No. 9 seed UCF will play in their first game of the American Athletic Conference Tournament on Wednesday night, squaring off against the No. 8 seeded Temple Owls.
The Knights have had a rough season in their transition from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference, finishing the regular season 12-17 overall with a meager 4- 12 in-conference record. This comes after a 20-11 2013 campaign that showed varying degrees of promise on the way to a 9-7 conference record.
Granted, the competition in the American’s inaugural season was exponentially tougher than what Coach Donnie Jones’ squad had seen in C-USA. The conference stacks up well against any other in the nation, finishing with impressive results.
Half of the AAC’s 10 teams finished the regular season ranked in the top 25, boasting powerhouse programs No. 5 Louisville, No. 13 Cincinnati, No. 19 Memphis, No. 21 UCONN and No. 25 SMU. To further the credibility of the conference, it must be noted that Louisville is college basketball’s defending National Champion.
Temple and UCF split the two games they played this season, the Knights coming away with the first in January, and Temple getting revenge two months later. UCF dropped 9 consecutive games following their early season win, digging themselves into a funk that they could never shake.
In-state rival USF also split their series with the Knights in two heart-pounding games, but finished the season dead last in the conference.
Rutgers will play USF on the same night, comprising the other half of the tournament’s first round. The championship will be held on Saturday after three total rounds of play.
Wednesday’s game will tipoff at 9:30 p.m. and will air on ESPN2.
