Around the American: What basketball coaches said about teams at conference media day

With the college basketball season less than three weeks from tipping off, coaches from around the American Athletic Conference gathered in Irving, Texas, for the annual media day on Monday.

Here is a collection of thoughts from men’s basketball coaches to help give Wichita State fans a sense of what to expect this coming season from around the AAC.

The blurbs and quotes are sorted by how the teams were predicted to finish in the preseason coaches poll, which WSU was pegged fourth in.

1. UAB Blazers

The preseason favorite, as voted on by the coaches, the Blazers return three starters who were double-digit scorers, including preseason Player of the Year Yael Lendeborg. On top of bringing back five of the top seven in the rotation, coach Andy Kennedy added a trio of talented guards in Tyren Moore (Georgia Southern), Greg Gordon (Iona) and Ja’Borri McGhee (JUCO) to go along with a new center in Bradley Ezewiro (Saint Louis).

Retaining core players was critical in Kennedy’s offseason plans, as the Blazers look to make a repeat trip to March Madness after winning last season’s AAC tournament title.

Kennedy: “(The returners) had opportunities to go to greener pastures, pun intended. There were a lot of people in (Lendeborg’s) DM’s and we can show you. For us, it just goes back to, we said what we were going to do, here’s what we did, and he believes in us, as do all of our kids who came back. They believe in the vision and they want an opportunity to do something special. And what’s more special than to try to go back-to-back as conference champions? And this year get to the NCAA tournament and maybe stay a while.”

2. Memphis Tigers

Once again, coach Penny Hardaway has assembled arguably the most talented team in the conference through the transfer portal. Memphis landed high-profile transfers like Tyrese Hunter (Texas), Dain Dainja (Illinois) and Moussa Cisse (Mississippi) and poached all-conference talent like P.J. Haggerty (Tulsa) and Colby Rogers (Wichita State).

After Memphis spiraled to a disappointing first-game exit in the AAC tournament and no postseason appearance last season, Hardaway touched on why expects this season to be different.

Hardaway: “I got away from who I was. When I first came on this level, (toughness) was what I was all about. My high school teams, my AAU teams, it was all about toughness, and that’s how I coached the game. Then I started going for more talent and I got away from my style and that didn’t make me feel good. So this year, these young men were hand-picked because I know they are going to be more about toughness. I think you can go into any gym and win with toughness.”

3. South Florida Bulls

The Bulls were the surprise of the conference, winning the regular-season title by two games with a 16-2 record under first-year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim.

South Florida lost its three best players to the transfer portal in Chris Youngblood (Alabama), Kasean Pryor (Louisville) and Selton Miguel (Maryland), but returns key players in Kobe Knox, Jayden Reid and Brandon Stroud and adds JUCO All-American Jimmie Williams and instant-impact transfers in De’Ante Green (Florida State) and Jamille Reynolds (Cincinnati).

USF associate head coach Ben Fletcher: “It’s all about fit with us. We want blue-collar, hard-working guys. We’re not necessarily trying to replace a Selton Miguel or a Chris Youngblood, we’re trying to get the right people who fit our system. We feel like we have and we’ll have a chance to be successful again. As long as these guys buy into what we talk about every single day and that’s coming in, working hard and putting in the extra work. We feel good about it.”

4. Wichita State Shockers

Not only was WSU able to bring back five of its top seven rotation players from last season, coach Paul Mills was able to land veteran transfers in Justin Hill (Georgia), Corey Washington (Saint Peter’s), A.J. McGinnis (Lipscomb) and Zane Meeks (Arizona State). That experience and depth is what has the Shockers looking to move up the conference standings in Mills’ second season.

Mills: “Depth is definitely an advantage for us. We’re two deep at minimum at every single position. So that makes practices better and it makes trust higher. Guys feel like they can go full throttle without having to save themselves, knowing you have somebody on the bench that you can rely on.”

