Happy to be an AP Top 25 voter again this season. Fans of teams I don't vote for, or don't vote high enough, aren't happy -- or at least they won't be. We don't know who they are yet, of course, but they'll be out there.

Here's my preseason Top 25 ballot that I submitted last night, along with a five-man All-America team we're asked to contribute. Just couldn't vote North Carolina No. 1. (I mean, is everybody just going to keep whistling in the wind and ignoring perhaps the worst academic scandal in college sports, at least in recent years?) Instead, I'm going with the Heels' former ACC rival, Maryland, which boasts some terrific returnees (Melo Trimble, Jake Layman) and some top-notch newcomers ... including, of course, Diamond Stone.

And while I understand that many freshmen have burst onto the scene and been stars right off the bat in recent years, even leading teams to national titles, I'm erring on the side of caution and not ranking freshman-laden teams too high, for the most part. I'm also excluding freshmen from my preseason All-America team.

And, as you'll notice, I'm giving the AAC some love. This isn't bias or homerism. This is voting for the teams whose talent I'm most familiar with. I really believe UConn has the chance to be a terrific team -- though it may take a little bit for all the newcomers to get on the same page. You could make an argument that the Huskies have four of the league's top 10 players -- and that's not even including Shonn Miller.

I love SMU's talent but was a little wary about how the team would perform, knowing it's barred from the postseason. That wariness changed after Tuesday's AAC Media Day, where Markus Kennedy and Nic Moore appeared to have the perfect attitude in handling the situation -- though it remains to be seen if they can keep that focus when everybody starts talking March Madness come February.

And I'm really high on Cincinnati. I know they're boring, but you can't deny the Bearcats' defense. And, to be honest, they shoot the ball pretty well, too, and figure to score a little better this season. They've got just about everybody back from last year's NCAA team that gave Kentucky all it could handle in the Round of 32, including Octavius Ellis, Troy Caupain and, perhaps the most talented of them all, Gary Clark. And, of course, they've got Mick Cronin back on the sidelines this season.

I wouldn't be surprised if UConn, SMU or Cincinnati win the AAC regular season title. These are three very good teams, and I'm giving them the love they deserve.

1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Kansas
4. Virginia
5. Kentucky
6. Iowa State
7. Oklahoma
8. Duke
9. Gonzaga
10. Arizona
11. Wichita State
12. California
13. UConn
14. Villanova
15. Michigan State
16. Indiana
17. Utah
18. LSU
19. SMU
20. Cincinnati
21. Butler
22. Wisconsin
23. Notre Dame
24. Vanderbilt
25. Texas A&M


All-America:

Kris Dunn, Providence
Buddy Hield, Oklahoma
Melo Trimble, Maryland
Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga
Georges Niang, Iowa State

While he's more than deserving, I wasn't sure if Amida Brimah would win the AAC's defensive player of the year award this season. I guess I thought the possibility of awarding so many players (Ryan Boatright for POY? Daniel Hamilton for ROY?) on a sixth-place team might hurt his chances.

It didn't Brimah earns the award, after blocking a league-record 101 shots during the regular season.

SMU's Markus Kennedy won the Sixth Man Award, while his teammate, Yanick Moreira, was most improved player.

And while few would put the words "sportsmanship" and "Memphis" together in the same sentence, Memphis forward Shaq Goodwin was chosen the winner of the league's Sportsmanship Award.

Brimah, the latest in a long line of standout centers for UConn, led the American Athletic Conference in total blocks as a sophomore and was second in the league in blocks per game (3.4). He averaged a league-leading 4.0 blocks per game in conference play and was the anchor of a UConn squad that held opponents to 39.7-percent field goal shooting. Brimah, who was an honorable mention all-conference selection, started all 30 games for the Huskies, averaging 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

Kennedy earned honors as The American’s Sixth Man after he averaged 11.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in 20 regular-season games off the bench. He shot 56.3 percent from the field and ranked 11th in the league in scoring in conference games (11.8 ppg). Kennedy was named to the all-conference second team earlier this week.

Moreira, who also earned second-team all-conference honors, was tabbed as the league’s Most Improved Player after he finished the regular season as SMU’s second-leading scorer (11.3 ppg) and the team’s top rebounder (6.4 rpg). He started all 30 games and ranked seventh in The American in rebounding and blocks (1.3 per game). He averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Mustangs last season.

