Week one of the 2024-25 college basketball season is in the books, and with it, we’ve seen a first look at an American Athletic Conference (AAC) with a ton of roster turnover among most of its teams.
Here are some early impressions of how the conference stacks up after the first week.
13. UTSA
1-0 | KenPom ranking: 227 | NET rating: +31.6
Won 103-77 vs. Trinity (TX)
Not much to take away from a blowout win against a Division III school, although it’s concerning that the Roadrunners only led by 2 points after the first half. In fairness, Trinity is a particularly strong DIII school and UTSA’s first-year head coach Austin Claunch is still finding his footing with the program.
Senior guard transfer Primo Spears gave a spark to the Roadrunners with 27 points and five assists. UTSA had a second game planned for Saturday against North Dakota, but it was canceled due to inclement weather.
With a game against Bradley on Tuesday, the new-look UTSA squad will have a better opportunity to prove itself.
12. Rice
1-1 | KenPom ranking: 228 | NET rating: -0.7
Won 77-70 vs. Florida International; Lost 73-65 vs. Florida State
Rice battled to a 1-1 start to the season. Fans may have been more optimistic after the loss than the win.
The Owls never trailed in their season-opener against FIU, but the game was far closer throughout the second half than you’d like when facing a team that’s 270th in the KenPom rankings.
As underdogs, Rice kept its game close against Florida State, but eight missed shots in a row in the second half sealed the loss. Still, the fact that this team is 1-1 after two games where it shot 29% from 3-point range and 41% from the field is an encouraging sign of its competitiveness this season.
11. Charlotte
1-1 | KenPom ranking: 150 | NET rating: -15.3
Won 88-79 vs. Presbyterian; Lost 103-74 @ Utah State
Charlotte leads the AAC in shooting from the field and 3-point range. And yet, thanks to some porous defense, the team never looked comfortable while splitting its first two games of the new season.
It’s a complete reversal of the 49ers’ strengths last season when the team scored the fewest points per game in the conference and allowed the second-fewest.
Charlotte was outclassed in every “hustle” metric against Utah State. The 49ers were beaten in second-chance points, 22-8, gave up 16 offensive boards and allowed 12 steals. The team was also out-rebounded in the Presbyterian game.
The 49ers won’t shoot the lights out to stay competitive in every game. If they can’t figure out the defense and the little things, it’ll be a long season for a team that probably overperformed its ability in AAC play last year.
10. Tulane
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 181 | NET rating: +34.9
Won 76-42 vs. Louisiana Christian; Won 80-64 vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Tulane came into this season with an inexperienced roster that had by far the fewest total career points of any AAC team. The Green Wave began this campaign with what were essentially two warm-up games against a non-NCAA school and a team ranked in the 300s in KenPom.
Losing the rebounding battle and allowing 17 offensive boards to Louisiana-Monroe won’t inspire confidence. On the other hand, 41 combined points from transfer duo sophomore Rowan Brumbaugh and junior Kaleb Banks in the same game will.
This is a young team that should improve throughout the year. They likely won’t face a quad 1 or 2 opponent until December and will look to stack wins until then.
9. East Carolina
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 137 | NET rating: +23.3
Won 97-70 vs. North Carolina Wesleyan; Won 63-59 vs. Coastal Carolina
Crushing a Division III school and scraping past a mediocre Coastal Carolina team is an inauspicious start for the Pirates.
The Coastal Carolina game wasn’t as close as the final scoreline indicates; East Carolina never trailed in the last 17 minutes of the second half. Going 4-19 from 3-point range didn’t help matters, though.
Senior guard RJ Felton scored 20 points in both games and managed a double-double to help get the Pirates over the line against Coastal Carolina.
8. Tulsa
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 147 | NET rating: +24.9
Won 82-68 vs. Northeastern State; Won 103-80 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Tulsa took care of business against two not-so-good opponents last week. The offense looked crisp, putting up the most 3-point attempts of any AAC team so far and knocking them down at a 34% rate. They also had the fewest turnovers of any AAC team and racked up the second-most assists.
Between juniors Keaston Willis, who returned from a season-ending injury last year, and Isaiah Barnes, who has doubled his per-game offensive production on improved efficiency, the Golden Hurricane looks like it’s in good shape to replace the departed PJ Haggerty.
It’s tough to make a real judgment until the team faces a stronger opponent, however.
7. Temple
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 120 | NET rating: +26.8
Won 81-70 vs. Sacred Heart; Won 103-74 @ Monmouth
Temple has a cloud surrounding its program amidst an ongoing investigation into suspicious gambling activity around the team last year.