5. Florida Atlantic Owls

First-time head coach John Jakus, following a seven-year stint as a Baylor assistant, takes over the program after the departure of Dusty May to Michigan. Jakus gave interesting insight on how heavily analytics played into his recruiting process, as he said he examined players “to a point where there’s almost not a face to the name.”

The Owls overhauled nearly their entire roster, bringing in a talented transfer class that includes Baba Miller (Florida State), KyKy Tandy (Jacksonville State), Ken Evans Jr. (Jackson State), Leland Walker (Eastern Kentucky) and Kaleb Glenn (Louisville).

Jakus: “The reality in life is you all run your own race and you do it at the pace that you can and then you grow in the moments you’re allowed. Most of that growth comes after trial or trouble. We get better when things get hard. So I can’t tell you what this first year is going to be like. I think we can win right away and my expectation is that we will win. But whether we do or don’t, I’m not chasing any of Dusty’s ghosts. We’ll take it one year at a time and we’ll get there just like he did.”

6. Temple Owls

A season after Temple shot less than 32% beyond the arc while attempting 3s at a top-60 rate in the country, coach Adam Fisher promised a better shooting team in his second year. The Owls lost their top three scorers in the transfer portal, but added a star transfer in Jamal Mashburn Jr. (New Mexico) and a veteran point guard in Lynn Greer (Saint Joseph’s) in their search to push higher up the conference standings.

Fisher: “People always talk about my (introductory) press conference when I said I want to shoot a lot of 3s. This year we’re going to be more deliberate. I want to make a lot of 3s if you’re going to shoot them. Our personnel is different, so we’ll adjust. But I’m not a guy who doesn’t like to shoot the mid-range. You have to play to your players’ strengths. We grade shots based on contested, uncontested, where we are in the shot clock. But if you’re wide open with 27 seconds on the shot clock, you shoot that thing. You got to let that thing fly because that could be the best shot you get. That’s not selfish. And this year we added some size, so we’ve got to get some offensive rebounds and try to get some easier buckets that way.”

7. North Texas Mean Green

After a 10-8 finish in their inaugural season in the American, the Mean Green had to replenish their roster after losing their top five players to the transfer portal. Second-year coach Ross Hodge managed to bring in experience and talent in his transfer class featuring Atin Wright (Drake), Grant Newell (California), Jasper Floyd (Fairfield), Johnathan Massie (Longwood) and Latrell Jossell (Stephen F. Austin).

Hodge: “This group is an experienced group and they’ve won a lot of games at their previous places. So the biggest thing for us now is trying to determine how we’re going to win together. They’ve played a lot of basketball and they have a lot of experience, so now it’s about how to play together and just learning how we’re going to do it all together.”

8. Charlotte 49ers

The three best players on Charlotte were poached by high-major programs in the transfer portal after a third-place finish, as the 49ers will try to rebuild following the losses of Lu’Cye Patterson (Minnesota), Igor Milicic Jr. (Tennessee) and Dishon Jackson (Iowa State).

Two starters are back, including talented guard Nik Graves, but coach Aaron Fearne was clearly bothered by the growing trend of transfers in college basketball.

Fearne: “You would like to be coaching a fairly familiar team again, but I think as we all experience unfortunately in college athletics right now, we’re coaching new teams every single year. It’s sad, to be honest with you. You would like to build relationships with guys over a period of time, the student base likes to come watch familiar faces and your community does too. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see that. We are dealing with what we’re dealing with and at the end of the day, we have got to get done what we have to get done with what we’ve got. We have a lot of new faces, but it’s exciting to try to bring that group together and culturally get them up to speed and schematically get them up to speed and then go out and find roles and go win some ball games.”

9. East Carolina Pirates

In an offseason where so many of the top players in the league changed teams, East Carolina features one of the exceptions in junior guard R.J. Felton. The 6-foot-3 guard chose to stay with the Pirates after averaging 17.3 points and 6.0 rebounds last season, a decision that ECU coach Mike Schwartz lauded.