Goodwin averaged 9.5 points and 7.1 rebounds for Memphis, but was recognized by the league coaches for his sportsmanship, positive demeanor, commitment to player safety and public support of both his teammates and opponents.

The league’s Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards will be presented at a Thursday luncheon at the XL Center in Hartford.

Complete coverage of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship will be available on the conference’s Championship Central page atwww.TheAmerican.org/mbb.

The AAC all-conference and all-rookie teams were announced this morning.

They are as follows:

FIRST TEAM

Ryan Boatright, UConn *
Nic Moore, SMU *
Austin Nichols, Memphis
James Woodard, Tulsa
Will Cummings, Temple

SECOND TEAM

Markus Kennedy, SMU
Yanick Moreira, SMU
Shaq Harrison, Tulsa
Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati
Louis Dabney, Tulane

HONORABLE MENTION

Daniel Hamilton, UConn
Amida Brimah, UConn
Troy Caupain, Cincinnati
Jaylen Bond, Temple

ALL-ROOKIE

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

* -- unanimous selection

Larry Brown's postgame presser was worth the price of admission alone. Respectful of his opponent, respectful of the NCAA tournament selection process (even with a few sardonic jabs), respectful of reporters. A class act.

Here's some of what he said:

(on why Yanick Moreira, who dominated with 12 points inside in the first half, played so little down the stretch)

“We were trying to catch up, and I had a hard time playing Markus (Kennedy) on (Daniel) Hamilton. And Markus was going pretty good in the second half. They went small, that made it difficult.”

“We had a dunk go out of bounds, and it seemed like things turned. Yanick did do a lot of good things. I’ve got four good big guys, and I think it’s a little easier for Ben Moore or Cannen (Cunningham) to guard on the perimeter. I kind of like Markus on the post, he got 18. That’s something that you look back on and maybe I did the wrong thing.”

(on whether UConn is worthy of an at-large tourney bid)

“I don’t know if anybody knows what conference we’re in. I don’t even know what the criteria is, to be honest with you. I never said anything last year, about us not going in, because I didn’t want to be not appreciative of some other team that got in. But when I saw Louisville had a four-seed, Connecticut, Cincinnati, Memphis getting seven and eight seeds, I knew we didn’t have a chance. Then I looked, we were 4-6 against top-20 teams. I don’t know what a BPI or an RPI, or who the hell does that stuff. We beat Wyoming with (Larry) Nance, and they beat San Diego State. We beat them at Wyoming. Then he gets hurt, so Wyoming goes down. We lost Yanick last year for a good portion of the second half ... I just hope we have somebody in the room that realizes there are some quality teams in this conference. This is a quality win for Connecticut. I don’t know how they’ll look at it. They might just think we’re just SMU like SMU was years ago.”

“They’re good. You got Boatright, you got a shot blocker, you’ve got a freshman who’s as good as any freshman around. If (Rodney) Purvis,  (Omar) Calhoun can play, their bigs can come in and take fouls. I think they’re deep and talented, and they’ve got a great young coach who does things the right way.”

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.

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

UConn dominates the American Athletic Conference's preseason awards.

The Huskies were picked to win the conference by the league's coaches -- though just barely. Meanwhile, Ryan Boatright has been tabbed as the preseason player of the year, and freshman Daniel Hamilton the conference's preseason rookie of the year.

The defending national champions edged out SMU by two points as the preseason conference favorite. The Huskies garnered six first-place votes and a total of 96 points, while SMU earned five first-place votes and 94 total points. The Mustangs beat UConn both times they played last season.

Memphis is picked to finish third, followed by Cincinnati and newcomer Tulsa to round out the top five.

Along with earning preseason player of the year honors, Boatright was a unanimous choice for first team all-conference. SMU's Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy were also unanimous first-team selections, while Memphis's Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols and Tulsa's James Woodard round out the first team.

UConn's 7-foot sophomore center Amida Brimah earned second team all-conference honors. He's joined by South Florida's Anthony Collins and Chris Perry, and Temple's Will Cummings and Quenton DeCosey.


