Ack it's the AAC

Starting Thursday from historic Hartford, Connecticut, you can enjoy the AAC Conference tournament. A league with some solid basketball schools mired with football delusions of grandeur has had a pretty bad year. Barring a surprise, this is a two-bid league.

SMU won the league title and Cincinnati finished 2nd. Both are very good teams capable of a run to the second weekend and in SMU's case, maybe further. SMU is 13 in KenPom and Cincy is 20. Then, well, it's Houston at 41 which isn't all that bad. The fall off after that is UCF at 74 and UConn at 94. That's bad for UConn.

Being a fan of a Big East school, I see a lot of fun being had at the expense of the AAC. Truth is, it should be better than this. It has Memphis and Temple, historically good programs that like UConn shouldn't be this bad. Even Tulsa has a history that deserves better than 143 in KenPom.

Bubble teams will need to pay attention. A bid thief could emerge here. Houston is good enough to win this. And UCF has been very good down the stretch behind Tacko Fall and Coach Johnny Dawkins. They've won five straight and that includes a win over Cincinnati.

The Pick: Cincinnati (SMU's lack of depth is an issue for a tourney that is 3 straight days)