American Conference notes halfway through Feast Week

Memphis is 1-4

Yeah, that’s not something that you thought you’d hear, but the Tigers are starting to see what happens when you schedule three top-50 KenPom opponents during non-conference and fail to recruit well enough to beat them. Adding on the home loss to a shaky UNLV team, Memphis’ inability to beat the big names makes the American a surefire one-bid league.

The offense just hasn’t been there yet. Despite my preseason reservations about the Tiger’s inability to defend the paint, the main issue plaguing Penny Hardaway’s team has seemed to be the inability to outscore their opponents like they were able to last season. Instead of using a good offensive attack to outpace the other team, Memphis’ lone win came in a defensive battle over San Francisco. Only one player on the team averages double-digit scoring, and the consensus worry about this team has come to fruition: Dug McDaniel may not be efficient enough to be the star of a top-ranked offense.

Tulsa has exceeded expectations (I called it)

The Golden Hurricane look poised to make some noise heading into conference play with some big wins over Rhode Island and Austin Peay, and with a close loss to former teammate PJ Haggerty and Kansas State in Manhattan.

The strength that stands out on paper for this team has to be its strengths despite the constant injury bug. With Terrance Ford Jr. out for the time being following surgery and Myles Rigsby only seeing two games so far this season, the only thing scarier than the current state of Eric Konkol’s team is the team with its play initiators back and healthy. In his time at Arkansas State last season, Ford was fifth in the Sun Belt in assist rate while leading a top-100 KenPom offense to the best record in the conference, so his absence only makes fans of the team more excited for his possible return.

South Florida with flashes of brilliance

The team that many had as their preseason No. 1 in the conference has looked the part five games into the season, yet the quality wins have yet to follow. The Bulls’ guard corps runs four deep with five players averaging double-digit points this season, thanks in part to new head coach Bryan Hodgson’s breakneck pace, allowing the team to score in bunches.

On the defensive end, the play is just as quick. Forcing turnovers and getting takeaways, this Bulls team would rather outrun their opponents rather than shut them down. Every single game this season other than one has seen 100 points from the Bulls, with the outlier being a 99-95 loss to George Washington.

USF still has some big tests before conference play with VCU, Utah State and Alabama standing by for the Bulls, but with the American Conference on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how this squad matches up with a very oddly-different Memphis squad that relies on its defensive prowess.