1. UConn (6) 96
2. SMU (5) 94
3. Memphis 82

4. Cincinnati 71

5. Tulsa 62
6. Temple 59

7. Houston 39

8. South Florida 32

9. Central Florida 26

10. East Carolina 24

11. Tulsa 20

Preseason Player of the Year

Ryan Boatright, G, Sr., UConn

Preseason Rookie of the Year

Daniel Hamilton, G/F, Fr., UConn

Preseason All-Conference Teams

First Team

Ryan Boatright, G, UConn *
Shaq Goodwin, F, Memphis
Austin Nichols, F, Memphis
Nic Moore, G, SMU *
Markus Kennedy, F, SMU *
James Woodard, G, Tulsa

Second Team
Amida Brimah, C, UConn
Anthony Collins, G, USF
Chris Perry, F, USF
Will Cummings, G, Temple
Quenton DeCosey, G, Temple













* unanimous selection

Happy to be an Associated Press Top 25 voter again this season. Our preseason Top 25 and five-man All-American team is due by Friday. The first AP Top 25 will be released on Oct. 31, with the All-America team moving on Nov. 3.

Here's what I'll be submitting:

1.       Wisconsin

2.       Kentucky

3.       Arizona

4.       Duke

5.       Kansas

6.       North Carolina

7.       Louisville

8.       Texas

9.       Wichita State

10.   Iowa State

11.   Villanova

12.   UConn

13.   Florida

14.   Gonzaga

15.   Virginia

16.   SMU

17.   San Diego State

18.   Michigan State

19.   Virginia Commonwealth

20.   Michigan

21.   Harvard

22.   Ohio State

23.   Stanford

24.   Syracuse

25.  Memphis

All-America:
Montrezl Harrell, Louisville
Sam Dekker, Wisconsin
Georges Niang, Iowa State
Marcus Paige, North Carolina
Fred Van Vleet, Wichita State

I’ve never particularly liked the Wisconsin men’s basketball team. Just hasn’t been very aesthetically pleasing over the years, a bit too … boring, we’ll say. Yeah, boring.

But the Badgers won me over last season, led by big Frank Kaminsky and dynamic Sam Dekker (who’s anything but boring). Now, pretty much everyone’s back from last year’s Final Four team that fell a few points short of a date with UConn in the national championship game. That’s why I’m picking them as my preseason No. 1.

It seems most people are going with Kentucky, the team that beat the Badgers in last year’s Final Four, after all. The Wildcats have a record nine McDonald’s All-Americans on their roster, including key players from last year’s runners-up like the Harrison twins (Aaron and Andrew) as well as Willie Cauley-Stein (whose injury for the national championship game undoubtedly helped UConn).

But Kentucky also loses key players like Julius Randle and James Young. They’ve got great freshmen coming in, led by Karl Towns, but so often we’ve seen teams with great newcomers have trouble jelling and, ultimately, disappointing. 

I'll side with teams like Wisconsin -- veteran, experienced teams who truly love being in college and value their entire collegiate experience -- over teams stacked with talent but, too often, have too many guys with one eye on the next level and perhaps aren't buying into the whole team concept.

Sure, every now and then there’s a team like 2012 Kentucky, which rolled to a national title behind freshmen and sophomores, led by Anthony Davis. But look no further than 2014 Kentucky. Remember, some pundits were predicting an undefeated season for a team led largely by freshmen? The Wildcats wound up disappointing through much of the season and were a No. 8 seed for the NCAA tournament. Kentucky started to come together at just the right time, of course (John Calipari deserves a lot of credit there) and wound up in the national title game … where it fell to UConn.

Ah yes, UConn. What to do with the Huskies? It’s funny to look at the preseason coaches’ poll and see four of the teams UConn beat in last year’s NCAA tournament (Kentucky, Florida, Villanova and Iowa State) all ranked ahead of the Huskies. But it’s somewhat understandable.

The graduation of Shabazz Napier is huge. Yes, Ryan Boatright is a terrific player who really matured last season – particularly in the postseason – as a true point guard, a leader and a defensive whiz. Yes, Amida Brimah should be one of the best shot-blockers in the nation. Yes, Rodney Purvis, Daniel Hamilton and Sam Cassell, Jr. are outstanding additions. Yes, Terrence Samuel boasts championship pedigree, and if Omar Calhoun can turn things around … watch out!

But it’s hard to quantify just how much Shabazz meant to this program that past couple of seasons. There were so many games in which his late heroics saved the Huskies from defeat. Never mind the obvious ones like Florida and Indiana last season; don’t forget South Florida on the road, where Napier delivered an inspirational halftime speech (after the Huskies had played their worst half of the season and trailed by six), then scored 11 of UConn’s final 14 points in a 61-56 win. Or how about against Quinnipiac in the 2012 Paradise Jam, when he scored 23 of his 29 points in the game’s final 3 ½ minutes of regulation and two overtimes? Those are just two of too many other examples to list.

