Nothing more irrelevant than the final Top 25 ballot of the season. Teams only care about their seedings right now for the NCAA tournament, not their rankings.

But, had to submit one, so here's mine. Also, AP voters must submit three All-America teams, a national player of the year and a national coach of the year. I included my votes for those here, as well (and gave the AAC a little much-needed love. How the heck did UCLA get in over Temple, anyway?).

1. Kentucky
2. Wisconsin
3. Villanova
4. Duke
5. Arizona
6. Virginia
7. Gonzaga
8. Northern Iowa
9. Notre Dame
10. Iowa State
11. Maryland
12. Kansas
13. Wichita State
14. Utah
15. SMU
16. Oklahoma
17. Baylor
18. Louisville
19. Arkansas
20. Georgetown
21. Oregon
22. North Carolina
23. Michigan State
24. VCU
25. Butler

ALL-AMERICAN TEAMS

First team
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
Jahlil Okafor, Duke
Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Jerian Grant, Notre Dame
D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State

Second team
Karl-Anthony Towns, Kentucky
Kris Dunn, Providence
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Tyus Jones, Duke
T.J. McConnell, Arizona

Third team
Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga
Montrezl Harrell, Louisville
Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia
Ryan Boatright, UConn
LaDontae Henton, Providence


PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jahlil Okafor, Duke


COACH OF THE YEAR
Fran Dunphy, Temple

Daniel Hamilton was named the AAC's rookie of the year on Thursday, and Pat Lenehan earned the league's Scholar-Athlete Award.

Both, of course, are well-deserved. Here's what they had to say:

HAMILTON:



"It's truly a blessing. I just want to continue to keep improving from this day on and keep getting better."

(on Kevin Ollie being a "second father")

"I can just talk to him about anything, his door is open 24 hours. Being to be able to talk to him about anything, on and off the court."

"It's truly an honor to be able to play for him, as well."

"This award means a lot. There were a lot of expectations coming into it, but when you've got coaches and teammates believing in you, it's not that tough."

Hamilton noted that his grandmother, Lucine Noble, passed away recently. The funeral is on Tuesday, and he will try to fly out to California on Monday to attend.

Added Kevin Ollie:

"You've got to take in consideration, he's from L.A., coming all the way across the country. Dealing with the academics, the time management we put on their lives -- it's tough. For him to continue to work and to have that on his back throughout the whole season, being named preseason rookie of the year, it's great. His expectations of himself are more than we expect of him. He's going to continue to do a good job, hopefully throughout this new season that we have, he'll continue his great play."

LENAHAN:



"It was completely unexpected. I didn't really think I'd be up for it. I know the scholar part, but the scholar-athlete part. It's an honor to receive the award. I think it says a lot about the University of Connecticut and the basketball program, really what coach Ollie stands for. I'm happy to be a representative of what coach Ollie wants us to do on and off the court."

*** Meanwhile, Temple's Fran Dunphy won coach of the year and SMU's Nic Moore was named player of the year. Obviously, Ryan Boatright could have won player of the year, as well, but Moore was the best player on the best team.

Here's what Ollie said about it:

"Anybody who's a competitor, you want to win player of the year. He had some great numbers, he led our conference in scoring, in assists he was right up in the top five. He did a wonderful job. He was unanimous first team, that's a great honor for him. Of course he wanted to win player of the year. I'd be lying right in your face if he didn't. But, at the end of the day, he doesn't have any control over that. What he has control over is getting our team ready to play, being a leader, being the point guard of our team. I think that's where his mindset is."

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."

The AAC regular season kicks off on New Year's Eve. You're not as excited as you used to be when the Big East season used to roll around. But look hard enough and the American could be an intriguing league before it's all said and done.

I think UConn is on to something here. As expected, it has taken the Huskies a while to jell with a bunch of new faces and no more Shabazz Napier to bail them out of sticky situations. But there's talent here, obviously strong coaching, and the team has played pretty well lately.

I thought Ryan Boatright would be good this year, but have to admit that, so far, he's been better than I expected. Daniel Hamilton, too. Fun to watch such a fundamentally sound, unselfish player. And it looks like Rodney Purvis might be ready to blow up, as well.

And let's not forget, three of the Huskies' four losses have come from teams currently ranked in the Top 25: No. 2 Duke, No. 11 Texas and No. 17 West Virginia.

Meanwhile, have you noticed what's been going on down at SMU lately?

The Mustangs lost three of their first five games this season and fell off everybody's radar -- including mine. But SMU was without the services of Markus Kennedy, the all-AAC forward who was out on academic suspension. Xavier transfer Justin Martin also missed four games early on.

