# 2022–23 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season

The 2022–23 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2022, followed by the start of the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's basketball season on November 7, 2022. Conference play began December 27, 2022, and concluded with the 2023 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament, held March 9–12, 2023, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Scheduling stayed in the current format: an 18-game schedule in which every team in The American played eight of its 10 conference opponents twice and the other two opponents once—one at home and one on the road.

## Previous season

Houston won the regular season championship. The 2022 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, where it was also won by Houston. Houston and Memphis received bids to the NCAA tournament. Memphis lost in the second round to Gonzaga, while Houston advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Villanova. The conference finished 4–2 overall. SMU received a bid to the 2022 National Invitation Tournament. SMU lost to Washington State in the second round. The conference went 1–1 overall in the NIT.
Kendric Davis from SMU was named the AAC Player of the Year. Houston's Kelvin Sampson was named Coach of the Year.

## Coaches
### Coaching changes

| Coach | School | Reason | Replacement |
| Joe Dooley | East Carolina | East Carolina fired Dooley after 4 seasons on March 11, 2022. It was his second stint with the program, having previously been the head coach from 1995–1999. | Michael Schwartz. |
| Frank Haith | Tulsa | On March 12, 2022, Haith announced that he was resigning after 8 seasons. | Eric Konkol. |
| Tim Jankovich | SMU | Jankovich announced his retirement after 6 seasons on March 22, 2022. | Rob Lanier. |

### Head coaches

Note: Stats are through the beginning of the season. All stats and records are from time at current school only.
| Team | Head coach | Previous job | Years at school | Overall record | AAC record | AAC titles | NCAA tournaments* | NCAA Final Fours | NCAA Championships |
| Cincinnati | Wes Miller | UNC Greensboro | 1 | 18–15 | 7–11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Carolina | Michael Schwartz | Tennessee (asst.) | 0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Houston | Kelvin Sampson | Houston Rockets (asst.) | 8 | 199–70 | 100–43 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Memphis | Penny Hardaway | East HS | 4 | 85–43 | 45–24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| SMU | Rob Lanier | Georgia State | 0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Florida | Brian Gregory | Michigan State (advisor) | 5 | 65–89 | 26–61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Temple | Aaron McKie | Temple (asst.) | 3 | 36–40 | 20–29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulane | Ron Hunter | Georgia State | 3 | 36–46 | 18–34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tulsa | Eric Konkol | Louisiana Tech | 0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UCF | Johnny Dawkins | Stanford | 6 | 112–72 | 57–51 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wichita State | Isaac Brown | Wichita State (asst.) | 2 | 31–19 | 17–11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Notes:
* Overall and AAC records are from time at current school and are through the end of 2021–22 season. NCAA records include time at current school only.
* AAC records only, prior conference records not included.
* *In current job

## Preseason
### Recruiting classes

2022 Recruiting classes rankings :
| Team | ESPN | Rivals | 247 Sports | Signees |
| Cincinnati | - | No. 39 | No. 35 | 3 |
| East Carolina | - | - | No. 139 | 6 |
| Houston | - | No. 16 | No. 30 | 3 |
| Memphis | - | - | - | - |
| SMU | - | - | - | - |
| South Florida | - | No. 73 | No. 138 | 2 |
| Temple | - | No. 97 | No. 134 | 1 |
| Tulane | - | - | No. 110 | 1 |
| Tulsa | - | No. 58 | No. 115 | 3 |
| UCF | - | No. 52 | No. 60 | 2 |
| Wichita State | - | - | - | - |

### Preseason watchlists

Below is a table of notable preseason watch lists.
| | Wooden | Naismith | Cousy | West | Malone | NABC |
| Kendric Davis, Memphis | Y | Y | Y | | | Y |
| Marcus Sasser, Houston | Y | Y | | Y | | Y |
| Jarace Walker, Houston | | | | | Y | |
| DeAndre Williams, Memphis | | | | | Y | |

### Preseason media poll

On October 12, The American released the preseason Poll and other preseason awards.
Coaches Poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Houston | 100 (10) |
| 2 | Memphis | 87 (1) |
| 3 | Cincinnati | 82 |
| 4 | Tulane | 74 |
| 5 | Temple | 66 |
| 6 | UCF | 51 |
| 7 | SMU | 43 |
| 8 | Wichita State | 35 |
| 9 | South Florida | 33 |
| 10 | Tulsa | 21 |
| 11 | East Carolina | 13 |

