The American Athletic Conference began its tournament on Thursday and will go all the way up to Selection Sunday, with the championship round concluding just hours before the committee submits its bracket. As such, there is plenty of pressure on the teams hanging around the bubble to make noise this weekend.
American Athletic Conference Tournament 2015: Bracket, schedule and scores
The American Tournament final will see the conference’s top seed in SMU try to knock off the red-hot host team in UConn.
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Top seed SMU is a stone-cold lock for the NCAA Tournament, and No. 3 Cincinnati should be safe as well. Tulsa and Temple are the teams that have the most to prove. The Golden Hurricane boast a 14-4 conference record, but almost no signature wins to speak of.
Temple is on a bit steadier ground, but still has some work to do to avoid the First Four. The Owls lost to SMU in the semifinal round.
UConn might be the biggest wild card. The Huskies are mostly an afterthought this year, but the tournament is being held in Hartford, Conn. and they could end up making a last-minute surge despite a mid-level seeding. Three straight wins from the defending champions this weekend might not be enough to get in, but it could make the committee take notice if other bubble teams stumble down the stretch.
The Huskies will try for a fourth win in four days on Sunday in the tournament final against top-seeded SMU.
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The format
All 11 teams are eligible. The top five seeds get a bye into the quarterfinals, with the bottom six teams playing each other in the first round. The three winners go on to face the top three teams. After the first round, the tournament follows a standard eight-team format.
The teams
Bracket
A complete bracket can be found here.
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Schedule and results (all times Eastern)
Thursday, March 12 (First round)
Game 1: No. 8 East Carolina 81, No. 9 UCF 80 (OT)
Game 2: No. 10 Houston 66, No. 7 Tulane 60
Game 3: No. 6 Connecticut 69, No. 11 South Florida 43
Friday, March 13 (Quarterfinals)
Game 4: No. 1 SMU 74, No. 8 East Carolina 68
Game 5: No. 4 Temple 80, No. 5 Memphis 75
Game 6: No. 2 Tulsa 59, No. 10 Houston 51
Game 7: No. 6 Connecticut 57, No. 3 Cincinnati 54
Saturday, March 14 (Semifinals)
Game 8: No. 1 SMU 69, No. 4 Temple 56
Game 9: No. 6 Connecticut 47, No. 2 Tulsa 42
Sunday, March 15 (Championship)
No. 1 SMU vs. No. 6 Connecticut, 3:15 p.m., ESPN
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