It should also be pointed out that the 'Stangs lost to three pretty good teams: at No. 7 Gonzaga, at Indiana and at home to a good (10-2) Arkansas squad whose only losses have been to No. 9 Iowa State and Clemson (in overtime).

Kennedy is back now, however, and SMU has won six straight -- including at Michigan (though, admittedly, both NJIT and Eastern Michigan have accomplished the same feat).

"I knew SMU was gonna pick it up once they got big Mo back," said Boatright.

In Kennedy and current AAC player of the week Yanick Moreira, SMU may have the league's best frontcourt. In 2014 first team all-AAC guard Nic Moore and former McDonald's All-American Keith Frazier, the backcourt's very strong, too.

Oh, and the head coach isn't too shabby, either. Emmanuel Who-diay?, the Mustangs might ask.

Is SMU a better team than UConn right now? I thought so -- by a smidge. Then, it barely beats a Division 2 team called Midwestern State at home on Monday. So I'll go with the Huskies right now. But make no mistake -- this conference appears very much to be a two-team race to the top.

And I don't think this will be a one-bid league, as some have suggested. I think both UConn and SMU will continue to improve, and their respective RPI's will remain strong enough, thanks to good out-of-conference schedules. Four bids like last year seems far-fetched, but three isn't out of the realm.

I'll give Cincy some consideration because it always seems to be there, thanks largely to its defense. The Bearcats may miss head coach Mick Cronin (unruptured aneurysm) for a while, though.

And I'm really starting to like Temple, with bona fide scorers Will Cummings and Quenton DeCosey now joined by talented transfers Jesse Morgan (UMass) and Devin Coleman (Clemson). The Owls will give the Huskies all they can handle on New Year's Eve (1 p.m.) at the XL Center.

Memphis? Forget about it. No guard play. Tulsa's been a disappointment, but could get better if it buys into Frank Haith. Same with Houston and Kelvin Sampson, I suppose. UCF's strong recruiting class is yielding some nice results. I thought USF (6-7) would be better, and still could be. Tulane's 9-1 start was a fraud, built on a bunch of cupcakes. The Green Wave has lost its last two games to ranked Washington and St. Johns (by 25). East Carolina? No.

Will UConn be better than SMU come March? It remains to be seen, and we'll have two fun games -- one an ESPN College GameDay feature on Feb. 14 in Dallas, the other a nationally-televised showdown on CBS on March 1 in Hartford -- to help sort it out.

But remember: the Huskies have yet to prove they can beat the Mustangs head-to-head, after losing both games last season.

No, it's not the Big East. But I'm looking forward to the start of the AAC season. Could be interesting.

My predictions:

1. UConn
2. SMU
3. Cincinnati
4. Temple
5. Memphis
6. Tulsa
7. Houston
8. Central Florida
9. South Florida
10. Tulane
11. East Carolina

Player of the Year: Ryan Boatright, UConn
Rookie of the Year: Daniel Hamilton, UConn
Coach of the Year: Fran Dunphy, Temple
Defensive Player of the Year: Ryan Boatright, UConn
Most Improved Player: Yanick Moreira, SMU

FIRST TEAM

Ryan Boatright, UConn
Daniel Hamilton, UConn
Nic Moore, SMU
Yanick Moreira, SMU
Will Cummings, Temple
Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati

SECOND TEAM

Amida Brimah, UConn
Rodney Purvis, UConn
Markus Kennedy, SMU
Austin Nichols, Memphis
Jesse Morgan, Temple

ALL-ROOKIE TEAM

Daniel Hamilton, UConn
B.J. Taylor, UCF
Adonys Henriquez, UCF
Gary Clark, Cincinnati
B.J. Tyson, East Carolina

Shabazz Napier made a lot of good decisions in Thursday night's 68-55 win over Temple, doling out seven assists (five in the first half, on a host of beautiful no-looks and alley-oops). He also hauled in 12 rebounds, hit all 11 free throws and finished with 17 points for his fifth double-double of the season and seventh of his career.

But Napier made one very bad decision before the game.

“ I did something so stupid – I bought chicken wings from 7-11 and I ate it," he reported. "I just threw up after the game. It was the worst decision I ever made. My stomach and my chest were burning. I was so winded. A lot of my shots were short, so I can tell that was one of the reasons why I was missing.”

Napier shot a mere 3-for-11 from the floor. He vowed never to get food from 7-11 again. That's probably a good decision.

And here's how NBA scouts size up Napier, Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels.

*** Meanwhile, Boatright toughed it out with 14 points, despite getting kneed in the back of his knee once and getting yet another shot to the ... umm ... man region in the second half.

“I almost feinted," he said. "It’s like the sixth time this year, it’s crazy.”