### Preseason All-AAC

| Honor | Recipient |
| Preseason Player of the Year | Marcus Sasser, Houston |
| Preseason Rookie of the Year | Jarace Walker, Houston* |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team | Marcus Sasser, Houston* |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team | Kendric Davis, Memphis* |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team | DeAndre Williams, Memphis |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team | Damian Dunn, Temple |
| Preseason All-AAC First Team | Jalen Cook, Tulane* |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team | David DeJulius, Cincinnati |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team | Jamal Shead, Houston |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team | Khalif Battle, Temple |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team | Kevin Cross, Tulane |
| Preseason All-AAC Second Team | Jaylen Forbes, Tulane |
| *Unanimous selections ||

## Regular season
### Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.
| | Cincinnati | East Carolina | Houston | Memphis | SMU | South Florida | Temple | Tulane | Tulsa | UCF | Wichita State |
| vs. Cincinnati | – | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| vs. East Carolina | 1–1 | – | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| vs. Houston | 0–2 | 0–1 | – | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| vs. Memphis | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | – | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| vs. SMU | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. South Florida | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 |
| vs. Temple | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | – | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| vs. Tulane | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | – | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| vs. Tulsa | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | – | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| vs. UCF | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | – | 0–2 |
| vs. Wichita State | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | – |
| Total | 11–7 | 6–12 | 17–1 | 13–5 | 5–13 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 1–17 | 8–10 | 9–9 |

### Player of the week

Throughout the regular season, the American Athletic Conference named a player and rookie of the week.
| Week | Player of the week | Freshman of the week |
| Week 1 – Nov 14 | David DeJulius, Cincinnati | Jarace Walker, Houston |
| Week 2 – Nov 21 | Marcus Sasser, Houston | Taylor Hendricks, UCF |
| Week 3 – Nov 28 | Kendric Davis, Memphis | Taylor Hendricks (2), UCF |
| Week 4 – Dec 5 | Khalif Battle, Temple | Taylor Hendricks (3), UCF |
| Week 5 – Dec 12 | Kendric Davis (2), Memphis | Taylor Hendricks (4), UCF |
| Week 6 – Dec 19 | Kendric Davis (3), Memphis | Jarace Walker (2), Houston |
| Week 7 – Dec 26 | Zhuric Phelps, SMU | Emanuel Sharp, Houston |
| Week 8 – Jan 2 | Kendric Davis (4), Memphis | Taylor Hendricks (5), UCF |
| Week 9 – Jan 9 | Jaylen Forbes, Tulane | Jarace Walker (3), Houston |
| Week 10 – Jan 16 | Kendric Davis (5), Memphis Jaylen Forbes (2), Tulane | Taylor Hendricks (6), UCF |
| Week 11 – Jan 23 | DeAndre Williams, Memphis | Jarace Walker (4), Houston |
| Week 12 – Jan 30 | Kendric Davis (6), Memphis Khalif Battle (2), Temple | Jarace Walker (5), Houston |
| Week 13 – Feb 6 | Jalen Cook, Tulane | Jarace Walker (6), Houston |
| Week 14 – Feb 13 | DeAndre Williams (2), Memphis | Taylor Hendricks (7), UCF |
| Week 15 – Feb 20 | Jalen Cook (2), Tulane | Ezra Ausar, East Carolina |
| Week 16 – Feb 27 | DeAndre Williams (3), Memphis | Taylor Hendricks (8), UCF |
| Week 17 – Mar 6 | Jamal Shead, Houston | Taylor Hendricks (9), UCF |

