: Gm. 2 winner vs. (6) North Texas (18-13, 9-9), 9:30*
Quarterfinals (Fri. 3/13)
ESPN2 will air both games.
Gm. 5: Gm. 3 winner vs. (4) UAB (20-11, 11-7), 1
Gm. 6: Gm. 4 winner vs. (3) Tulsa (25-6, 13-5), 3:30*
Semifinals (Sat. 3/14)
ESPN2 will air both games.
Gm. 7: Gm. 5 winner vs. (1) South Florida (23-8, 15-3), 3
Gm. 8: Gm. 6 winner vs. (2) Wichita State (21-10, 13-5), 5:30*
Championship (Sun. 3/15)
Gm. 9: Semifinal winners, 3:15 (ESPN)
Mayhem Potential
Data originally posted by Bob Vetrone Jr. on Twitter in 2020 with my own additions for the seasons beyond.
The top two seeds have combined to win nine of the 11 American Athletic Tournaments held so far. The exceptions were 2016’s fifth-seeded UConn team and 2024’s UAB squad.
- 1 seed (5): 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2025
- 2 seed (4): 2014, 2019, 2021, 2023
- 4 seed (1): 2024
- 5 seed (1): 2016
NCAA Bid Totals Since 2014
- 4 bids (3): 2014 (9-3 record, 10 teams, UConn national champion), 2016 (1-4 record, 11 teams), 2019 (3-4 record, 12 teams)
- 3 bids (1): 2018 (2-3 record, 12 teams)
- 2 bids (6): 2015 (1-2 record, 11 teams), 2017 (1-2 record, 11 teams), 2021 (4-2 record, 11 teams), 2022 (4-2 record, 11 teams), 2023 (2-2, 11 teams), 2024 (0-2 record, 14 teams)
- 1 bid (1): 2025 (0-1 record, 13 teams)
The only current conference member that has won an NCAA game while in the league is Memphis, who defeated Boise State in the 2022 Tournament before losing to Gonzaga. In 2023, the Tigers lost in the first round to Final Four-bound Florida Atlantic, which was a Conference USA member at the time. Memphis also got stunned by Colorado State in a 12-over-5 upset last season. At this point, the league has accepted that multiple bids aren’t guaranteed at this point; hence, the change to a stepladder bracket.
Last Conference Tournament Titles
Memphis: 2025 (1 seed)
UAB: 2024 (4 seed)
Florida Atlantic: 2023 (1 seed, CUSA)
North Texas: 2021 (W3 seed, CUSA)
Wichita State: 2017 (2 seed, MVC)
Tulsa: 2014 (2 seed, CUSA)
Temple: 2010 (1 seed, Atlantic 10)
Charlotte: 2001 (3 seed, CUSA)
South Florida: 1990 (2 seed, Sun Belt)
Just six teams have won the American Athletic tournament title over its short lifespan, and four of them (Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, and SMU) have moved to other conferences. East Carolina (1993, 7 seed, CAA) and UTSA (2011, 7 seed, Southland) will need to wait until next year (at least) to get another shot at a tourney crown. Rice and Tulane are the only league members that have never won a tournament championship in any conference. The Owls will also have to wait until 2027 since they didn’t qualify alongside the Pirates and Roadrunners.