*** Kevin Ollie on the Huskies' win:

UConn held Temple high-scorers Dalton Pepper and Quenton DeCosey to a combined 9-for-33 shooting.

“To hold those two guys down like we did, especially in a building where they feel comfortable," Ollie said. "I see the XL Center, they haven’t played there before. But this is their home gym. To be out on the shooters and to run them off the 3-point line and make life difficult for them, it was a good job.”

“I thought Amida (Brimah) did a great job giving us the inside presence, giving us a balance. Hopefully, SMU is thinking about that, also, going into our next game.”

(on returning to Philly, where he played for parts of six seasons with the Sixers)

“It’s great. I have great respect for Fran (Dunphy), he’s a great coach. This city has done a lot for me, Larry Brown has done a lot for me, the Sixers’ organization has done a lot for me. I always want to give back. When I can come back and talk to some of my old friends, be around them, it’s just a great atmosphere. I love this city. They always cheered me on – the guy that didn’t get a lot of minutes, but when I got in there, I always got a good ovation and I appreciate that.”

The hallmark of the American Athletic Conference in its first year of existence looks to be two things: great coaches, great guard play. (And atrocious football, but let's stick to men's hoops).

The league features two Hall of Fame coaches (Rick Pitino, Larry Brown), another with NBA experience (Eddie Jordan), others who are well-respected in the game (Fran Dunphy, Josh Pastner, Mick Cronin) and, of course, up-and-comers like Kevin Ollie.

As for guards, UConn, Louisville and Memphis could all lay claim not only to the best backcourt in the conference but possibly even in the nation. And all three do lay such claims, as you'll soon find out.

Here are some notes, quotes and video from today's AAC Media Day:

(on the league's great guards):

RYAN BOATRIGHT:

 

JOE JACKSON of MEMPHIS:

“It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be more of a guard-type of game, which I (thrive) in. I love those type of atmospheres … it’s gonna be uptempo in a lot of games. It should be a lot of fun, because, who doesn’t want to play a game like that? I don’t want to play smashmouth basketball.”

 

RUSS SMITH of LOUISVILLE:

 

“I respect all the guards – the Memphis guards, the UConn guards. They do a lot of things well that I try to emulate and put into my game. If I don’t respect their game and love their game then it’s not gonna make me a great competitor.”

“Shabazz is one of the more fundamental guards in our league. He shoots the ball really well, he has a great IQ, he understands the game well, and he’s a student of the game. I understand how explosive Boatright is, how competitive he is. Joe Jackson’s extremely athletic, extremely fierce. The same can be said about Geron Johnson – fierce competitor … and you can’t sleep on the Cincinnati guys. Sean  (Kilpatrick) is a New York native, I’m very familiar with his game … Anthony Collins, the way he operates and runs his team, that inspires me a lot.”

 PASTNER:

 “The backcourts make it exciting for the fans. This league has a lot of great guards. Everybody talks a lot about Louisville, Memphis, UConn. I don’t think a lot of people talk about South Florida – they’ve got good guards. Houston’s got good guards, SMU’s got good guards, Rutgers has a few guys that are eligible now, Cincinnati … From top to bottom, this league is filled with really good guards. And when you have really good guards, that means every time you step on the floor, any night, somebody could beat anybody at any point.”

 

PITINO:

 

 

So who's got the best backcourt in the league? Pitino said his is "one of the best backcourts I've coached in my 35 years ... maybe the best."

 

Napier: "I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t think we had the best guards. I’m a competitor, so I’ll put my guards up against anybody."

 

Jackson: “Tell you the truth, I feel like we have the best backcourt. We’ve got Chris Crawford, Geron Johnson, Mike Dixon. They can shoot the ball, they’re seniors. We’ve got a good backcourt, and it’ll be very competitive."

 

OLLIE:

 

 

Smith? Surprisingly, he wouldn't join the fray: “We just play, man. I just play basketball. If I want to talk about how good I am in the backcourt, I’d just get into the media.”

 

But he later added: “Our backcourt is great, too. It should be reckoned with.”

 

*** Not a bad batch of coaches, either:

 

PASTNER:

How many leagues have two Hall of Fame coaches in them? Obviously, the ACC’s got there’s, but … I think this and the ACC are the two best basketball leagues in the country. I’d be shocked if six teams aren’t in the NCAA tournament. I think it’s going to be a heck of a deal from the start of the season to the finish.”

 

SMITH:

 

“It’s gonna be hard for a lot of guys who had success in their leagues to try to duplicate it because of the great coaches (in the AAC)."

