In its third season, the AAC doesn't appear to be as good as we thought it was going to be just a few months ago. With SMU barred from the postseason, could this be a one-bid league? Probably not, but considering how the league has had the two biggest snubs for each of the last two NCAA tournaments (SMU in 2014, Temple in 2015), it's hard to envision any more than two bids -- at least at this point.

We chronicle all this in today's Register. Meanwhile, with conference play just underway (and UConn readying for its league opener on Saturday at Tulane), here's our picks for the league's award-winners this season:

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Daniel Hamilton, UConn. The most complete player in the league, and possibly its best NBA prospect. Hamilton leads the league in assists, is fifth in reboundng and 13th in scoring. Even with reigning POY Nic Moore back and playing well, we're gonna side with Hamilton on this one.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Dedric Lawson, Memphis. He's got strong competition from SMU's Shake Milton, but Lawson has thus far made the transfer of Austin Nichols far more bearable. He's fifth in the league in scoring and second in rebounding.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Shaq Harrison, Tulsa. Amida Brimah isn't expected back until about mid-February, so we're eliminating him from the competition. With that in mind, we'll throw Tulsa a bone and give it to the player who currently leads the league in steals.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Kelvin Sampson, Houston. No matter how many games SMU wins, there's no way they'll give this award to Larry Brown -- right? Houston was expected to be better this season, and Sampson -- a very good coach -- may have the Cougars even better than expected.

ALL-CONFERENCE

FIRST TEAM

Daniel Hamilton, UConn
Rodney Purvis, UConn
Nic Moore, SMU
Jordan Tolbert, SMU
James Woodard, Tulsa
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati

SECOND TEAM

Shaq Harrison, Tulsa
Quenton DeCosey, Temple
Dedric Lawson, Memphis
Shaq Goodwin, Memphis
Rob Gray, Houston

HONORABLE MENTION

B.J. Tyson, East Carolina
Gary Clark, Cincinnati
Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati
Louis Dabney, Tulane

ALL-ROOKIE

Dedric Lawson, Memphis
Shake Milton, SMU
Jahmal McMurray, South Florida
Jalen Adams, UConn
Tacko Fall, UCF

A few awards that won't be announced at the AAC tournament in Orlando in March:

BEST NAME: Tacko Fall, UCF. Is there any competition? That he's 7-foot-6, 300 pounds and playing pretty well (2.5 blocks per game) only adds to his intrigue.

BEST TRANSFER: Jordan Tolbert, SMU. Texas Tech transfer leads the league in rebounding at 10.2 per game, to go with 12.6 points. He's overshadowed Markus Kennedy to this point.

BEST GRAD TRANSFER: Ricky Tarrant, Jr., Memphis. UConn fans love Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs, but Tarrant, who started his career at Tulane, then played two seasons at Alabama, may have the bigger overall impact.

BEST JUCO TRANSFER: Rob Gray, Houston. After playing at Howard JC last year, Gray is leading the AAC in scoring at 18.5 points per game.

BEST SHAQ: Shaq Goodwin, Memphis. In a narrow victory, Goodwin, who seems to have been around forever, edges Harrison, who along with James Woodard forms one of the top guard combos in the league.

BEST ATHLETE: Bo Zeigler, South Florida.


BEST POINT GUARD: Nic Moore, SMU.

BEST SHOOTING GUARD: James Woodard, Tulsa.

BEST SMALL FORWARD: Daniel Hamilton, UConn.

BEST POWER FORWARD: Jordan Tolbert, SMU.

BEST CENTER: Amida Brimah, UConn.

HOTTEST COACH'S SEAT: Josh Pastner, Memphis. (Runner-up: Donnie Jones, UCF).

First, some news on longtime UConn radio man Wayne Norman. He had an angioplasty to insert a stent due to 85-percent blockage. He is doing well, according to fellow radio partner Joe D'Ambrosio.

As for UConn ...

Houston may be 0-8 in the American Conference, but UConn isn't about to take the Cougars lightly. Not after New Year's Eve a little over a year ago. And not with a starting five that Kevin Ollie calls "probably up there with the most talented five in the conference."

Here's some of what Ollie, Rodney Purvis and Kentan Facey had to say from the team hotel on Saturday afternoon, after the Huskies practiced at the Toyota Center, the Houston Rockets' home arena. Particularly interesting what Purvis said when asked if the team needs to find a "second scorer" to compliment Ryan Boatright.

“I don’t know, I just feel like honestly, that last game was tough for anybody to score a basket, if you want to say it like that, as far as the second scorer or whatever. Looking at the stats, Ryan had zero in the first half, I had two, I think Omar (Calhoun) had two. They guarded us really well. Our offense as a team was really not that good ... This is a team sport. There’s no second scorer, first scorer or anything like that. Ryan can’t go out there and win a game by himself, I can’t go out there and win a game by myself. Nobody on our team can go out and win a game by themselves. It’s a team effort.”

"Whoever's hot that night, we've got to feed him the basketball."

More Purvis:

(On what Ollie's been preaching in practice the last couple of days)

“A little bit of everything. The main thing is coming out early, being physical and hitting somebody. That’s what he’s been preaching the last couple of games. Delivering the first blow.”

“Some people just aren’t naturally physical or rough, so you’ve got to help them. We’re trying to make it a team thing, so all of us can be on the same page, same the share level of physicality. That’s it, really.”

“Lack of consistency, really. We’ve all got to stay consistent. Do things that will help our team, and just play the right way, make the right plays, give up yoursel for your teammates, play unselfish. And hit somebody. If we deliver the first blow, I think we’ll be fine.”


KENTAN FACEY:



KEVIN OLLIE:

(on how the last couple of practices have gone)

“Pretty good. But you’ve got to transfer it over to the game. That’s where we want to get better connected with that. Hopefully, we can start that (Sunday) afternoon.”

(on what he saw about his team's effort against Cincinnati on the game film)

“It wasn’t at a Level 5. So, we’ve got to get better at that. We’ve got to get to a Level 5 for us to compete in games and win in games. When you start the game off and you have five straight tunrovers, you give up three offensive rebounds, it’s not even a game yet until you start establishing your presence. That’s when it turns into a game. We didn’t do that. That’s got to change.”

(on Houston)

“We’re not looking at their record. They’ve been in a lot of games. They’re getting better each and every day.”

“They have a lot of plays. They draw plays that you’ve never seen. (Kelvin Sampson's) got probably 100 plays that we’ve been looking at. You can’t go over all 100 of them, you’ve got to stick with your principles.”

“Their starting five is probably up there with the most talented five we have in our conference. They’re not deep on their bench, so that’s one thing we’re gonna try to get into that bench. But that starting five is gonna pose a lot of challenges.”

(on Sampson)

“I think he’s gonna be a great coach. He’s already been proven, every stop he’s been at -- NBA experience. I think he’s gonna give a wealth of knowledge to his guys, coaching them on and off the basketball court. Being prepared for life, I think that’s what he brings that’s most important.”