Coach Sampson will be on Jon Rothstein's podcast this week (9 Jul 18)

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1015928484068114432
https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1015927226208931842

Listen here.

Enjoyed CKS’s appearance. He sounded really high on Brison Gresham. Continued to speak highly of Ced Alley. I’m getting really excited to see him play.

Listening to this I realized that every excuse anybody has ever made to not attend UH basketball has been addressed. The team is good, they’re recruiting at a high level, the arena is gonna be brand spankin’ new, the school is taking it seriously and investing, we’re playing in a conference that’s going to be super deep, and we put some big names on the non-conference schedule to boot. The only question left is will people consistently show up. I’m really hoping that last year made enough new fans to make that happen.

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UCF at #1 seems like stretch. I think Cincy is #1 until they are knocked off. Also, I think Wichita St and Memphis will be better than projected by him and SMU will be lower. Going to be an interesting season. The new coaches at UConn and Memphis and a healthy UCF should help the AAC image this season.

Jon’s been really high on UCF all offseason. They do return BJ Taylor, Tacko Fall, and a healthy Aubrey Dawkins to a team that won 19 last year and was probably headed to the NCAAs before they were devastated by injuries. They area also a strong defensive team. I agree, though. I’m not sold that they can find enough offense to be THE top team in the league and we’ll see if their guys can actually stay healthy. They should be a top three team though.

He’s been way high on Temple as well, but he was way high on them last year. Like most prognosticators, he tends to overrate the Northeast squads. I agree with you that SMU should be lower and WIchita State should be higher. Jury’s still out for me on Memphis…we’ll see if Penny can actually coach first. Cincy should definitely still be the favorite.

Like where he picked the Coogs, though. That’s about where I’d put them after losing Gray and Davis, but with some good potential coming back.

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Really good stuff. Interesting that CKS says that Alley is 6’7"…did he grow or is this just a coach normally exaggerating his player’s height? Roster lists him at 6’5".

Edit: Looking at the summer pictures, he might have grown. He’s probably an inch shorter than Broodo who’s listed as 6’7".

ucf is getting overrated. i know most of their top guys are returning but how should they be preseason favorites over cincy and us? hell they should be over Wichita st either.

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When I look at the past three seasons, Wichita St equaled or had more AAC wins in one season (14) than USF (8), ECU (14) and Tulane (11) each had over the last three seasons combined.

Tulsa at #9 looks too low as well. They usually are very competitive and at least middle of the pack. If I do pods, I would go (not in order within the pods):

1-3: Cincy, UH, UCF
4-6: Wichita St, UConn, Memphis
7-9: Tulsa, SMU, Temple
10-12: Tulane, ECU, USF

Trying to put them in groups makes me appreciate even more how competitive and interesting this season will be. #1 through #9 will be tough to beat unless the coaching is overrated.

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https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1032631259078504449

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Memphis won’t be there, yet. But next year if they land Wiseman (hoping he picks Kentucky) they will be TROUBLE!