The Dagger will be previewing this week's eight marquee conference tournaments. Here's our look at the American Athletic Conference tournament:
American Conference Tournament
Dates: March 12-15
Site: Hartford, CT. (XL Center)
Top four seeds: 1. SMU 2. Tulsa 3. Cincinnati 4. Temple
Draw: Click here http://ift.tt/1xf5QvW
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Best draw: SMU didn’t lose a game to any opponent on its side of the bracket during the regular season. That track record helped it earn the top seed and an easier road to the championship game. Possible semifinal matchups with Memphis or Temple certainly won’t be cakewalks, but it beats facing a Cincinnati team it lost twice to in the regular season before getting to the title game. Worst draw: Cincinnati is likely to have the three toughest games if it’s going to play for a championship. Unless something odd happens, the Bearcats will start with defending national champs UConn and then move on Tulsa before encountering the winner of the other half of the bracket. Assuming it unfolds with those opponents, it’s a tougher slate of games than any other team would face. Three players to watch: • James Woodard, G, Tulsa — Leads the team in scoring at 14.9 points a game and is coming off a 40-point performance in the regular season finale at SMU. • Nic Moore, G, SMU — The junior can be a bit streaky offensively, but when he’s making shots, he is one of the toughest guards in the conference. He enters the tournament having made only six of his previous 24 field goal attempts. • Octavius Ellis, F, Cincinnati — The only player on the Bearcats roster who is averaging at least 10 points per game. He scores 10 points with eight rebounds and two blocks and probably needs to turn it up to carry his team to a title here. Bubble implications: Tulsa doesn’t have the strength of schedule and it lacks the marquee wins to any confidence its going dancing, even though it has 14 conference wins. The Golden Hurricanes absolutely must survive and advance here. Anything short of a run to the championship game and this team will be sweating it out on Sunday. In fact, it could make that run, lose the championship game and still not get in depending on how other tournaments turn out. Basically, Tulsa needs to win here to remove any doubts.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
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