On the court, the Owls are looking to follow up a shock run to the AAC Tournament title game last year. So far, so good, largely due to graduate student transfer guard Jamal Mashburn Jr., who is averaging 25.5 points per game on 65% shooting from the field and 73%(!) from 3-point range.
Sacred Heart led Temple by 10 points early in the first half and led by as much as 6 points in the second half. The Owls recovered with a 9-0 run to take the lead and never looked back.
6. North Texas
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 73 | NET rating: +45.2
Won 80-63 vs. Evansville; Won 80-38 vs. Wayland Baptist
North Texas got off to a quick start against Evansville and finished slow. The Mean Green had the opposite result against non-NCAA Wayland Baptist.
Evansville cut a 29-point Mean Green lead to 12, but North Texas comfortably survived to the end. Wayland Baptist led halfway through the first period, but North Texas blew out the road team the rest of the way, holding them to 26% shooting from the field.
A big test awaits against Minnesota next week. How the Mean Green performs in that game will dictate how long the optimism currently surrounding this team lasts.
5. South Florida
0-2 | KenPom ranking: 125 | NET rating: -19
Lost 98-83 @ #21 Florida; Lost 86-71 @ Charleston
South Florida began the season mourning the tragic and sudden passing of head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who died at 43 years old just two weeks before the start of the new campaign.
Don’t be fooled by the final score against Florida. The Bulls led after the first half and kept the game close until a 13-0 Florida run midway through the second half turned the matchup into a rout.
The Charleston game followed a similar script. After only trailing by 1 point at the close of the first half, the Bulls allowed an 11-0 run to open the second.
South Florida won the AAC regular season crown after starting its non-conference schedule 2-4 last year. After a lot of roster turnover, losing two games to teams that played in the NCAA tournament last year shouldn’t cause panic.
4. Wichita State
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 80 | NET rating: 17.7
Won 91-84 @ Western Kentucky; Won 89-69 vs. Montana State
Are the Shockers back? It sure looks like it after two clean wins to open the year. Wichita State nearly blew a late lead against Western Kentucky but survived thanks to 31 points from fifth-year guard Justin Hill. The Montana State game was a rout.
Last year, the Shockers struggled to shoot the ball and turned it over far too much. Hill has helped stabilize the point guard position and Wichita State has the third-fewest turnovers per game in the AAC, despite 10 in the first half against WKU. Wichita State has also shot a capable 36% from beyond the arc.
Year two of the Paul Mills era is looking promising so far. Wichita State should be able to compete with the best of the AAC.
3. UAB
2-1 | KenPom ranking: 100 | NET rating: +8.9
Lost 67-62 vs. Vermont; Won 98-84 vs. Southern Miss; Won 82-72 vs. Southeastern Louisiana
Last year’s AAC tournament winners and this year’s preseason favorites got off to a sluggish start to the campaign. The Blazers came out of the first half against Vermont trailing by 14 points. Bad 3-point shooting doomed UAB in the game, as the Blazers missed all 10 of its attempts from beyond the arc.
The deep ball came alive in the team’s second and third games of the year, but it still feels as if the Blazers are struggling to get out of neutral to start this season.
Senior Yaxel Lendeborg, the AAC Preseason Conference Player of the Year, has averaged 21.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the season’s early stages.
2. Florida Atlantic
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 83 | NET rating: +51.5
Won 97-64 @ Indiana State; Won 99-49 vs. Coastal Georgia
The head coach John Jakus era is off to a strong start at Florida Atlantic. He earned his first two wins of his career with two blowouts, albeit with the second one against a non-NCAA opponent.
Between the two games, the Owls forced 45 turnovers and played a fast-paced style of basketball. Next will be a series of tests against UCF, Charleston and Liberty. If the Owls can survive that, they’ll look likely to make a third consecutive NCAA tournament.
1. Memphis
2-0 | KenPom ranking: 37 | NET rating: +9.7
Won 83-75 vs. Missouri; Won 80-74 @ UNLV
Sophomore PJ Haggerty has immediately made an impact for a Memphis team that opened its season with two comeback wins over quality opponents. Haggerty, last year’s AAC Freshman of the Year who transferred from Tulsa over the offseason, led Memphis in points in both games while shooting 50% from the field.
Memphis trailed by double-digits in the first half in both games but rallied in the second half to win. Senior guard Colby Rogers scored 26 points over the two games after transferring from Wichita State over the offseason.
It wasn’t pretty, but a good start to the year for Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway, who may be facing a hot seat after last year’s failure to make a postseason tournament.
