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Player of the Week

Ryan Boatright, UConn

The 2013-2014 Most Criticized award from this blog would probably have to go to Ryan Boatright. Everyone knew he could score and be a viable Option B to All-American point guard Shabazz Napier. But, he consistently had underwhelming scoring outings and only shot 39% from the field. What I may have overlooked is that, on the whole, Boatright was becoming a more efficient offensive player last season after demonstrating questionable shot selection and sloppy ballhandling and passing (3 turnovers per game as a sophomore) in his first two. Between Napier and a much-improved DeAndre Daniels, Boatright was never needed as a big-time scoring option last season. Still, he stepped up in a big way during UConn’s national championship run with six straight double-digit scoring performances (13.7 PPG in the tournament) and finally looked ready to take the reins of this team for the 2014-2015 season.

Well, we’re a week-and-a-half into the second American Athletic Conference season, and Ryan Boatright is the conference leader in scoring by a very comfortable margin (20.0 PPG versus 16.4 PPG for #2 Will Cummings). If it wasn’t for the loss to West Virginia, this would be a near-perfect start for Boatright. He’s shot at least 43% in all four games and has shown nice distributing ability, with 18 total assists. Boatright is simply stuffing stat sheets and making defenders look silly, and he has a chance to lead his team to its first resume-boosting win on Sunday when the Huskies host Texas.

Who’s Hot

Will Cummings, Temple

The season got off to a slow start for Cummings, who shot 1/13 (7 points) against American to open the year, then shot 3/13 (20 points; he was 13/18 from the line), but he soon found his groove with 18-, 21-, and 16-point performances on 19-38 shooting in his past three outings. Big things were expected for Cummings after the departure of Dalton Pepper and Anthony Lee, and he has delivered. His team suffered tough losses to Duke and UNLV, but Cummings, with his 16.4 PPG (and 6.6 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 1.4 SPG) is ready to spearhead the Owls’ attack. His shooting percentages still look a little ugly (36% from the field, 20% from outside), but he’s one of the better players in the conference and should carry this team to several more non-conference victories.

Octavius Ellis, Cincinnati

This time last year, the current AAC rebounds leader was playing for Trinity Valley Junior College. And this time three years ago, Octavius Ellis was actually on the Bearcats’ roster, until an incident in a downtown nightclub got him kicked off the team. He enrolled in JUCO, received first team JUCO All-American honors, and earned a spot back on Mick Cronin’s roster. And now, he’s doing a great job of replacing big man Justin Jackson who excelled on last year’s team. I had my doubts about Cincinnati this season. They were desperate for scoring last season, and now they have to replace Sean Kilpatrick, a consistent 20 PPG scorer. But Ellis is averaged 11.8 PPG, along with 9 RPG and 2.8 BPG. He’s a big, physical force down low and is perhaps the biggest reason why the Bearcats sit at 4-0. Now, it has been a very frustrating 4-0, with too-close-for-comfort matchups against Morehead State, Eastern Illinois, and North Carolina Central, but Ellis is shooting over 60% from the field and his development both on and off the court has been impressive. Look for him to keep the Bearcats respectable in the post-Kilpatrick era.

Who’s Not

Houston’s Veterans

Following the transfer of star players Tashawn Thomas and Danuel House to kick off the Kelvin Sampson era, the onus appeared to fall on Jherrod Stiggers, the trigger-happy guard, Danrad Knowles, the raw but promising big man, and  LeRon Barnes, a role player from last year’s squad, to score the points. But it’s been three transfers, Devonta Pollard (Alabama), Eric Weary Jr (New Mexico State), and Cavon Baker (Florida Atlantic) that have led the team in scoring in the Cougars’ 2-1 start. Meanwhile, Stiggers, Knowles, and Barnes have all shot 33% or worse. In fact, newcomers to this team are averaging 45.7 PPG on 40% shooting while the three returners that have seen action are averaging 25 PPG on just under 33% shooting. The team as a whole has been shooting badly, but the guys who have been around for a while need to adapt to Sampson’s system and make more of an impact. Stiggers has never been a very efficient player, and Knowles needs to play a much bigger role as a sophomore. The Cougars got an easy victory over Morgan State and eked out a win over Murray State, but they got mauled by Harvard, and their basketball has simply been underwhelming.