Schwartz: “R.J. is such a humble and hungry person. He is as good of a player as he is a teammate and person. He’s built with extreme grit and toughness with who he is as a person. For him to continue his career with ECU when he obviously had other opportunities, just his consistency as a person bodes well for his consistency as a player. His development and how he works every day, he has earned it. It’s his work ethic. It’s who he is as a person and it’s very fitting that he stayed for his senior year when so many people are going other places and searching for other things. He decided to stay here and take it personally to try to be successful with this program, that’s what is important to him.”

10. Tulsa Golden Hurricane

A season after freshman sensation P.J. Haggerty helped push Tulsa up the standings with extremely high usage, the Golden Hurricane should look quite different this season following the departure of the star player in the transfer portal. Coach Eric Konkol spoke about how Tulsa could shift to a more defensive-first team with two starters back, while adding point guard Keaston Willis from a season-ending injury and a trio of impact transfers in Dwon Odom (Georgia State), Braeden Carrington (Minnesota) and Justin Amadi (James Madison).

Konkol: “It starts with what guys can help others become the best versions of themselves. It’s not just about points per game or assists per game. What mix of players can really help elevate each other? We define great players as those that can make the people around them better. We look at our group as having strength in numbers. We have a number of guys who can be our leading scorer and a number of guys who can distribute. We have a group that doesn’t just have good skill, but it’s a versatile group and a group of people who are really just interested in winning and helping each other be great.”

Tied-11. Tulane Green Wave

It will be an entirely new-look team at Tulane, as the entire top-six rotation players have moved on from last season’s disappointing five-win squad. Coach Ron Hunter was extremely high on his new recruiting class with an eye-opening quote about a team that was picked preseason by coaches to finish 11th in a 13-team conference. The Green Wave brought in Rowan Brumbaugh (Georgetown), Michael Eley (Siena), Tyler Ringgold (Texas A&M), Mari Jordan (Georgia) and Kaleb Banks (Indiana) in the transfer portal and signed a top-125 recruit in K.J. Greene.

Hunter: “I don’t think I handled this whole NIL thing well a year ago, just trying to figure it all out. I had to sit back after the season and regroup and rethink this whole business part. We were able to do that and we put together an outstanding team, probably the most talented team I’ve coached in 39 years in regards to talent. And to be honest with you, I don’t think any of the players that we brought in here would have come to Tulane if it wasn’t for NIL. So in a way, there are positive ways that it works.”

Tied-11. UTSA Roadrunners

New head coach Austin Claunch spent last season as an assistant at Alabama following a five-year run as the head coach at Nicholls State. He has turned over the entire roster at UTSA and attracted several appealing players in the transfer portal, including Primo Spears (Florida State), Damari Monsanto (Wake Forrest), Jonnivius Smith (Buffalo), Tai’Reon Joseph (Southern), Skylar Wicks (Incarnate Word), Jaquan Scott (Mississippi State), Marcus Millender (South Alabama) and Raekwon Horton (James Madison).

Claunch: “We were essentially drinking out of the fire hose for a little bit there. I was lucky being at Nicholls, when you’re putting together a team, you want to surround yourself with people you trust and with people you know value the things that you value. I thought we did that. Our staff did an incredible job with a lot of visits, bringing in 12 guys who we identified not just from a basketball standpoint, but from a personality and character standpoint that fit what we were looking for. I’m excited about where we are and the people we have in our locker room.”

13. Rice Owls

A familiar face is returning to the American in Rob Lanier, who coached previously at SMU. After the Owls finished tied for last in last season’s standings, Lanier went to work in the transfer portal to overhaul the roster and brought in some intriguing transfers in Jalen Smith (SMU), Trae Broadnax (USC Upstate) and Kellen Amos (Central Connecticut State).

Rice associate head coach Chris Kreider: “Coach Lanier has won everywhere he’s been and he knows how to cast a vision. He’s one of the best recruiters this level has ever known. And once he attracts the talent, he does a really good job of casting a vision and leading these guys. He always sees the bigger picture and he lets our players be themselves and our coaches be themselves. He really knows how to motivate and get everybody on the same page to reach a common goal.”