Memphis basketball clinches No. 5 seed in AAC Tournament

Memphis basketball officially knows when it will begin its run in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament.

Thanks to UAB’s 74-70 win over SMU, the Tigers have clinched the No. 5 seed in the 14-team field. They were eliminated from double-bye contention after losing at Florida Atlantic 92-84 Saturday, meaning they must do something no AAC team has ever done before.

Memphis (22-9, 11-7 AAC) has to win four games in four days at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas to earn its third consecutive NCAA Tournament bid. If it fails, it’ll likely play in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) instead—meaning that it will have made just two March Madness appearances in six seasons under Penny Hardaway.

The Tigers don’t plan on embracing this reality, though. They may have finished the regular season 7-7 after starting 15-2 and being ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25. They may have blown their chance at an AAC regular season title, an at-large bid and even a top-4 seed in the conference tourney. But they told reporters their spirits are still high following Saturday’s game.

”I’m happy about that, because these young men need to be positive…The slate is clean now. You know what’s in front of you. And you win or go home,” Hardaway said. “There’s no quit in this team. We showed that by winning the last four [games] before we came here.”

Memphis will play the winner of No. 12 Wichita State vs. No. 13 Rice on Thursday afternoon (1:30 p.m., ESPNU). If it wins that game, it’ll get No. 4 UAB in the quarterfinals Friday (2 p.m., ESPN2). The winner of that game likely plays No. 1 South Florida in the semifinals Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN), and the victor there likely faces No. 2 Florida Atlantic in the championship Sunday (2:15 p.m., ESPN).