# 2018 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2018 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament ended the 2017–18 season of the American Athletic Conference. It was held March 8–11, 2018, at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Regular-season champion Cincinnati won the tournament and with it the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

## Seeds

All 12 conference teams participated in the conference tournament. The top four teams received a bye into the quarterfinals. Teams were seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Tiebreakers: win–loss record, head-to-head record, record against the highest ranked team outside of the tied teams, record against the second highest ranked team outside of the tied teams, etc.
| Seed | School | Conference | Tiebreaker |
| 1 | Cincinnati | 16–2 | |
| 2 | Wichita State | 14–4 | 1–0 vs. Memphis |
| 3 | Houston | 14–4 | 0–1 vs. Memphis |
| 4 | Tulsa | 12–6 | |
| 5 | Memphis | 10–8 | |
| 6 | UCF | 9–9 | |
| 7 | Temple | 8–10 | |
| 8 | UConn | 7–11 | |
| 9 | SMU | 6–12 | |
| 10 | Tulane | 5–13 | 1–1 vs. Houston |
| 11 | East Carolina | 5–13 | 0–2 vs. Houston |
| 12 | South Florida | 3–15 | |

## Schedule

| Game | Time | Matchup | Score | Television | Attendance |
| First round – Thursday, March 8 ||||||
| 1 | Noon | No. 8 UConn vs No. 9 SMU | 73–80 | ESPNU | 7,856 |
| 2 | 2:30 pm | No. 5 Memphis vs No. 12 South Florida | 79–77 | ESPNU | 7,856 |
| 3 | 7:00 pm | No. 7 Temple vs No. 10 Tulane | 82–77 | ESPNU | 7,918 |
| 4 | 9:30 pm | No. 6 UCF vs No. 11 East Carolina | 66–52 | ESPNU | 7,918 |
| Quarterfinals – Friday, March 9 ||||||
| 5 | Noon | No. 1 Cincinnati vs No. 9 SMU | 61–51 | ESPN2 | 8,491 |
| 6 | 2:30 pm | No. 4 Tulsa vs No. 5 Memphis | 64–67 | ESPN2 | 8,491 |
| 7 | 7:00 pm | No. 2 Wichita State vs No. 7 Temple | 89–81 | ESPNU | 8,680 |
| 8 | 9:30 pm | No. 3 Houston vs No. 6 UCF | 84–56 | ESPNU | 8,680 |
| Semifinals – Saturday, March 10 ||||||
| 9 | 1:00 pm | No. 1 Cincinnati vs. No. 5 Memphis | 70–60 | CBS | 8,644 |
| 10 | 3:30 pm | No. 2 Wichita State vs. No. 3 Houston | 74-77 | CBS | 8,644 |
| Championship – Sunday, March 11 ||||||
| 11 | 3:00 pm | No. 1 Cincinnati vs. No. 3 Houston | 56–55 | CBS | 8,670 |
| Game times in ET. Rankings denote tournament seeding. ||||||

## Bracket

| First round Thursday, March 8 | First round Thursday, March 8 | First round Thursday, March 8 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 9 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 9 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 9 | Semifinals Saturday, March 10 | Semifinals Saturday, March 10 | Semifinals Saturday, March 10 | Championship Sunday, March 11 | Championship Sunday, March 11 | Championship Sunday, March 11 |
| | | | 1 | Cincinnati | 61 | | | | | | |
| | | | 9 | SMU | 51 | | | | | | |
| 8 | UConn | 73 | 9 | SMU | 51 | | | | | | |
| 9 | SMU | 80 | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | SMU | 80 | | | | 1 | Cincinnati | 70 | | | |
| | | | | | | 5 | Memphis | 60 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Tulsa | 64 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Memphis | 67 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Memphis | 79 | 5 | Memphis | 67 | | | | | | |
| 12 | South Florida | 77 | | | | | | | | | |
| 12 | South Florida | 77 | | | | | | | 1 | Cincinnati | 56 |
| | | | | | | | | | 3 | Houston | 55 |
| | | | 2 | Wichita State | 89 | | | | | | |
| | | | 7 | Temple | 81 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Temple | 82 | 7 | Temple | 81 | | | | | | |
| 10 | Tulane | 77 | | | | | | | | | |
| 10 | Tulane | 77 | | | | 2 | Wichita State | 74 | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Houston | 77 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Houston | 84 | | | | | | |
| | | | 6 | UCF | 56 | | | | | | |
| 6 | UCF | 66 | 6 | UCF | 56 | | | | | | |
| 11 | East Carolina | 52 | | | | | | | | | |