No. 3 Cincinnati (25-5, 13-4) jumped up two spots to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll on Tuesday evening — the Bearcats’ first Top-5 appearance since 2006-07 — and clinched the American Athletic Conference regular-season title on the first day of the AAC tournament in New Orleans. They can finish as high as second in the playoff tournament with a win over No. 15 UConn on Thursday evening.
UConn fell to its second loss of the season, a 65-57 setback to the eighth-seeded Houston Cougars, who themselves have clinched an AAC tournament berth. The top three seeds and four others are assured of tournament berths and a possible NCAA tournament bid depending on how their games play out this week.
Ninth-seeded Tulane (19-11, 7-10) earned the fourth automatic NCAA tournament bid after upsetting the top-seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in their season finale.
Here are some other things to know about the AAC tournament, which gets underway on Thursday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and concludes with the championship game on Sunday evening.
MOTIVATIONAL MOMENT
New Buffalo Bulls guard Emmanuel Mudiay scored 25 points with seven assists in a 91-76 blowout win over Cincinnati on Feb. 26 to claim the league’s Rookie of the Year honors. Mudiay was drafted second overall by the Toronto Raptors in June’s NBA draft, and an ankle injury will sideline him for the remainder of the year.
YOUNG GOALS
Nine of the top 11 scorers in the league have been sophomores or freshmen. Four of those point guards also play for the Tar Heels, who stand at the top of the AAC (24-4, 14-3) and have two tournament quarterfinal games — against Houston and South Florida on Thursday — after defeating Tulane in the semifinals on Tuesday.
THE TALENT
Pivotal offensive players for AAC playoff participants are Ole Miss center Stefan Moody, Cincinnati guard Tyreek Duren and Louisville guard Quentin Snider. All three are first-year players for their respective squads, and each has been impressive when called upon throughout the season. Duke transfer guard Jordan Murphy of SMU is the NCAA’s active leader in field-goal percentage (.712) and earned MVP honors in SMU’s 93-80 victory over Houston in last year’s AAC title game.
Tournament Fairies
No. 2 USF (25-4, 14-3) is the defending champion. Tulane (19-11, 7-10) was knocked out in the first round last year. Houston (22-7, 11-6) has won three of the last four conference tournament titles.
VALLEY GIRLS
UConn beat Cincinnati in the AAC tournament title game last year, and Houston is 11-3 against conference opponents over the last two seasons. Tulsa, a regular-season conference champion for the first time, has eight tournament victories in its last 13 appearances.
HONOR ROLL
UConn is the favorite to return to the Final Four, a game that will be televised by ESPN on Saturday afternoon. Cincinnati senior guard Danero Thomas was named AAC Player of the Year after leading the Bearcats in scoring at 19.4 points per game, and UNLV senior power forward Shakur Juiston earned the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award. … Women’s UConn coach Geno Auriemma is in the final year of his contract. He is considered by many as one of the greatest coaches in the sport’s history, but he has said he is not concerned about his future with the program after this season. The athletic director overseeing the program has said the program is not for sale.