The American Athletic Conference awards won't be handed out for another four weeks or so, at the championship tournament in Hartford. Trying to figure out who the favorites to win each category is tricky. In fact, it appears we could have another similar situation as last year for player of the year, when UConn's Shabazz Napier, Cincinnati's Sean Kilpatrick and Louisville's Russ Smith were all worthy. Conventional wisdom had the award going to Kilpatrick, whose Bearcats tied with Smith's Cardinals for first place in the league.

Instead, it went to Napier, even though UConn wound up finishing in fourth place in the regular season standings. Kilpatrick and coach Mick Cronin weren't too happy about it. Of course, both blew their chance to avenge the perceived snub when Kilpatrick blew a layup in the waning seconds of the AAC semifinals, allowing UConn to win and advance to the finals to face Louisville.

UConn has frontrunners in three categories: Player of the year (Ryan Boatright), rookie of the year (Daniel Hamilton) and defensive player of the year (Amida Brimah). You could make an argument that all three deserve to win. There is no way in heck they do, however, given UConn's disappointing record this season. In fact, it's doubtful the Huskies get more than one of the awards.

Here's how I see the awards panning out -- not necessarily who I think should win, but who I think will win. (All stats referred to are for conference play only):

FIRST TEAM
Ryan Boatright, UConn
Nic Moore, SMU
Yanick Moreira, SMU
James Woodard, Tulsa
Will Cummings, Temple
Austin Nichols, Memphis

SECOND TEAM
Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
Shaquille Harrison, Tulsa
Jesse Morgan, Temple
Markus Kennedy, SMU

ALL-ROOKIE
Daniel Hamilton, UConn
B.J. Taylor, UCF
Adonys Hernandez, UCF
B.J. Tyson, ECU
Gary Clark, Cincinnati

PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Two-man race between Ryan Boatright and Nic Moore. Boatright leads the league in scoring and is fifth in assists. God knows where UConn would be without him. He was also preseason player of the year, which may give him a leg up in the minds of the voters -- the league's coaches. (Of course, Russ Smith was last year's preseason POY and that didn't help him win it). Moore is the best player on the league's best team. He leads the league in assists and is sixth in scoring. Usually, the award goes to a player on a first or second-place team (obviously, that didn't happen last year).
Pick: Moore. I think the coaches will give it to him, based on SMU's success, even though Boatright has been by far the more dynamic player. Boatright says he's not concerned with individual awards, anyway.

COACH OF THE YEAR:
Another two-man race between SMU's Larry Brown and Tulsa's Frank Haith. Brown has the best team and has dealt with the loss of several key players at different points of the season. Of course, the Mustangs were picked to finish second int he league. Haith, in his first year at the helm, inherited a team that won the Conference USA tourney last year and was picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll. The Golden Hurricane is currently second in the league standings at 10-2.
Pick: Haith. This is subject to change, however, if Tulsa falters over the next few weeks -- which is entirely possible. Then, Brown will win it.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
There are a lot of good candidates. Obviously, Daniel Hamilton (the preseason pick) is a frontrunner. UCF's B.J. Taylor (12.8 ppg), ECU's B.J. Tyson (11.5), UCF's Adonys Hernandez (10.4) and Hamilton (9.8) are among the league's top scorers. Hamilton is second in rebounding, while Cincy's Gary Clark is seventh. Hamilton is also 10th in assists, the only frosh to be in all three categories.
Pick: Hamilton.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Tough one. Amida Brimah is the league's leading shot-blocker and is certainly the dominant defensive force. That's usually enough to win you the award, but I don't think it will this season. My guess is that it will go to either Will Cummings of Temple or Shaquille Harrison of Tulsa, who are 1-2 in the league in steals.
Pick: Harrison.

SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
SMU's Markus Kennedy has yet to start a game since returning to the team from academic suspension. If this is Larry Brown's way of making him earn his way back in the lineup, I'd say he has by now: he's 14th in the league in scoring (11.9), ninth in rebounding (6.2) 15th in blocked shots (0.9) and even 12th in steals (1.2). Unless the coaches don't want to vote for a guy who was suspended for the first semester, Kennedy's gotta be the one.
Pick: Kennedy.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Injuries severely hampered Yanick Moreira last season, forcing him to miss four weeks in the middle of the season. This year, he's averaging 10.9 points and seven boards for the first-place Mustangs.
Pick: Moreira.

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Sean Kilpatrick got this last season in what looked like a consolation prize for not winning player of the year. So, we'll go with either Moore or Boatright, whoever doesn't win POY this season.

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD
Your guess is as good as mine, although now that they're scholarship players, either Pat Lenehan or Nnamdi Amilo are as qualified as anyone.

It was AAC Media Day today at the New York Athletic Club in Manhattan. Kevin Ollie, Ryan Boatright and Amida Brimah represented the Huskies. Rodney Purvis had been slated to attend, but had classwork to tend to.

The Huskies certainly got some love from the league's coaches: Boatright was named preseason player of the year, Daniel Hamilton is preseason freshman of the year, and UConn was tabbed to win the conference. Barely. The Huskies got six first-place votes, SMU got five. And really, that's pretty fair, in my mind. Boatright seems to agree.

Here's some video, notes and quotes:

RYAN BOATRIGHT:


(on UConn barely edging out SMU, by two points, for first place in the preseason coaches' poll)

“I think it was fair. I’m never gonna put another team above us. But I was just telling Amida while Coach (Larry) Brown was talking -- SMU’s gonna be tough. They beat us twice last year, they play tremendous help defense, they can score the ball, they’ve got great players, they move the ball so they’re hard to defend. They’re gonna be a real tough opponent.”

“We’ve still got some learning to do. We’re a younger team. The legs are there, we can get the ball up and down a lot more.”

“I think we’re just as talented (as last year's team). I can’t really say it’s as talented -- we won a national championship. But, we’re real talented. The main thing for me is to work. I’ve always had to work hard and grind for everything I have. What I love about this team is they come to practice every day and work very hard.”

(on Brimah)

"His game has evolved so much on the offensive end. Everybody already knows he’s a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end, but I’ve seem him put a lot of work in this summer on his offensive game. He has a knock-down, 15-footer now. He has a tremendous right-hand hook. I’m proud of the work he put in.”

(on Daniel Hamilton)

“He’s just a natural-born scorer. He has all the intangibles -- 6-7, long, lanky, athletic, a knock-down jump-shooter. He has all the things he needs to be a great player. Obviously, he’s young, so the I.Q. has to increase a little more. But as far as athleticism and intangibles, he has them all.”

AMIDA BRIMAH:

“I don’t think (his off-season surgery) held me back this summer. When my shoulder was hurt, I would so stuff with my right hand to work on my form and shooting and stuff. As soon as I couldn’t do the upper-body lifts, I was doing a lot of leg workouts and stuff like that. I made up for it.”

“I think I have a pretty good jumper. My post moves have gotten way better.”

Brimah says he'll be taking more shots from 15-17 feet out. No 3-pointers, however.

(on avoiding foul trouble)

“I’ve got to have good timing and make good decisions, and know when to go for a block and when not to go for it.”

KEVIN OLLIE:

“A lot of people had a lot of doubts about our program two years ago. So, those questions are answered. But there’s gonna be other questions -- about autonomy, the (power) five conferences, about me leaving to the NBA after I sign a five-year contract. At the end of the day, I love UConn, these players love UConn, they play they great for the university. To see the men’s and women’s teams do it together, that means everybody’s on board."

