2014 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2014 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the first conference tournament of the American Athletic Conference (The American). It was the first conference tournament held since the split of the original Big East Conference. While The American is the legal successor to the old Big East, the rights to conference tournament in Madison Square Garden were retained by the new Big East, so the 2014 tournament was numbered as the new conference's first edition. The tournament was held March 12–15 in the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee and decided a champion of the 2013–14 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season (like most NCAA conferences, The American recognizes both regular-season and tournament champions; Cincinnati and Louisville shared the regular-season title). The teams in the conference competed in a ten-team single-elimination tournament for an automatic bid to the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

2014 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
Tournament Logo
ClassificationDivision I
Season2013–14
Teams10
SiteFedExForum[1]
Memphis
ChampionsNone
Attendance63,636
TelevisionESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU
2013–14 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings
Conf  Overall
TeamW L PCT  W L PCT
No. 15 Cincinnati15–3 .833  27–7  .794
No. 18 UConn12–6 .667  32–8  .800
SMU12–6 .667  27–10  .730
Memphis12–6 .667  24–10  .706
Houston8–10 .444  17–16  .515
Rutgers5–13 .278  12–21  .364
UCF4–14 .222  13–18  .419
Temple4–14 .222  9–22  .290
South Florida3–15 .167  12–20  .375
No. 5 Louisville* †0–3 .000  0–5  .000
† The American Tournament winner
As of March 15th, 2014
*Louisville: 29 reg. season games, 3 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed Record-(31-6)(15-3); Rankings from AP Poll

In the 2013–14 season, The American consisted of 10 members involved in the rearrangement of conferences between the 2013 and 2014 seasons. (Cincinnati, Connecticut, and South Florida) had been full members of the original Big East. One (Temple) had been a football-only Big East member before entering into full membership in The American. The remaining four schools (Houston, Memphis, SMU, and UCF) had previously been members of Conference USA.[1]

Seeds

All teams in the American qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded based on conference record and then a tie breaker system was used.[2] Teams seeded 7–10 had to play in the opening round and teams seeded 1–6 received a bye to the second round. Louisville and Cincinnati finished with identical 15-3 records and shared the regular season title. Since the Cardinals and Bearcats had split their meetings during the regular season, a coin toss was held to determine the #1 seed in the tournament, which was won by Cincinnati.[3]

Seed School Conference Overall Tiebreaker
1†‡ Cincinnati 15–326–5 Won coin toss
2†‡ Louisville 15–326–5
3† SMU 12-623–8 2–0 vs Connecticut
4† Connecticut 12–624–7 2–0 vs Memphis
5† Memphis 12–623–8 0–2 vs Connecticut
6† Houston 8–1016–15
7 Rutgers 5–1311–20
8 Temple 4–149–21 1–1 vs. SMU
9 UCF 4–1412–17 0–2 vs. SMU
10 South Florida 3–1512–19
‡ – American Athletic Conference regular season champions.
† – Received a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
Overall record are as of the end of the regular season.

Schedule

All tournament games are nationally televised on an ESPN network:

Session Game Time*[4] Matchup# Television Attendance
First round – Wednesday, March 12
1 1 7:00 pm #7 Rutgers 72 vs. #10 South Florida 68 ESPNU 12,102
2 9:30 pm #8 Temple 90 vs. #9 UCF 94 ESPN2
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 13
2 3 1:00 pm #3 SMU 64 vs. #6 Houston 68 ESPNU 13,011
4 3:00 pm #2 Louisville 92 vs. #7 Rutgers 31
3 5 7:00 pm #1 Cincinnati 61 vs. #9 UCF 58 13,081
6 9:00 pm #4 Connecticut 72 vs. #5 Memphis 53
Semifinals – Friday, March 14
4 7 7:00 pm #2 Louisville 94 vs. #6 Houston 65 ESPN2 11,888
8 9:00 pm #1 Cincinnati 56 vs. #4 Connecticut 58 ESPN2
Championship – Saturday, March 15
5 9 6:00 pm #4 Connecticut 61 vs. #2 Louisville 71 ESPN 13,554
*Game times in ET. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket
  First round
Wednesday, March 12		 Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 13		 Semifinals
Friday, March 14		 Championship
Saturday, March 15
                                     
       
  1 #13 Cincinnati 61  
    9 UCF 58  
8 Temple 90
9 UCF 942OT  
  1 #13 Cincinnati 56  
  4 #21 Connecticut 58  
       
       
  4 #21 Connecticut 72
    5 #19 Memphis 53  
     
       
  4 #21 Connecticut 61
  2 #5 Louisville 71
       
       
  2 #5 Louisville 92
    7 Rutgers 31  
7 Rutgers 72
10 South Florida 68  
  2 #5 Louisville 94
  6 Houston 65  
       
       
  3 #25 SMU 64
    6 Houston 68  
     

References
  1. "Memphis' FedExForum Will Host 2014 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship".
  2. "Seeding & Tie-Breaking Procedures" (PDF). The American. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  3. "Cincinnati Wins Coin Flip, Will Be #1 Seed in AAC Tournament". Retrieved March 8, 2014.
  4. "2014 American Athletic Conference Championship Schedule". TheAmerican.org. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
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