Here is the link to the AAC brackets just out

[UCFProf]

http://theamerican.org/news/2017/3/5/MBB_0305173814.aspx?path=mbball
Notice that, because UCF is in the bracket with SMU and UConn and Houston are in Cincy's bracket, the only way we can ever play UConn (or Houston) is in the Finals on Sunday after first surviving games against USF, then Houston (UConn), then most probably Cincy!
UCF's path to AAC tourney championship is Memphis (Fri), likely SMU (Sat), and likely Cincy (Sun)
Road to the AAC Championship and Automatic Invitation (if we keep winning):
Friday (2 PM) vs. Memphis, ESPN2 (quarter-finals)
Saturday (3 PM) vs. SMU (or Temple or ECU), ESPN2 (semi-finals)
Sunday (3:15 PM) vs. Cincy (or Houston or UConn), ESPN (finals)

 

[Stetson_1883]

Will those UCF games be on 96 the game/iheart radio? Might not be able to get to a tv.

 

[UCFProf]

Will those UCF games be on 96 the game/iheart radio? Might not be able to get to a tv.

Conference tournaments and post-season ones always have been, except for the year or two when they didn't carry any online games.

 

[jtGoldenKnights]

Glad we don't play the host team UCONN especially after they beat us twice. Memphis is a winnable game for this team.

 

[UCFProf]

Glad we don't play the host team UCONN especially after they beat us twice. Memphis is a winnable game for this team.

Right. Memphis truly backed their way into a first-round bye, losing 5 of their last 6 games, beating only lowly Tulane (something even Tulsa couldn't do yesterday or we'd be playing Tulsa instead on Friday!). Meanwhile, UConn, after winning 7 of 8 (the loss to Cincy), proceeded to give away their meeting with UCF by losing their final 4 games. We're riding a 5 game win streak (and hoping to make that 7 or 8 in the AAC tournament).

 

[muckdawg24]

That's an odd bracket but I guess the only way to do it with 11 teams.

 

[UCFProf]

That's an odd bracket but I guess the only way to do it with 11 teams.

The first and 4th seed (us) go in one bracket, the 2nd and 3rd seeds (Cincy and Houston) go in the other.
Three first round play-in games to get down to 8 schools in the Friday quarterfinals.

 

[Central Floridave]

good in-depth article on Memphis (who we need to beat)

2016-17 Memphis Tigers: Right and Wrong
POSTED BY FRANK MURTAUGH ON MON, MAR 6, 2017 AT 11:19 AM
http://www.memphisflyer.com/TigerBlue/archives/2017/03/06/2016-17-memphis-tigers-right-and-wrong

 

[Central Floridave]

odds listed and other stuff on this link: http://www.downthedrive.com/2017/3/...017-bracket-schedule-start-times-tv-info-odds

 

[UCFProf]

odds listed and other stuff on this link: http://www.downthedrive.com/2017/3/...017-bracket-schedule-start-times-tv-info-odds

Thanks. Those odds are also consistent with a 53% chance of beating Memphis and 25% vs. SMU and vs. Cincy.
Sounds about right. Take 'em one at a time. SMU legs won't be quite as fresh Saturday (nor ours, but we're deeper now).

 

[UCFProf]

good in-depth article on Memphis (who we need to beat)

2016-17 Memphis Tigers: Right and Wrong
POSTED BY FRANK MURTAUGH ON MON, MAR 6, 2017 AT 11:19 AM
http://www.memphisflyer.com/TigerBlue/archives/2017/03/06/2016-17-memphis-tigers-right-and-wrong

Pastner won ACC coach of the year for guiding Georgia Tech to 11th place??? By comparison then, Dawkin's should be award a solid gold BMW.

 

[Central Floridave]

article on Pastner: "After defeating ninth-ranked North Carolina to open up ACC play, the Jackets would go on to pull off two more upsets at home. Georgia Tech would go on to pull off upsets against sixth-ranked Florida State and Notre Dame in back-to-back games."

http://yellowjackedup.com/2017/03/0...ball-josh-pastner-wins-acc-coach-of-the-year/

 

[UCFProf]

article on Pastner: "After defeating ninth-ranked North Carolina to open up ACC play, the Jackets would go on to pull off two more upsets at home. Georgia Tech would go on to pull off upsets against sixth-ranked Florida State and Notre Dame in back-to-back games."
http://yellowjackedup.com/2017/03/0...ball-josh-pastner-wins-acc-coach-of-the-year/

Perfect example of ACC's inflated rep. The recipe is to create a huge home court advantage, schedule most OOC games at home, win most of your home games, and depend on beating the top teams in your conference to get high RPIs.
Georgia Tech lost 8 of 9 conference road games, beating only a bad NC State (which turned around and beat them at home). They lost to Syracuse by 29 and to Duke by 53. Two of their home wins were to conference doormats. They played 9 of their 13 OOC games at home, naturally, and had exactly one good win (VCU), with losses to Penn St., Tennessee, Georgia, and Ohio.

 

[UofMemphis]

Memphis will only run 8 guys at you and we'll try to play our starters as much as we can. The Lawson brothers and Markel Crawford are our three most talented players...Martin, our PG, will try to get it to one of them or just drive the ball himself if they can't get open...that's it, that's all we do...It should be an interesting game considering it's a neutral court and Memphis wants revenge for a 15 point L earlier in the season. I also expect Chad Rykhoek (6'11'') to get plenty of PT against Taco Fall.

