Memphis basketball picked second in AAC preseason poll

Penny Hardaway still has his doubters, evidently.

Memphis, widely tabbed as the American Athletic Conference’s (AAC) preseason favorite, is second in this year’s AAC preseason coaches’ poll, the league announced Friday. The Tigers finished behind Andy Kennedy’s UAB Blazers, who won the AAC Tournament last season.

Memphis added a plethora of transfers this offseason to bulk up its roster after finishing fifth in the AAC and missing the NCAA Tournament last year—a fate Hardaway is determined to not repeat this season.

”We’ve never won the league in the regular season [in my tenure]. We’ve won the conference tournament, but not the regular season. I think that’s the focus,” Hardaway said on Oct. 3. “We’ve done pretty well in the non-conference, but the conference is No. 1. You gotta do that before you get to the NCAA Tournament. I think you obviously wanna fare well in the non-conference, but you wanna win the conference the regular season [title]. We’ve had teams to do that, and we just haven’t been able to get over the hump in that area. So, that’s what I’m most looking forward to.”

PJ Haggerty (6-foot-3) averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Tulsa last year, which helped him earn the AAC Freshman of the Year award. He is on the preseason all-conference first team.

Tyrese Hunter (6-foot) averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 assists for Texas in 2023-24. He also won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award at Iowa State in 2021-22, and is 6-3 in NCAA Tournament games. He is also on the preseason all-conference first team.

Colby Rogers (6-foot-4), who is on the preseason all-conference second team, scored 16.4 points per contest while shooting 40.9% from 3-point range (7.1 attempts per game) for Wichita State. PJ Carter (6-foot-5) averaged 9.5 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 41.5% from the field and 40.3% from 3-point range in 31 appearances for UTSA.

Moussa Cisse (7-foot) and Tyreek Smith (6-foot-8) averaged a combined 3.1 blocks per game last year for Ole Miss and SMU respectively. Dain Dainja (6-foot-9) averaged 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in limited minutes for an Illinois team that made the Elite Eight last season.

Nick Jourdain (6-foot-9) started 25 of 32 games for the Tigers in 2023-24, and put up 6.5 points and 4 rebounds per contest. He is Memphis’ only returning scholarship player.

Freshman guard Jared Harris is the preseason AAC Freshman of the Year.

Hardaway, Haggerty and Hunter will represent Memphis at AAC Media Day Sunday in Irving, Texas.

UAB, meanwhile, returns AAC Defensive Player Yaxel Lendeborg while adding transfers Greg Gordon, Tyren Moore and Bradley Ezewiro. The Blazers narrowly lost to San Diego State in last season’s NCAA Tournament.

Florida Atlantic, which is fifth in the poll, has had to rebuild via the transfer portal with former Baylor assistant John Jakus taking over as head coach for Dusty May, who left FAU for Michigan. Key players like Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Vlad Goldin and Nick Boyd have also joined new schools.

But Jakus has landed nice pieces like former Xavier guard KyKy Tandy, former Florida State forward Baba Miller and last season’s SWAC Player of the Year Ken Evans Jr.

South Florida—last year’s regular season champion—finished third in the poll despite being gutted by the transfers of Chris Youngblood, Selton Miguel and Kasean Pryor.

Here’s the full AAC preseason coaches’ poll and preseason honors:

1. UAB
2. Memphis
3. South Florida
4. Wichita State
5. Florida Atlantic
6. Temple
7. North Texas
8. Charlotte
9. East Carolina
10. Tulsa
11. UTSA
12. Tulane
13. Rice

Preseason Player of the Year
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB
 
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Jared Harris, G, Memphis
 
Preseason All-Conference First Team
Yaxel Lendeborg, Sr., F, UAB*
RJ Felton, Sr., G, East Carolina
PJ Haggerty, R-So., G, Memphis
Tyrese Hunter, Sr., G, Memphis
Jamal Mashburn Jr., Gr., G, Temple
 
Preseason All-Conference Second Team
Efrem ‘Butta’ Johnson, Jr., G, UAB
Alejandro Vasquez, Sr., G, UAB
KyKy Tandy, Gr., G, Florida Atlantic
Colby Rogers, R-Sr., G, Memphis
Jayden Reid, So., G, South Florida