### All-AAC Awards and teams

| Honor | Recipient |
| Player of the Year | Marcus Sasser, Houston |
| Coach of the Year | Kelvin Sampson, Houston |
| Freshman of the Year | Jarace Walker, Houston |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Jamal Shead, Houston |
| Most Improved Player | J'Wan Roberts, Houston |
| Sixth Man of the Year | Reggie Chaney, Houston |
| Sportsmanship Award | Ludgy Debaut, East Carolina Sion James, Tulane |
| All-AAC First Team |
| All-AAC First Team | Landers Nolley II, Cincinnati |
| All-AAC First Team | Marcus Sasser, Houston* |
| All-AAC First Team | Kendric Davis, Memphis* |
| All-AAC First Team | DeAndre Williams, Memphis |
| All-AAC First Team | Jalen Cook, Tulane |
| All-AAC Second Team |
| All-AAC Second Team | Taylor Hendricks, UCF |
| All-AAC Second Team | Jamal Shead, Houston |
| All-AAC Second Team | J'Wan Roberts, Houston |
| All-AAC Second Team | Jarace Walker, Houston |
| All-AAC Second Team | Jaylen Forbes, Tulane |
| All-AAC Third Team |
| All-AAC Third Team | David DeJulius, Cincinnati |
| All-AAC Third Team | Tyler Harris, South Florida |
| All-AAC Third Team | Damian Dunn, Temple |
| All-AAC Third Team | Kevin Cross, Tulane |
| All-AAC Third Team | Craig Porter Jr., Wichita State |
| All-Freshman Team |
| All-Freshman Team | Taylor Hendricks, UCF* |
| All-Freshman Team | Ezra Ausar, East Carolina* |
| All-Freshman Team | Jarace Walker, Houston* |
| All-Freshman Team | Terrance Arceneaux, Houston |
| All-Freshman Team | Emanuel Sharp, Houston |
| *Unanimous selections ||
Source:

## Postseason
### American Athletic Conference tournament

* – Denotes overtime period
| First round Thursday, March 9 | First round Thursday, March 9 | First round Thursday, March 9 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 10 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 10 | Quarterfinals Friday, March 10 | Semifinals Saturday, March 11 | Semifinals Saturday, March 11 | Semifinals Saturday, March 11 | Championship Sunday, March 12 | Championship Sunday, March 12 | Championship Sunday, March 12 |
| | | | 1 | Houston | 60 | | | | | | |
| 8 | South Florida | 58 | 9 | East Carolina | 46 | | | | | | |
| 9 | East Carolina | 73 | | | | 1 | Houston | 69 | | | |
| | | | | | | 4 | Cincinnati | 48 | | | |
| | | | 4 | Cincinnati | 84 | | | | | | |
| | | | 5 | Temple | 54 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | 1 | Houston | 65 |
| | | | | | | | | | 2 | Memphis | 75 |
| | | | 2 | Memphis | 81 | | | | | | |
| 7 | UCF | 76 | 7 | UCF | 76 | | | | | | |
| 10 | SMU | 70 | | | | 2 | Memphis | 94 | | | |
| | | | | | | 3 | Tulane | 54 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Tulane | 82 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Wichita State | 81 | 6 | Wichita State | 76 | | | | | | |
| 11 | Tulsa | 63 | | | | | | | | | |

### NCAA tournament

| Seed | Region | School | First Four | First Round | Second Round | Sweet Sixteen | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 1 | Midwest | Houston | N/A | defeated (16) Northern Kentucky, 63–52 | defeated (9) Auburn, 81–64 | eliminated by (5) Miami (FL), 75–89 | – | – | – |
| 8 | East | Memphis | N/A | eliminated by (9) Florida Atlantic, 65–66 | – | – | – | – | – |
| | | W–L (%): | 0–0 (–) | 1–1 (.500) | 1–0 (1.000) | 0–1 (.000) | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) Total: 2–2 (.500) |

### National Invitation tournament

| Seed | Bracket | School | First Round | Second Round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
| 4 | Rutgers | Cincinnati | defeated Virginia Tech, 81–72 | defeated Hofstra, 79–65 | eliminated by Utah Valley, 68–74 | – | – |
| – | Oregon | UCF | defeated (4) Florida, 67–49 | eliminated by (1) Oregon, 54–68 | – | – | – |
| | | W–L (%): | 2–0 (1.000) | 1–1 (.500) | 0–1 (.000) | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) Total: 3–2 (.600) |

## NBA draft

The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2023 NBA draft.
| Player | Position | School | Round | Pick | Team |
| Jarace Walker | PF | Houston | 1 | 8 | Washington Wizards |
| Taylor Hendricks | PF | UCF | 1 | 9 | Utah Jazz |
| Marcus Sasser | SG/PG | Houston | 1 | 25 | Memphis Grizzlies |