(on what former Big East teams, besides Georgetown, UConn may schedule in the future)

"Maybe Providence, I’d love to start something back with Syracuse. That’ll be great, just to get back to the Carrier Dome, Syracuse come back to the XL Center or Gampel, I think that’d be awesome. I’m glad we’re starting out with Georgetown, we’ve had some epic battles … It’s gonna allow us to stay in the D.C. area, also, where we do a lot of recruiting. It’s gonna be an opportunity for us to get better. Playing against a Georgetown, Syracuse, Villanova, St. John’s, to get back in the Garden -- we’re always looking for opportunities like that.”

“We’ve had some great battles against Providence, B.C. We played them a lot when I was playing there. If the opportunity arises, it works out on our schedule, we’ll definitely look at all those opportunities.”

(on Omar Calhoun, currently sidelined by a knee injury)

“Omar’s doing great. We had the MRI come back, everything was structurally sound. He does have a little sprain in his MCL, but I think he’s gonna be back, hopefully in time for the season’s start. If not, we’re gonna go with the guys that we have. But it was great results we got back from the doctor, saying there was no structural damage and he’s just gonna have to rehab.”

“You saw Omar handle adversity well last year. That’s the beautiful thing about Omar.”

(on whether or not being picked to win the conference is a "burden")

“It’s not a burden. It really doesn’t matter to me now, so how can it be a burden if it doesn’t matter to me? What matters to me is, hopefully we’re No. 1 in team chemistry. That’s gonna allow us to be where we need to be at in March and April. It can’t be a burden if I don’t care.”

“I care about Ryan getting voted, because I didn’t vote for that. I think that’s a great, humbling award for him, and how much the coaches think of him. But we’re not putting extra pressure on ourselves as a team.”

MICK CRONIN:

“I don’t know who’s on the all-league teams, I don’t know who was picked where. I try to practice what I preach to my players. I wouldn’t care if we were picked No. 1. I don’t think any of it matters. I think it’s a burden if you’re picked to win. To me, whoever was picked to win the league, I’m sure if you asked the coach, he’d probably rather not be picked to win the league.”

LARRY BROWN:

(on Emmanuel Mudiay, now playing in China)

“He’s done pretty well. He’s trying to adjust to the food. But he’s got his mom, his brother and his cousin there.”

“I’m excited for him. I’m not excited for the precedent it might set. But, you’ve got to recognize a lot of kids, when they have an opportunity to help their families, it’s tough to pass up. But, it’s not a good message for young people. Hopefully, the NBA will address it.”

“I think it’ll get worse. If he’s as good as I know he is, and he’s the first, second or third pick in the draft, which I’m pretty confident he will be, I’m worried that a lot of kids will think about it. They won’t think of Jennings or so many kids who have come out early and aren’t playing anymore. We’ve got to address that. Maybe do it like baseball -- let them come out after high school if they’re great, and if not, it’ll help make the college game better, stay in school, give us a chance to coach and teach kids.”

“If Emmanuel had stayed -- he’s the only kid we signed -- we could have played with anybody. WIth him not being here, it gives opportunities for other kids. We have depth, we have experience. We lacked maturity in big games last year, at times. If we can get over that, I think we’ll be better.”

FRANK HAITH:

“The coaches in this league -- wow. From Larry Brown, Hall of Famer, to Kelvin Sampson, who’s coached in the Final Four, to Kevin Ollie, who just won a national championship -- you know these guys are going to play at the highest level, because of the competitiveness and the coaching, the knowledge of the coaches in this league. That’s exciting for me.”

According to Adam Zagoria, Alex Oriakhi had some pretty heady house guests over the past several days: John Calipari, Frank Haith and Chris Mack (coaches of Kentucky, Mizzou and Xavier, respectively, in case you didn't know).

Zags also reports that Oriakhi will visit Missouri this weekend (where he can catch up with former longtime AAU teammate Phil Pressey) and Kentucky the following weekend. North Carolina and Duke aren't out of the picture yet, Oriakhi says, but Washington apparently is.

We'll see where this all ends up. Seems re-uniting with Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and Patrick Sellers at Hofstra won't happen, though they'd love it if it did.

Plenty more UConn-related news sure to come over the next week or so ...