I like UConn this season. There’s a lot of talent, but I see it taking a while for it all to jell together. It’s going to take a couple of months for guys like Hamilton, Purvis and Cassell, Jr. to learn how to play together, share the ball and do what’s best for the team. I don’t worry about Boatright – I think he knows he’s got to prove to NBA scouts that he’s a distributor and that he can make his teammates better. He’ll do that. But there are a lot of shots to go around, and it’ll be interesting to see how everybody co-exists. It’ll also be interesting to see if UConn still has some long-distance threats now that Napier, DeAndre Daniels and Niels Giffey are gone. Early returns are that Cassell may just be that guy.

So, I like the Huskies more than some (for instance, Lindy’s magazine has them ranked No. 36. Even though I did the UConn and AAC season previews for this edition, I’ll take no blame for that low ranking. Wasn’t me). However, it wouldn’t shock me at all if SMU beats out UConn for the AAC championship. If Emmanuel Mudiay had stayed at SMU rather than zipped off to China, that might be a no-brainer. Even without Mudiay, however, the Mustangs return just about everyone from last year’s 27-10, NIT runners-up, including all-AAC picks Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy, former McDonald’s All-American Keith Frazier and talented Xavier transfer Justin Martin. And, let’s not forget, SMU beat UConn last season both times they met. This Larry Brown guy can coach a little bit.

In fact, I was prepared to rank SMU even higher and pick it to win the AAC until reports the other day that Kennedy may be sidelined for at least the early part of the season due to academic issues. If Kennedy misses part (or all) of the season, it’s a big blow to the Mustangs.

You've seen Ray Allen play basketball. Heck, you could have seen him Friday night at the Jim Calhoun Charity All-Star Game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

You may have seen Allen play golf, too. President Obama did over the weekend at Martha's Vineyard. Allen was back at it again as Calhoun's charity weekend concluded on Monday with a golf outing at The Golf Club of Avon.

Here's Allen at the long drive contest:



And here's our story on Allen from Monday's event, where he talks about his round with the President, as well as his future plans regarding basketball.

*** Meanwhile, here's a look at UConn's non-conference schedule. (Times and sites haven't fully been determined yet):

NOVEMBER

Tues 4 SOUTHERN CONN. STATE UNIVERSITY (exhibition)
Sun 9 ASSUMPTION COLLEGE (exhibition)
Fri 14 BRYANT
Thu-Sun, 20-23 Puerto Rico Tip-Off San Juan, P.R.
Thu 20 vs. College of Charleston ESPNU Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, P.R. 2:30 pm
Fri 21 vs. Dayton/Texas A&M ESPNU Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, P.R.
Sun 23 vs. TBD ESPN Networks Coliseo Roberto Clemente, San Juan, P.R.
Sun 30 TEXAS ESPN2  noon

DECEMBER

Fri 5 YALE
Sun 14 COPPIN STATE
Thu 18 vs. Duke ESPN IZOD Center, E. Rutherford, N.J. 8 pm
Mon 22 COLUMBIA
Sun 28 CENTRAL CONNECTICUT

JANUARY

Sat 3 at Florida TBA O’Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Sat 17 at Stanford TBA Maples Pavilion, Palo Alto, Calif.

MARCH

Thu-Sun 12-15 American Athletic Championship ESPN Network XL Center, Hartford, Conn.

*** Finally, we can confirm to you (we have sources) that UConn will be picked to finish second in the American Athletic Conference this season by Lindy's magazine. SMU will be tabbed for first place.

It's very debatable, but not entirely unfair. SMU may have lost out on Emmanuel Mudiay, but the Mustangs have Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy and Keith Frazier among their talented returnees, along with Xavier transfer Justin Martin. And, of course, SMU did beat UConn twice last season.

Of course, the Mustangs didn't even get an invite to the NCAA tournament (they wound up advancing to the NIT finals). UConn won the national championship. So there's that.

Sports reporters are supposed to be neutral and play it right down the middle when it comes the teams and sports that they cover. There's no cheering in the press box, they say, and with the occasional notable exception, that largely holds true in college basketball.

What we can root for, however, is the story. It makes things much more enjoyable and interesting to cover when there are intriguing storylines behind certain teams, games or -- in this case -- conferences. The American Athletic Conference, to be exact.

While no one was happy to see Louisville leave (and no one really cared about Rutgers' departure), we all knew it was coming. We also were hoping for some good stories to pop up in the AAC, even without Louisville. Danny Manning was joining the league as head coach at Tulsa. His two battles against Larry Brown, who coached Manning to a national title with Kansas in 1988 (or did Manning lead Brown to that title?) was juicy stuff. And joining Brown at SMU was Emmanuel Mudiay, the No. 1 recruit in the nation, per most recruiting services.

Mudiay would make SMU better than it already was -- and the Mustangs already were pretty good, with Nic Moore, Markus Kennedy and Keith Frazier returning and Xavier transfer Justin Martin joining the fray. SMU beat UConn twice last year and would rightfully be not only the preseason favorite to win the conference, but a legit candidate for the Final Four. This was going to be fun.

Then, it all unraveled. Manning joined Louisville as another ACC defection, bolting incoming Tulsa for Wake Forest. All whole bunch of good players transferred (TaShawn Thomas and Danuel House of Houston, to Oklahoma and Texas A&M, respectively; Temple's Anthony Lee to Ohio State; USF's John Egbunu to Florida). 

And the big blow was Mudiay, who apparently had a whole bunch of eligibility concerns stemming from his two years at Deion Sanders' Prime Prep (who ever would have guessed that could happen?), is instead going to play professionally in China.

Suddenly, the AAC just got a whole lot less interesting next season.

We’re pretty much at the halfway point of the American Athletic Conference schedule, so why not hand out some mid-season AAC awards? The conference will essentially hand out the same hardware the Big East used to dole out, though with only 10 teams, there will just be first and second all-league teams (no third team), along with a few honorable mention selections.

Here we go (and remember, all references to statistical categories are for conference games only):

FIRST TEAM

Shabazz Napier, UConn: See also: Year, Player of the.

Russ Smith, Louisville: Still terrific, still a Husky-killer, still equally capable of winning or losing a game all by himself.

Montrezl Harrell, Louisville: League’s leading rebounder and perhaps most physically intimidating player.

Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati: Best player on league’s best team.

Justin Jackson, Cincinnati: Best defensive player on league’s best defensive team.

Joe Jackson, Memphis: May not even be best player on his team or best Jackson in the league, but a preseason first-teamer who’ll probably end up there, as well.

SECOND TEAM

DeAndre Daniels, UConn: Napier himself calls Daniels UConn's best player. Huskies sure hope his high ankle sprain heals quickly.

Shaq Goodwin, Memphis: Physically imposing (6-9, 245 lbs.) player who may merit first-team status.

TaShawn Thomas, Houston: Thursday night’s clunker vs. UConn was first time he hasn’t hit double figures this season.

Nic Moore, SMU: Best player on floor (20 points, six assists) in ‘Stangs win over UConn on Jan. 4.

Isaiah Sykes, UCF: Only player in AAC among league leaders in scoring (18.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.6).

HONORABLE MENTION

Markus Kennedy, SMU

Kadeem Jack, Rutgers

Victor Rudd, USF

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Shabazz Napier, UConn. Russ Smith was the preseason pick, but this is a virtual no-brainer. Napier leads the Huskies in scoring, assists, steals and rebounds (!) and has certainly been more valuable to his team than any other player in the nation. And no one is more clutch, a trait he's had since high school. He’s a strong national player of the year candidate, too, though it’s hard to see him beating out Creighton’s Doug McDermott at this point.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Danrad Knowles, Houston. One interesting thing about the America is that it is dominated by upperclassmen. The conference’s top five scorers are all seniors and eight of its top 10 scorers are juniors or seniors. In fact, Knowles (9.4 ppg) and Louisville’s Terry Rozier (9.1) are the only two frosh among the league’s top 30 scorers (27^th and 30^th, respectively). Of course, it’s not all about scoring, which is why UConn’s Amida Brimah, USF’s John Egbunu and Chris Perry and SMU’s Ben Moore are all still very much in the running for this award. But as of now, Knowles (who also averages 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks) is probably the most complete package.

