American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The American Athletic Conference was born in the messy break up of the Big East. The issue was the Big East as formerly constructed had football and basketball. There was significant tension over the revenue generated from the football schools. The Catholic basketball schools decided to keep the name and band together as a reincarnated Big East. The remaining members were scattered all across the country. They formed the American Athletic Conference. Some have criticized the AAC for being a hodge podge of geography. The conference's members include UCF, Cincinnati U, University of Connecticut, East Carolina U, University of Houston, Memphis U, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, and Wichita State. It kind of is a hodge podge given that the conference isn't geographically congruent.
This may be one of the newer conferences. However, it's members have some solid tradition. Connecticut has four national championships with the most recent coming in 2014. Who can forget the John Calipari and Derrick Rose team that went undefeated before losing on a shot to Kansas' Mario Chalmers? The Houston Cougars made two national championship games in the 1980s. John Chaney had a feisty and memorable coaching career at Temple from 1982 to 2006. He passionately threatened to kill UMass coach John Calipari after a game.
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship will be played from Thursday March 14th to Sunday March 17th 2019. Houston is currently on an impressive win streak and gunning for the conference's top seed. They are also currently in the top 10 of the weekly top 25 poll. Another potential contender for the conference championship would be Cincinnati. The Bear Cats have been nationally ranked at various points of the 2018-2019 college basketball season.
Fed Ex Forum is home to the Memphis University Tigers. However, it will play host to the AAC tourney in mid-March. The Tigers have put together a winning record so far and positive buzz is back under first year head coach Penny Hardaway. He played for Memphis before going on to a career in the National Basketball Association. Time will tell whether this will be a runaway for Kelvin Sampson's Cougars or if another team challenges them.
Conference Tournament games will be televised on the ESPN networks. There will also be spreads, money lines, and over unders for the games at online or physical world sports books. Consider making a sports bet on who you think will win games during the American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