Conference Newcomers

It hasn’t been an awful transition to like in the AAC for Tulsa, Tulane, and East Carolina, but it could’ve gone a lot better to start the year. Of the conference’s 8 losses thus far to schools not in the five power conferences (that is, the Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Pac 12, and SEC), four have been by these three schools. Tulsa, expected to be the best of the bunch, lost their opener to Oral Roberts, ranked 205th in Division I by Ken Pomeroy, and just got manhandled by Oklahoma State. Tulane hasn’t had any bad losses, but they did get beat by 22 at home against Wake Forest and haven’t beat a team better 1-4 Southern. And East Carolina, perhaps the consensus worst team in the conference thus far, has dropped games to Hawaii and UNC-Asheville and now sits at 3-3. UConn and Memphis would never lose to UNC-Asheville, so this squad has a long way to go. On the bright side, ECU has three players in the conference top 8 in scoring, as BJ Tyson, Caleb White, and Terry Whisnant combine for 42.8 PPG. But a 6-7 record against Division I opponents (the best of which was likely a post-Marcus Smart/Markel Brown era Oklahoma State team) by these squads spells the very real potential for doom come conference play for these squads.

Top 5 Returning Players

A lot of AAC talent was lost to graduation this past May (i.e. Sean Kilpatrick, Shabazz Napier, DeAndre Daniels, Joe Jackson, Michael Dixon III, Justin Jackson, Victor Rudd, Isaiah Sykes), but let’s take a look at who remains (this list includes Tulsa, Tulane, and ECU players who played in the C-USA last season):

1. Ryan Boatright, UConn

See above. Boatright is the real deal.

2. Austin Nichols, Memphis

You probably haven’t heard much about Memphis since the season started, and that’s because they’ve only played two games. They suffered a tough, not-particularly-close loss to Wichita St., then rolled Prairie View, to no one’s surprise. Austin Nichols is probably the best player on this Tigers squad. The top recruit in the highly-touted 2013 Tigers class, Nichols played solidly last year but wasn’t asked to do too much with a crowded backcourt taking most of the shots. But he’s skilled and he’s tough and he’s perhaps the best big man in the conference. He’s one to look out for as Memphis heads to the Las Vegas invitational to score some resume-building wins.

3. Will Cummings, Temple

Once again, we gave Cummings some coverage earlier in this blog post, and we told you all about what a dynamic scorer he was and how important he is to his team. And beyond that, there’s not much more to be said. With the graduation of Dalton Pepper, Cummings will have more opportunities and more responsibility, and Temple is going to need some big games out of him if they want to get an upset victory in conference play to legitimize themselves as a decent AAC team.

4. James Woodard, Tulsa

It hasn’t been a great start for Woodard, with some bad shooting nights and ugly losses marking the start of his season. With the somewhat underwhelming start he’s had, he will likely continue to fly under the radar as he was doing going into the season, the great C-USA prospect who never got to showcase himself against a slate of power conference teams. But he’ll no doubt get into his groove soon enough, start raining threes, and maybe earn an all-conference selection if he’s good enough.

T5. Chris Perry, South Florida

Chris Perry showed a lot of promise as a freshman at USF, and he’s breaking out this year, with 15 PPG after 5 games, along with a solid 6.6 RPG. South Florida may once again struggle to be competitive, but when Perry is dialed in, he’ll create matchup problems for the elite teams in the league.

T5. Markus Kennedy, SMU

Had he played at all this season, Kennedy would probably have an undisputed spot on this list. But he’s academically ineligible for this semester and we likely won’t see him until January. The Mustangs could’ve used him to wreak havoc on Indiana’s weak frontcourt, or to bang with Gonzaga and Arkansas’s talented bigs. But they’ll have to put themselves in a decent place for the conference season without his services. He’s a strong, athletic power forward who teamed with Yannick Moreira to anchor the Mustangs down low last season, but Moreira, and all of Mustangs nation, are going to miss his presence until January.