Listening to the American Athletic Conference coaches today on a conference call, it sounds like SMU's Nic Moore will be the league's player of the year. The award will be announced on Thursday around 11:30 a.m.

Here's what some of the coaches had to say:

Memphis's Josh Pastner:

“I would assume it’s gonna be Nic Moore, they won the league. I’d be surprised if he didn’t. But there’s a lot of great players in this league.”

SMU's Larry Brown:

"I think there are a lot of great players in our league. If you ask me, and I don't ever like to push my kids, but we won the league with (Emmanuel) Mudiay not coming, losing Keith (Frazier), Justin Martin. Certain people had to step up and Nic had a great year. I think we're all proud of him. Any time you play on a conference championship team, that's got to mean something.

"(Shaq) Harrison is great, (Will) Cummings is great. (Ryan) Boatright, I admire him. There are a lot of quality players in our conference that did a great job for their team. But Nic's one of my kids. We wouldn't be sitting where we are without him playing at such a high level."

Temple's Fran Dunphy:

"I think there are a lot of good candidates at (Cummings') position, a lot of really good palyers. It'll be an interesting ballot and vote. I will say (Cummings) is a terrific guy. We wouldn't know what to do without him. But many coaches would tout their leaders in that way. Just so much respect for the league, programs, coaches within that league. If he's honored that way, he would be very much respectful of that."

East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo:

"I think there are a lot of worthy candidates, a lot of point guards in this league certainly worthy of it -- (Ryan) Boatright, (Will) Cummings I love and Nic Moore at SMU has had a special season. Those three guys, in y mind, pop to the forefront. It's hard to pick one over the other. I don't think there's a clear-cut. If any onoe of those three win it, I wouldn't be surprised."