No. 18 Cincinnati faces Connecticut in finale (Mar 05, 2017)
According to the regular-season preseason poll in the American Athletic Conference, the top teams at the end of the season figured to be Cincinnati and Connecticut. They were expected to be locked in a tight battle for first place right now -- in early March.
With that in mind, it seemed proper that the Bearcats and Huskies were scheduled to meet on the final day of the regular season at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. This down-and-dirty defensive rivalry has endured from the previous Big East Conference alignment and the stage was set for a game with huge postseason implications.
Not so much now.
The No. 18 Bearcats will still visit Connecticut on Sunday (noon ET, CBS) but the anticipation for this finale went flying out the window in late November and December when the Huskies opened the season with shocking losses to Wagner and Northeastern, followed by a rash of injuries that destroyed UConn's playing rotation.
Cincinnati (26-4, 15-2 American) is locked into the No, 2 seed for the AAC Championship tournament scheduled to begin Thursday at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. No. 14 SMU capped a 15-1 conference record and clinched the top seed with a win against Memphis at Moody Coliseum.
Led by Kyle Washington, Jacob Evans, Gary Clark and Troy Caupain, the Bearcats lead the conference in scoring margin with a plus-14.3 and continue to boast a defense that rattles opponents with 7.7 steals per game.
Since losing at SMU on Feb. 12, the Bearcats have won four of five, falling at Central Florida on Feb. 26. Cincinnati bounced back with a 65-47 win at home against Houston on Thursday to complete its fourth undefeated season at Fifth Third Arena, which opened in 1989.
The Bearcats have always been built on toughness and they outrebounded Houston 40-24 while forcing the Cougars into 13 turnovers.
"Defensively we were as good as we've been in a long, long time," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.
Cronin created more headlines this week with comments that criticized the NCAA Tournament committee for being "financially driven" and seeding the field based on "trying to sell tickets."
"It's a business," Cronin said. "If it wasn't a business we'd be able to have a bus trip in the conference we played in."
Just one week ago, Connecticut (14-15, 9-8) still had a chance to be the No. 3 seed in the AAC tournament on its second home court in Hartford. But losses to SMU and East Carolina have changed the outlook.
The Huskies can wrap up the No. 5 seed and a first-round bye by beating Cincinnati, but they would need to win three straight for the tournament title to ensure an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. That seems to be their only path.
It will be Senior Day for Connecticut's Rodney Purvis, Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey. Leading scorer Jalen Adams (ankle), Purvis (finger), Christian Vital (concussion) and Vance Jackson (undisclosed illness) all have issues.
The Huskies haven't finished with a regular-season record below .500 since 1987 -- Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun's first season at the school.
"All the losses are disappointing to me," coach Kevin Ollie said after the East Carolina loss. "Bad decisions. We've got to be better basketball players. Bad decisions, lackadaisical passes, we got on the break where we had advantages and ended up not even getting a shot, a turnover. We've just got to be better."