COACH OF THE YEAR: Mick Cronin, Cincinnati. In his seven seasons in the Big East, Cronin never won this award. But he’s got the Bearcats, picked to finish fourth in the preseason coaches’ poll, undefeated and all alone at the top of the AAC standings. There’s recently been some talk of national coach of the year consideration, too, though that seems a bit lofty, in my mind. (Larry Brown is a distant second right now).

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Justin Jackson, Cincinnati. This award usually goes to a player who either leads the league in blocked shots or steals, so consider this: Jackson leads the AAC in blocks (3.6) and is third in steals (2.1). Impressive. Amida Brimah may win this award for years to come, but not this season.

SIXTH MAN AWARD: Michael Dixon, Jr., Memphis. This is a tough one, especially considering there are a lot of players in the league who have started at times and come off the bench at others, sort of clouding the definition of sixth man. UConn’s Niels Giffey merits consideration, no doubt, but we’ll go with Dixon, who’s averaging 11.4 points primarily off the Tigers’ bench.

STUDENT-ATHLETE AWARD: Tim Abromaitis, Notre Dame. Sorry, just kidding. Sort of force of habit. Didn’t he win this award, like, six years in a row in the Big East? Anyway, your guess is as good as mine for this award. It’s too bad walk-ons aren’t eligible, though, or UConn’s Pat Lenehan might bethe runaway winner.

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: I’m sure there are many deserving candidates for this award, but I don’t know all the players around the league well enough to narrow it down. I'm open to any suggestions.

Change the score, add some praise for Lasan Kromah and you could just about cut-and-paste Tuesday night's game story from Houston with Saturday's game story from Dallas against SMU. Lack of toughness, energy, rebounding; an AWOL Shabazz Napier for the first half; a disturbingly silent DeAndre Daniels; another good effort by Ryan Boatright; more self-blame by Kevin Ollie.

Maybe it was a play late in the game, after the outcome had essentially been determined, that best summed up UConn's day: SMU had an inbounds play from underneath its own basket with just two seconds on the shot clock. Only way it could really get a good shot off was on a lob, right? No way, with Amida Brimah in the game, the Mustangs would get one, right?

Wrong. Lob pass to Markus Kennedy for an alley-oop layup. 71-58 Mustangs. Game, set, match.

UConn's in some trouble right now, and it doesn't get any easier Wednesday night against Harvard. I believe this team will figure things out, figure out a lineup that's going to hustle and work, and will still be a factor come March (though I'm just about resigned to the fact that the Huskies will never be a good rebounding team. Not this one, anyway).

But as of now, this team is clearly not a Top 25 team. Won't be getting my vote tomorrow night. And it has to start getting things together -- quick.

A few notes 'n quotes that didn't make my game story:

(Ollie, on Omar Calhoun)

“Play defense, and he’ll see more minutes. That’s a lot of guys – not just Omar Calhoun, please don’t print that – it’s a lot of guys not playing defense. I can’t have you out there. There will be some changes. We’ve got to go to the drawing board. If we can’t score, we’ll definitely play defense. That’s what I hang my hat on. We’re not doing that the last two games.”

(on the strong play of Lasan Kromah)

“He started controlling the point guard (Nic Moore). He had 15 points in the first half, we changed up and put Lasan on him and he played with effort. I think I played him the whole second half, because he was just playing with effort.”

“We’ve got to take pressure off our two guards. We’ve got to have somebody out there that’s a third player that make plays. That’s why I went with Lasan, he’s playing strong defense. We took him off (Keith) Frazier. Once we took him off Frazier, Frazier started getting going. There’s only one Lasan. Some other guys have to step up and start playing defense like he does. We need awareness, being down, being focused, paying attention to detail. In practice, we’re very detail-oriented on what we’re going over. It seemed like these last two games, all principles go out the window. Guys are scoring on offense but they’re giving up points on defense. We can’t have it like that.”

Kromah: 

“I think we’ve got to play with more intensity, re-focus on the little things, box-outs, getting the 50-50 balls, all the little stuff that adds up to having us win big games.”

(is this team tough?)

“Relating to the rebounds, we can get tougher. Our box-outs. We’ve got fast guards, so if we get a rebound and kick it out to the wing, we’ll get a lot of fast breaks.”

“Shabazz was trying to get his teammates involved, get them in the flow of the game. He never rushes his shot … he was trying to help us win.”

(can he be a leader on this team, even though it's his first season here?)

