With new branding and a new *official* name, no longer the American Athletic Conference, the American Conference looks to be highly competitive again this year with heavy amounts of turnover across the league.
Predicted Order of Finish:
- South Florida
- Memphis
- Tulsa
- Temple
- Wichita State
- UAB
- Tulane
- Florida Atlantic
- UTSA
- Charlotte
- North Texas
- Rice
- East Carolina
South Florida Bulls
New head coach Brian Hodgson found his way to Tampa and brought a whole slew of quality transfers along with him. Arkansas State migrants Izaiyah Nelson and Joseph Pinion look to find their way into the top of the rotation early. Nelson poses 20-20 threats in the middle, and Pinion boasts a lethal
3-point shot. Power conference transfers Daimion Collins and De’Ante Green come in from LSU and Florida St., respectively, to help hold down the middle even more, adding to what looks to be the premier interior defense in the American. At the guard positions, James Madison import Xavier Brown joins the returning CJ Brown in a battle for the lead guard position, with the latter claiming AAC All-Freshman Team last season. Josh Omojafo comes in from Robert Morris to bring an additional scoring punch to this well-rounded roster.
The main thing you see when looking at this roster in the surplus of bigs, a rarity in these mid-major conferences. With four players over the 6-foot-9 mark, it seems like the weakness will not be in the middle for Hodgson, who has always had a knack for recruiting great rim protectors. As many of the teams go in this transfer portal era, this squad may take some time to blossom, but come conference play, expect the Bulls to be the team to beat.
Bottom Line: With great rim protectors and shooters that Hodgson can rely on, the Bulls look to be a fast-paced, high energy winner in the American Conference.
Memphis Tigers
New year, new team for Penny Hardaway, who brings back zero returners from last season’s squad who won the conference title. The Tigers got tired of the PJ Haggerty sweepstakes and let the star guard leave for NC State. They now bring in former Kansas St. point guard Dug McDaniel and Sincere Parker from McNeese St. to replace him in the backcourt. To bolster what was a dangerous interior defense last season, 7-foot-1 forward Aaron Bradshaw comes in from Ohio St. Other than him, an early issue that will need to be solved is the lack of forwards on this team. Hardaway has liked to have a strong interior duo in the past, but Bradshaw will look to hold it down by himself this season.
Aside from Parker and McDaniel, the Tigers bring in a trio of off-guards in Quante Berry from Temple, Zachary Davis from South Carolina and Julius Thedford from Western Kentucky. Hasan Abdul Hakim from UT-Rio Grande Valley looks to be some welcome height to the backcourt, standing at 6-foot-8 and was a productive rebounder for the Vaqueros last season.
Bottom Line: The Tigers have a strong corps of guards, but it remains to be seen how the lack of interior depth will affect them going forward.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Trust me, it feels weird putting this team up so high, but with a roster that seems to have very few gaps and good experience all-around, why not Eric Konkol’s team?
Redshirt junior Terrance Ford Jr. highlights this team’s stacked transfer class. After leading a high-octane Arkansas St. offense last season, Ford now turns to leading a talented group of guards alongside St. Thomas transfer Miles Barnstable and Troy transfer Myles Rigsby.
In the frontcourt, a pair of Atlantic-10 transfers in David Green (Rhode Island) and Romad Dean (Fordham) come in to play the four. Doryan Onwuchekwa transferred in from Georgia Tech and is now fully healthy and is ready to play the five. Additionally, 2024-25 All-American Conference Freshman team member Ian Smikle returns to bring another punch to the depth of this new-look Tulsa squad.
Bottom Line: Tulsa is set to have their best team in years if it can bring together this much talent into a cohesive, free-flowing unit.
Temple Owls
With so much backcourt scoring talent coming in for head coach Adam Fisher, the biggest problem for him might be how to organize all of it into a cohesive lineup. CJ Hines (14.1ppg at Alabama St.), AJ Smith (11.5ppg at Charleston), Derrian Ford (8.0ppg at Arkansas St.), Jordan Mason (9.6ppg at UIC), Masiah Gilyard (11.2ppg at Manhattan) and Gavin Griffiths (2.1ppg at Nebraska) all come to Philly to replace the void left by Jamal Mashburn Jr.
In the frontcourt, freshman Ayuba Bryant Jr. comes in from JL Bourg en Bresse in the France-Pro A U21 league, and Bowling Green transfer Jamai Felt enters averaging a MAC-leading 1.4 blocks per game last season, and returner Babatunde Durodola adds to this defense-heavy group of big men.
Bottom Line: Having too many scorers is a good problem to have, so Temple could find its name at the top of the conference if that issue gets solved.
Wichita State Shockers
Head coach Paul Mills brings in an almost completely new lineup to Wichita this season with possibly the strongest balance between frontcourt and backcourt in the conference. With a backcourt led by Kenyon Giles from UNC-Greensboro and a frontcourt highlighted by 7-foot-2 Will Berg coming in from Purdue, the Shockers have a solid pick-and-roll duo to work with on the offensive side of the ball. Meanwhile, Karon Boyd, the 2024 SoCon defensive player of the year, joins the lineup to add a defensive punch on the perimeter.
Aside from that, depth is not an option for this team with backcourt depth featuring Brian Amuneke (Fresno St.), Michael Gray Jr. (Nicholls St.) and Dre Kindell (Barton CC). In the frontcourt, it’s Jaret Valencia (Monmouth), Dillon Battie (Temple) and Emmanuel Okorafor (Seton Hall) holding down the middle.
Bottom Line: The Shockers filled the right gaps and bring a plethora of different players to give themselves flexibility going forward, but they will need consistency from key players to be contenders.
UAB Blazers
Well, Yaxel Lendeborg is gone. So is the rest of the team.