Dedric Lawson - 19.4 pts 9.9 reb (6'9'' Center)
Markel Crawford - 13.1 pts 4.5 reb
K.J. Lawson - 12.4 pts 8.3 reb (6'8'' Forward)
Jeremiah Martin - 10.2 pts 3.0 reb
Jimario Rivers - 6.4 pts 3.4 reb (6'7'' Forward)
----bench-----
Craig Randall II - 5.4 pts 1.5 reb
Chad Rykhoek - 4.1 pts 1.9 reb (6'11'' Center)
Keon Clergeot - 3.7 pts 1.2 reb

 

[UCFProf]

Memphis will only run 8 guys at you and we'll try to play our starters as much as we can. The Lawson brothers and Markel Crawford are our three most talented players...Martin, our PG, will try to get it to one of them or just drive the ball himself if they can't get open...that's it, that's all we do...It should be an interesting game considering it's a neutral court and Memphis wants revenge for a 15 point L earlier in the season. I also expect Chad Rykhoek (6'11'') to get plenty of PT against Taco Fall.

Dedric Lawson - 19.4 pts 9.9 reb (6'9'' Center)
Markel Crawford - 13.1 pts 4.5 reb
K.J. Lawson - 12.4 pts 8.3 reb (6'8'' Forward)
Jeremiah Martin - 10.2 pts 3.0 reb
Jimario Rivers - 6.4 pts 3.4 reb (6'7'' Forward)
----bench-----
Craig Randall II - 5.4 pts 1.5 reb
Chad Rykhoek - 4.1 pts 1.9 reb (6'11'' Center)
Keon Clergeot - 3.7 pts 1.2 reb

Thanks for your perspective. We've played twice, and both sides have all week to plan plays and defenses the other doesn't expect. This time there won't be the home crowd advantages. Memphis, UConn, and Tulsa collapsed the final weeks as Memphis backed into 5th play (had Tulsa beat lowly Tulane, Memphis would have played USF on Thursday.

UCF has 6 guys and a backup small center to rest Tacko 13 minutes a game. In half our game, one of our 6 was out, so the 5 starters played almost the entire game (point guard BJ Taylor played all 40 minutes the past 3 games and 2-guard Matt Williams sits for 1 or 2 minutes). Tacko takes away the inside game of opponents, which is who UCF leads the nation in FG% defense and near the top in rebounding, but we often don't score a lot either. Matt set the AAC record for most 3s in a season and had 11 vs. USF, which is why opponents shadow him all game. Memphis is the worst 3-point shooting team in the AAC, but you are very athletic. Tubby has really bumped your play up a couple notches -- he's a great coach and human being. The Lawsons have lit up the scoreboard against us, but it's good clean play (unlike the bully-boy Cincy team we finally took down several days ago). The winner gets to play SMU Saturday.

 

[UofMemphis]

^ also, last time we played Chad Rykhoek was out with an injury...we need a 6'11'' guy with 5 fouls to give just to counter Taco...he's amazing (Taco).

 

[firm_bizzle]

Don't come into the paint.

 

[Central Floridave]

Thursday games:

• 3:30 p.m. ET - No. 8 Temple Owls vs. No. No. 9 East Carolina Pirates (ESPNU)
• 6 p.m. ET - No. 7 Tulsa vs. No. 10 Tulane (ESPNews)
• 8 p.m. ET - No. 6 UConn Huskies vs. No. 11 USF Bulls (ESPNews)

 

[Central Floridave]

ECU 80 Temple 69
Tulsa 66 Tulane 60
UCONN vs USF game starts at 835pm

 

[Central Floridave]

UCONN 77 Duh*Bulls 66

DON'T FORGET TO SET DVR's BEFORE HEADING TO WORK... <---note to myself (and, also stay off social media until get to watch the game)....

 

[jtGoldenKnights]

Hope we come out hot having an entire week off worries me a bit. Set the DVR but also it will be on 960 on iheart radio

 

[firm_bizzle]

Hope we come out hot having an entire week off worries me a bit. Set the DVR but also it will be on 960 on iheart radio

For a team that plays 7 guys, it's great! We were grinding out the wins toward the end of the season.

 

[UCFProf]

Yest, the key is not to come out tight or slow. But fortunately, we don't play a winner pumped up from yesterday (like the 3 seeds above us do today) -- Memphis hasn't played since last Saturday, a bad loss.

The conference season is such a grind and recent games were very physical, last minute wins with BJ and Matt playing virtually every minute! Tank needed more time to heal and get back in sync with the team -- critical to getting very far in the conference tournament.

 

[UCFhonors]

UCONN 77 Duh*Bulls 66

DON'T FORGET TO SET DVR's BEFORE HEADING TO WORK... <---note to myself (and, also stay off social media until get to watch the game)....

ESPN3 at work FTW!

I was so stupid to set up a conference call at 3pm though. It's only 30mins. I'm going to try to make it 15mins. Anyone know how long halftime is?

 

[UCFhonors]

Yest, the key is not to come out tight or slow. But fortunately, we don't play a winner pumped up from yesterday (like the 3 seeds above us do today) -- Memphis hasn't played since last Saturday, a bad loss.

The conference season is such a grind and recent games were very physical, last minute wins with BJ and Matt playing virtually every minute! Tank needed more time to heal and get back in sync with the team -- critical to getting very far in the conference tournament.

Yep exactly. Our "bye" came at the perfect time. Also scheduling should help as we just won 5 of the last 5 and Memphis lost 4 of their last 5.

I'm looking for lots of ball movement on offense and some subbing early in the game.

So stoked.