2021-22 Basketball happenings around the American Athletic!

[wichshock65]

https://twitter.com/American_Conf/status/1440044492610932742?s=19

[pogo]

It would be a mistake if the AAC stopped at 11 teams. For the 12th team, if they AAC can't pair a football school (Army or maybe App State) with an Olympic sports partner (A10 team) the AAC would be hard pressed to find a better all-sports add than Liberty (as controversial as that may be). Liberty is strong at basketball and football, has a large student body + alumni base, and is a geographic bridge between Temple and ECU.

Sorry but liberty gets a no vote from me. You cite a large student body which is 15,000 strong and the rest is on!INE students. As I stated earlier cry it's a grey UNC Charlotte fit nicely into larger metro universities

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Totally underwhelming without SDSU and / or Boise St. in my opinion.

[Stickboy46]

Totally underwhelming without SDSU and / or Boise St. in my opinion.

I'm still hopeful those dominos can fall.

If not, Army + a good olympic sport add could be really good.

[RoyalShock]

Totally underwhelming without SDSU and / or Boise St. in my opinion.

Yep. I guess it's fine for football, but as far as WSU is concerned, this doesn't move the needle at all.

[TrackSuitAndTie]

Sorry but liberty gets a no vote from me. You cite a large student body which is 15,000 strong and the rest is on!INE students. As I stated earlier cry it's a grey UNC Charlotte fit nicely into larger metro universities

I think the 80,000 online students still count as part of the student body in terms of eyeballs on TV sets. Sure a lot of them probably don't feel associated to the school's athletics, but I'm sure a lot of them do. If the school didn't have political baggage (likely the reason it gets left out) it would be a slam dunk addition to the AAC. I could be off here, but I have heard a lot of people put Liberty out there as a possible addition and nobody has anything bad to say about the school's athletics profile.

For reference, Memphis has a total enrollment of 21,000.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Yep. I guess it's fine for football, but as far as WSU is concerned, this doesn't move the needle at all.

Heck I would be happier with Nevada or UNLV also.

[wichshock65]

Heck I would be happier with Nevada or UNLV also.

If Aresco is looking for eyeballs, I would this UNLV could be appealing.

[Stickboy46]

Yep. I guess it's fine for football, but as far as WSU is concerned, this doesn't move the needle at all.

Colorado state is normally a good bball team. At least NIT level.

[The Mad Hatter]

Colorado state is normally a good bball team. At least NIT level.

Colorado State has been mediocre over the past decade. Air Force has been a disaster at basketball. Here are the Kenpom rankings for the last 10 years:

	Colorado State	Air Force
2021	76	332
2020	99	197
2019	180	243
2018	224	237
2017	86	222
2016	144	242
2015	72	204
2014	128	252
2013	22	99
2012	88	188

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

Nothing about either team will help the conference from a basketball standpoint.

[Stickboy46]

Ok name your realistic adds then?

Colorado state is in the upper tier of realistic adds.

[SubGod22]

And Colorado State with better exposure could improve that basketball, which isn't horrible as a whole.

Plus, the TV money side of things still matters as well. CSU has invested in football and I believe their facilities as a whole are supposed to be pretty good. They could be a boost and they bring AFA which is a boost for the media contract. UAB brings a pretty decent athletic department that is investing heavily in basketball as well as football.

And getting just CSU and AFA could pave the way for others, but that may have to wait to see what the B12 does in a couple of years with their new TV deal and see if they add another couple of schools. Both BSU and SDSU think they have a shot so why would they want to pay a 12M exit fee now and then turn around in a couple of years to pay another 10M+ if they got an invite?

I like the three that have been mentioned and would be interested in who the 4th would be. Good additions for the conference with potential for more westward expansion in a couple of years.

[shoxlax]

Is UNLV out of the picture?

[Stickboy46]

Is UNLV out of the picture?

Doesn't appear to have ever been in the picture for some reason. I'm guessing ESPN provided a list of yes and no