Now what? Reload, of course.
Andy Kennedy, who enters his sixth season with the Blazers, welcomes a roster with new faces from all over the country. The highlights of this group are the duo of small guards in Mercer transfer Ahmad Robinson and DePaul product Jacob Meyer in the backcourt. Quaran McPherson (Northern Illinois) and Chance Westry (Syracuse) also add to a backcourt looking to make noise in the conference.
Additionally, Kennedy brings in a long list of community college transfers, like Lendeborg did just two seasons ago. The additions of KyeRon Lindsay-Martin from Murray State and Daniel Rivera from UMass will be interesting to see who steps up in the frontcourt.
Bottom Line: Another season for Kennedy that can’t exactly be predicted until they hit the court. The success of his many community college transfers combined with the proven DI talent will pave the way for this team.
Tulane Green Wave
Sometimes the best gets are the ones you already have, and the Green Wave return crucial pieces to a solid finisher in the conference a season ago. Rowan Brumbaugh stayed loyal to head coach Ron Hunter and returns following a season where he averaged 15.5 points and 4.8 assists and led the team to the conference semifinals in Fort Worth. Point guard Asher Woods also will reprise his role as the leader of the offense to give the team what looks to be the best backcourt in the conference.
As for transfers, a promising group led by Seton Hall transfer Scotty Middleton and former Georgetown forward Curtis Williams Jr. gives the Green Wave the frontcourt punch they need to compete in the conference. The main reservation will have to be the depth as a whole, with many of the players coming in being unproven and young up to this point.
Bottom Line: If some freshmen can step up and provide the team with some depth at the forward positions, the Green Wave are in for an exciting season with a star backcourt.
Florida Atlantic Owls
Head coach John Jakus has made it very hard to scout this roster out so far. With a mix of P4 transfers, international imports and freshman, none of these players have seen mid-major conference competition other than the two returning guards Niccolo Moretti and Devin Vanterpool. The Owls bring in former Indiana guard Kanaan Carlyle, who saw success at Stanford just a season prior to be the main scoring threat on this team. Big Ten transfers Devin Williams (UCLA) and Isaiah Elohim (USC) add to the mystery. Williams has not seen the basketball court since last February, and Elohim was rarely given opportunities with the Trojans last season.
Furthermore, a pair of international prospects come in with zero experience in the college ranks in big men Vincent Neugebauer and Xander Pintelon. They found solid rotational spots in the German Pro A and BNXT leagues, respectively.
Bottom Line: So many unanswered questions have to be solved before this team takes the court, but when proven, this team has one of the higher ceilings in the conference.
UTSA Roadrunners
Vasean Allette (from TCU) has the chance to be this year’s Primo Spears in San Antonio. The Roadrunners bring in an abundance of unproven P4 transfers, with Allette’s 11.4 points per outing with the Horned Frogs proving to be a strong beacon of hope for a team that has not seen much postseason success in the past few years.
He joins Jamir Simpson (16.1ppg at Southern Utah) in the backcourt in what projects as a solid backcourt. Forward Macaleab Rich comes in from Kansas State. Austin Nunez, who redshirted at Arizona State, and seven-footer Stanley Borden, who was at Duke, did not see much playing time.
UTSA is a team with a high ceiling, but with not much on-court experience, it finds itself toward the bottom of the conference.
Bottom Line: This team will go as far as the scoring of its backcourt can take it, but it remains to be seen how far that actually is for now.
Charlotte 49ers
Once again there is significant turnover for the 49ers, who haven’t had much consistency on their roster at all since the dawn of the new transfer rules. This season, it’s a strong group of guards led by the three-headed-monster of Damoni Harrison (Southern Indiana), Major Freeman (Siena) and Dezayne Mingo (Marshall). Arden Conyers makes the in-state move from South Carolina and could make a big impact on this new-look squad at the four position. MEAC-All Defensive Team selection Kuluel Mading, from Norfolk State, comes in to hold down the paint, and Kylan Blackmon heads up the small group of returners this season.
Bottom Line: Depth is lacking on this team that has a promising five that could make some noise if they fit well together.
North Texas Mean Green
Deniyal Robinson takes over the program following the exodus of Ross Hodge to West Virginia. Robinson brought a plethora of Cleveland State transfers with him. Forward Dylan Arnett and guard Je’Shawn Stevenson look to be the two CSU carry-overs to make the most impact. Guards Will McClendon (from San Jose State) and David Terrell Jr. (from UTEP) add some more scoring to the team, but with a lack of real depth and star power, it might be a down year for the recently-successful Mean Green.
Bottom Line: The Mean Green need a big leap from their top players to find consistent success in Robinson’s first year in the conference.
Rice Owls
The return of leading scorer Trae Broadnax remains a beacon for a team that has not won a game in the conference tournament since its entry in 2023-24. Head coach Rob Lanier adds guard Dallas Hobbs from Mount Saint Mary’s and Nick Anderson from Prairie View A&M to bolster his backcourt. Without a consistent returning forward, the team will have to rely on Texas A&M-CC transfer Stephen Giwa to hold down the middle for the Owls.
Bottom Line: Retaining Broadnax is a big win for this team, but it still looks to be an uphill battle to be competitive in this large of a conference.
East Carolina Pirates
With RJ Felton and CJ Walker gone, the Pirates find themselves in a tough position headed into this season. Jordan Riley returns bringing some of the scoring punch from last season. Giovanni Emejuru made the move from George Mason and should be a solid big for the team. However, it most likely looks to be a rebuilding year for the much-depleted Pirates in Greenville.
Bottom Line: Riley will star, but without much help, the Pirates will struggle to find themselves out of the bottom of the conference.
