It’s that time of year when college sports fans get the triple-headed monster when football, basketball, and fall baseball hit the full throttle for all fans to enjoy. Across the American Athletic Conference, fans are through the roof with anticipation for the upcoming basketball season. In recent years, the American Athletic Conference has made great strides in improvements in basketball. In 2021, Houston earned a trip to the Final Four, while in the 2022 Tournament, Memphis made a valiant run in the NCAA Tournament and came just shy of knocking on Gonzaga in the second round. Heading into the 2022-2023 season, expectations around the conference are as high as they have ever been in the history of the AAC.

Approaching the new season, the American seems to be a four-team race for the top position with the likeness of Houston, Memphis, Tulane, and Cincinnati preparing for a battle of a lifetime to earn the crown as American Athletic Champions. However, the middle pack of the conference has the potential to be one of the deadliest groups in all of college basketball.

Looking at the top half of the American, you have a Houston team who lost their core talent from last season, yet, the Cougars are picked in the preseason to win the American Athletic Conference. Following Houston, you have Head Coach Penny Hardaway, and his Memphis Tigers hit the transfer portal in which they added Kendric Davis from SMU to provide the Tigers with an upside potential that could play into a Final Four appearance for the 901. Tulane has Ron Hunter as their Head Coach in which he has the Green Wave ready for a breakout season on the backs of Jalen Cook and Kevin Cross. Expectations are high in New Orleans for the upcoming season with the amount of talent Coach Hunter has on the roster for Tulane. For Cincinnati, it’s hard to discount the Bearcats because the program recruits itself no matter who the coach is. In his first season as Head Coach, Wes Miller led the Bearcats to an eighteen-win season. This season is different for the Bearcats with the transfer addition of Landers Nolley from Memphis. Nolley played a monster role last season for the Tigers, which leads people around the American Athletic Conference to be high on the mountain of Cincinnati this season.

Elsewhere around the American Athletic Conference, Temple, UCF, Wichita State, SMU, and Tulsa will be lurking in the weeds for the prime time to launch a counterattack against the top half of the American. Out of those programs, UCF seems to be the most likely pick to be the dark horse of the AAC this season. The Knights, led by Head Coach Johnny Dawkins and talented senior CJ Walker, will have their hands full this season but expect to see UCF hanging out in shadows come Conference Tournament time.

All the preseason conversations will end in the coming weeks as each program takes the court in preseason play before the rubber meets the road for the 2022-2023 season.