Men's Basketball 05.28.14 2014-15 Men's Basketball Schedule Format Announced

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco today announced the 2014-15 men’s basketball conference pairings. The 2015 men’s basketball championship will be played March 12-15, 2015, (Thursday-Sunday) at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut as previously announced.



With the addition of East Carolina University, Tulane University and the University of Tulsa in 2014, The American’s membership increases to 11 with its basketball teams continuing to play an 18-game conference schedule. Each team will play eight of its 10 opponents twice, and the other two opponents once each – one at home and one away. The complete 2014-15 conference schedule with dates and times will be announced at a later date.



As part of its stated desire to rotate the men’s championship to various points within its conference footprint, The American announced in April that the XL Center would host the 2015 event. All 11 American Athletic Conference schools will participate in the championship with the format calling for three first-round games Thursday, March 12; followed by four quarterfinal games on March 13; two semifinals on March 14; and the championship game Sunday afternoon, March 15. The entire American Men’s Basketball Championship will be available across ESPN’s national outlets.



“We are very pleased with the schedule format we have put together for the 2014-15 season,” said Aresco at The American’s annual meetings. “We took into consideration rivalries, marquee match-ups and geographical and travel considerations. The move of our Championship to a Thursday-Sunday format offers our traveling fans more convenience while affording us significantly better coverage on ESPN platforms and a championship window that has historically produced better ratings.”



Additionally, member schools are putting together strong nonconference schedules, with games scheduled against 23 opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida (twice), Kansas, Gonzaga (twice), Nebraska, North Carolina State (twice), Wichita State (twice), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Saint Joseph’s, San Diego State, Stanford, Texas, Villanova, VCU, Creighton and Xavier.



The American enjoyed tremendous basketball success in 2013-14 with UConn’s NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, which was the second time that the two teams have won national titles in the same season. The American was the only conference to have a team make the final four of all the major postseason college tournaments with SMU playing in the NIT championship game, and USF and Rutgers, the eventual champion, in the women’s NIT.



The American’s men closed out the 2014 regular season with five teams in the top 25 of both the AP and USA Today polls, four of which earned a bid to the NCAA Championship. The conference had three players named to The Associated Press All-America team: Shabazz Napier of UConn, Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati and Russ Smith of Louisville. It marked the first time one conference has had three players selected since the 2001-02 season.



The 2014-15 season will be the second straight year in which the American Athletic Conference has the defending men’s and women’s NCAA champion in its ranks.



The American’s membership in 2014-15 will comprise UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa.



The following is a list of each school's home and away pairings for the 2014-15 season:



UCF

Home: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane



Cincinnati

Home: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane

Away: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa



UConn

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa



East Carolina

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulsa



Houston

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa



Memphis

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa



USF

Home: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa



SMU

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa



Temple

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa



Tulane

Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulsa

Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulsa



Tulsa

Home: Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane

Away: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane

