The American Women’s Tournament Preview

On Friday afternoon, the American Athletic Conference announced the conference’s major award winners – Coach, Player, Rookie and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Just like on Thursday, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team took home some more hardware.

Sophomore Breanna Stewart was honored as the Player of the Year and head coach Geno Auriemma was named the Coach of the Year.  Rutgers’ Tyler Scaife was earned the Rookie of the Year honors, while Antonita Slaughter from Louisville was the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Stewart was a dominating force during the regular season. She averaged 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game. This should be the first of many awards that Stewart will earn this postseason. She is a finalist for most National Player of the Year awards and should be named a First Team All-American.

Auriemma has led the Huskies to another undefeated regular season. Dating back to last season’s NCAA Tournament, No. 1 UConn has won 37 straight games and will be the favorite to win the AAC postseason tournament and the program’s ninth national title.

UConn will begin American Tournament play on Saturday in the second quarterfinal game at 2:00pm on ESPN3. The top-seeded Huskies will face No. 8 seed Cincinnati at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.

The Bearcats hung on for a 54-52 win over No. 9 seed Central Florida in the opening round on Friday night and will play UConn for the third time this season. In the second game of the opening round, No. 10 seed Houston upset No. 7 seed Memphis and will play No. 2 seed Louisville on Saturday evening.

AAC Preview

Dark Horse-

South Florida is fighting for its NCAA Tournament lives.  They earned the No. 3 seed with a win at Rutgers this past Monday. Two more wins would get them to 20 for the season and the championship game which should guarantee them an NCAA bid.

Game to Watch-

Rutgers vs. SMU – Rutgers has been ranked during the regular season and should make the field of 64.  However, they have lost their past two games (at UConn and vs. USF).  Have they done enough to get into the NCAA Tournament?

A Final Goodbye-

UConn can possible play Rutgers and Louisville for the final time in a conference postseason tournament. Next season Rutgers is off to the Big Ten while Louisville is heading to the ACC.

Just like the Old Big East-

UConn should win their first American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship on Monday night. They have been the best team all season and have the best player and coach in the conference – if not the country. If the Huskies win, it will be their 38^th conference championship. 

American Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Schedule

Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.

Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 8, 2014

12pm – No. 4 Rutgers (21-8, 12-6) vs. No. 5 SMU (17-12, 8-10)

2pm – No. 1 Connecticut (31-0, 18-0) vs. No. 8 Cincinnati (13-17, 5-13)

6pm – No. 2 Louisville (28-3, 16-2) vs. No. 10 Houston (6-24, 1-17)

8pm – No. 3 South Florida (18-11, 13-5) vs. No. 6 Temple (14-15, 8-10)

Semifinals – Sunday, March 9, 2014

1pm – Semifinal No. 1 (ESPNU)

3pm – Semifinal No. 2 (ESPNU)

Championship – Monday, March 10, 2014

7pm – Winner of the Semifinal Games (ESPN)