“I’m definitely trying to. We’ve got some guys who’ve been playing for a while. I’m just trying to give little tips here and there about what I know of the game, little inside scoops to the young guys, even the guys that have been here. You’re never too old to learn.”

The red pom-poms were placed at just about every seat at Moody Coliseum on Friday afternoon. SMU will be sporting its red uniforms, as well (UConn will be playing in its home whites). A sold-out crowd will greet the Huskies for Saturday's 2 p.m. game as the newly-renovated arena is christened.

The Huskies will be walking into a hornet's nest, but they say they're ready for the challenge.

“I think that’s going to help us out,” said Ryan Boatright. “If we come out like we did against Houston, with a crowd like that and the intensity, we’re going to get blown out of the gym. It’s going to be embarrassing. If we come out there and see how many people are against us, and we’re coming off a loss, we’re going to be ready to play.”

And, Boatright added, falling to 0-2 in the American would be “just terrible all the way around – bad for the league, bad for the record, bad for RPI."

"A ride home with K.O., 0-2, would be terrible.”

No doubt.

*** Getting the win won't be easy. Not only will the crowd be hyped, but the Mustangs are pretty good. They're coming off a road loss to Cincinnati in their AAC opener Wednesday, but SMU (10-3) is a deep team (10 players play double-digit minutes) led by its strong guards and domineering defensive big men. Yanick Moreira, a 6-11 junior, and 6-9 sophomore Markus Kennedy have helped SMU hold opponents to a mere 35.7 percent shooting, second best in the nation. They're also holding foes to 61.4 points per game (second in the AAC) and lead the league in rebounding margin (plus-9).

*** Among those expected in the sellout crowd are Dikembe Mutombo and (possibly) Allen Iverson (though it appears Iverson may not make it; two of his uncles may be there, instead). The two players were teammates with Kevin Ollie on the 2000-01 Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia 76ers. Also on that roster were George Lynch and Eric Snow, who are currently on SMU's staff. And, of course, that team was coached by Larry Brown, now in his second year at the helm with the Mustangs.

“That was the most special team I’ve been on,” said Ollie. “Now that team was tough. We had a couple of guys that didn’t get the basketball a lot, let Allen Iverson do his thing – George Lynch, Eric Snow, Aaron McKie, Dikembe, even when Theo Ratliff was there. There were some tough guys, mentally and physically. That’s how I want my teams to perform, too.”

This is becoming a bit of a tradition at SMU. Last year, when the Mustangs hosted Tulsa (coached by Danny Manning) nearly all of the 1988 national championship Kansas team led by Manning and coached by Brown came for the game.

*** Ollie wants his entire team to come out with more fire than it did in Tuesday night's loss at Houston.

“We want (Shabazz Napier) to come out with that intensity the whole game, and DeAndre (Daniels) to pick it up, I could go down the list,” Ollie said. “I’ve got to pick it up. I might have to smash two clipboards instead of one.”

*** If UConn needed any more incentive to make this a special season, a trip to the Dallas Cowboys’ mammoth new stadium a few miles down the road in Arlington on Thursday may have done the trick. The stadium (a.k.a. The Death Star) is home to this year’s Final Four in April.

“I know I had a couple of moments where I looked around and said, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be great to have UConn on that big JumboTron up there, or Niels Giffey’s name or Shabazz’s name called out in the starting lineup, with their pictures up there,’” Ollie said. “Hopefully the guys got a little feeling of that.”

They did.

“We see what it can be like, we went down there on the field, we know the court will be there on the 50-yard line,” said Boatright. “Just to see it right there and look around, it’s going to be an amazing feeling if we get back there.”

*** After going with the same lineup for their first 10 games, the Huskies may be employing their third different starting lineup in their last four. Tyler Olander practiced with the first group Friday, though Ollie said it'll still be a gametime decision as to whether he or Amida Brimah starts.

*** What made Brown such a special mentor to Ollie?

“I wasn’t playing a lot and he’d go down and be with us playing 3-on-3 and letting the other coaches coach Allen Iverson. The time he spent with the other guys, he made us all feel important. That’s the one thing I try to do with my team, I want to make sure even the walk-ons know how important they are to our team. That’s one thing I learned from him and from Coach Calhoun – just being that type of person that’s detail-oriented and wants things done right. One thing he always said is play the right way, whether you’re up 30 or down 30. That’s what I try to have my guys do on a day-to-day basis.”