 

OLLIE:

 “You’ve just got great coaches from top to bottom. It’s just great to be here in the midst of greatness. Hopefully, for me, I can touch the hem of their garments one day."

 

Indeed, Ollie plans on learning from some of the great coaches he'll be going up against this season.

“One of the greatest attributes of a great coach is always being coachable. I’ll ask advice. If it wasn’t for the advice of Larry Brown, I wouldn’t have made it to Connecticut. That was the first person I called when I had the decision of going to Oklahoma City or coaching UConn. He said, without a shadow of a doubt, go back to your love, go back to your heart. That’s why I made the decision, because I really valued his opinion.”

 

*** Brown dropped this interesting nugget on us today: the first head coaching job he was offered was at UConn, back in 1967. Fred Schabel had left for Penn, and new AD Jim Hickey offered the job to Brown, who was then the freshman coach at North Carolina. He turned down the offer.

 

“I didn’t know if I was ready. I loved being at Carolina with Coach Smith. Then, lo and behold, I left and started playing again. But I’ve always loved Storrs.”

 

Burr Carlson took the job instead, went 16-32 in two seasons, and Dee Rowe replaced him in 1969.

 

Brown, who coached Ollie in the NBA, will always have a special place in his heart for him.

 

“Seeing the respect people have for him. Generally, guys get respect because they’re great and they play a lot. Kevin got respect because of who he was and what he was about. You could see that early on. I’ve been around great players, and so many guys of the guys I coached taught me how to coach. He was one of them. He always did it in a respectful way. I valued things he said, and I always thought he was a great example for young kids.”

 

Brown added: "I don’t look forward to playing against him, but I’m proud he’s doing what he’s doing.”

 

The respect is mutual, not only from Ollie but from Ollie's players:

 

“Larry Brown, a coach that I always watched because growing up, I enjoyed watching Allen Iverson," said Napier. "I’ll be happy to walk up against Larry Brown’s team and play them and then shake his hand. That’s somebody I thought I’d never be able to play against. It’s a good feeling to have a lot of good coaches (in this league).”

 

*** DeAndre Daniels didn't make preseason first or second team, but he's not bothered by it.

 

“I don’t really focus on individual awards and stuff. Basketball is a team sport, so all I’m worried is how I can do things I can do to make my team better – rebounding, scoring, all the little things.”

Maybe Daniels didn't notice, but Ollie did.

 

“People aren’t noticing him – he knows that, we know that, that only adds fuel to his fire. For something to come out to say he’s not one of the top basketball players in America, I want to see who wrote that. We’re going to show ‘em, that he is a great basketball player and a force to be reckoned with this season.”

*** Ollie noted that he's played for three of the league's coaches: Brown, Jordan and Pitino. For Pitino, it was just in an NBA summer league some 15 years ago when he was trying to make the Celtics as a free agent. It was between Ollie and Kentucky alum Wayne Turner, and Pitino went with Turner.

 

"Of course he picked the Kentucky guy, but it’s alright," Ollie said with a smile. "It made me who I am."

 

Said Pitino: “In the end, I had to be a little partial.”

 

*** UConn received the only other first-place vote other than Louisville. Obviously, it came from Pitino, since coaches can't vote for their own teams.

 

“I was trying to decide between Memphis and UConn, and to be quite honest, it was 1 and 1A," Pitino said. "I just think that their backcourt is awesome. Memphis’s backcourt is awesome. I wanted to vote as a tie, they told me I couldn’t do it, so I just picked UConn because of more familiarity with them.”

 

What does Pitino like most about UConn?

 

"I think they have a great backcourt, a terrific front court. They have a coach that is not only a terrific young coach, but there’s not a living room in the country that he will walk into, where when he leaves, that family won’t want to put him in the top three choices to go to school. I’ve been with Kevin Ollie for the last 10 years."

*** I asked Shabazz Napier who's surprised him most so far in practices. His quick response: "Amida (Brimah). Defensively, he's incredible. Offensively, he needs a little more work."

Napier believes all the team's big men will contribute "by committee" this season. Boatright also praised Niels Giffey's recent play in practice.

*** Interesting tidbit: the back of the AAC media guide highlights the league's NCAA championship teams -- 2013 Louisville, 2011 UConn, 2004 UConn, 1999 UConn, 1986 Louisville, 1980 Louisville, 1962 Cincinnati and 1961 Cincinnati. Of course, none of those teams were AAC teams when they won, and it's worth noting that the league is operating from a brand-new slate in terms of statistical records, etc.

The current Big East, meanwhile, is keeping its record book intact -- even though that league is actually the new league. The AAC is actually considered the same conference as the Big East, only with a different name and a largely new set of teams.

Conference realignment is confusing, eh?