2018–19 American Athletic Conference women's basketball season


The 2018–19 American Athletic Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2017, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in January 2018 and will conclude in March with the 2019 American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.

2018–19 American Athletic Conference women's basketball season
LeagueNCAA Division I
SportBasketball
DurationNovember 2018
through March 2019
Number of teams12
TV partner(s)ESPN, Regional Sports Networks
WNBA Draft
2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season
Regular Season ChampionsConnecticut
Season MVPNapheesa Collier, Connecticut
American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament
American Athletic Conference women's basketball seasons
← 2017–18
2019–20 →
2018–19 American Athletic Conference women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 2 UConn 16 0   1.000 35 3   .921
UCF 13 3   .813 26 7   .788
Cincinnati 12 4   .750 24 11   .686
Houston 9 7   .563 15 16   .484
South Florida 7 9   .438 19 16   .543
Temple 7 9   .438 11 18   .379
East Carolina 6 10   .375 16 15   .516
Tulsa 6 10   .375 13 18   .419
Tulane 5 11   .313 15 16   .484
Wichita State 5 11   .313 12 18   .400
SMU 5 11   .313 11 19   .367
Memphis 5 11   .313 11 20   .355
2019 AAC tournament winner
As of March 17, 2019
Rankings from AP poll

Head coaches

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Coaching changes

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Coaches

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Team Head coach Previous job Years at school Record at school AAC record AAC titles NCAA Tournaments NCAA Final Fours NCAA Championships
Cincinnati Michelle Clark-Heard Western Kentucky 1 0–0 0–0 0 0 0 0
Connecticut Geno Auriemma Virginia (Assistant) 34 1027–135 86–0 5 30 19 11
East Carolina Heather Macy Francis Marion 9 134–117 26–42 0 0 0 0
Houston Ronald Hughey Florida State (Assistant) 5 44–79 16–52 0 0 0 0
Memphis Melissa McFerrin American 11 164–152 37–49 0 0 0 0
SMU Travis Mays Texas (Associate HC) 3 29–35 11–21 0 0 0 0
South Florida Jose Fernandez Barry University 18 335–243 66–20 0 6 0 0
Temple Tonya Cardoza Connecticut (Assistant) 11 200–128 47–36 0 4 0 0
Tulane Lisa Stockton Georgia Tech (Assistant) 25 493–259 34–34 0 11 0 0
Tulsa Matilda Mossman Norman High School 8 92–123 28–40 0 0 0 0
UCF Katie Abrahamson-Henderson Albany 3 43–23 21–11 0 0 0 0
Wichita State Keitha Adams UTEP 2 14–17 9–7 0 0 0 0

Notes:

  • Year at school includes 2018–19 season.
  • Overall and AAC records are from time at current school and are through the end the 2017–18 season.
  • NCAA Tournament appearances are from time at current school only.
  • NCAA Final Fours and Championship include time at other schools

Preseason

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AAC Women's Basketball Tip-off

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Prior to the start of the season, the AAC head coaches voted on the finishing order of the teams, a Preseason All-Conference First Team, Preseason All-Conference Second Team, and a Preseason Player of the Year.[3]

In the vote, all eligible head coaches selected Connecticut to win the 2018–19 season. Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, barred by conference rules from voting for his own team, voted for South Florida.[3]

AAC preseason poll

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2018 AAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll
Head coaches
  1. UConn – 121 (11)
  2. USF – 111 (1)
  3. Houston – 95
  4. UCF – 92
  5. Cincinnati – 74
  6. Temple – 72
  7. SMU – 55
  8. ECU – 46
  9. Tulane – 42
  10. Wichita State – 35
  11. Memphis – 25
  12. Tulsa – 24

Note: First Place votes shown in ().

Preseason All-AAC Teams

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2018 AAC Women's Basketball Preseason All-AAC Teams
Preseason All-Conference First Team Preseason All-Conference Second Team
  • Angela Harris – Houston
  • Laura Ferreira – USF
  • Alicia Froling – SMU
  • Alliya Butts – Temple
  • Mia Davis – Temple

Preseason AAC Player of the Year

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2018 AAC Women's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year
Head coaches
Katie Lou Samuelson – UConn

Regular season

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Rankings

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Legend
  Increase in ranking
  Decrease in ranking
  Not ranked previous week
    First Place votes shown in ()
  Pre Wk
2
Wk
3
Wk
4
Wk
5
Wk
6
Wk
7
Wk
8
Wk
9
Wk
10
Wk
11
Wk
12
Wk
13
Wk
14
Wk
15
Wk
16
Wk
17
Wk
18
Wk
19
Final
Cincinnati AP
C
Connecticut AP 2 2 2 2 1 (31) 1 (31) 1 (31) 1 (31) 1 (31) 3 (3) 3 (1) 3 (1) 2 (2) 5 4 3 2 2 2 2
C 2 (2) 2 2 (1) 2 1 (31) 1 (32) 1 (32) 1 (31) 1 (31) 3 (6) 4 (4) 2 (4) 2 (11) 5 4 2 2 2 2 3
East Carolina AP
C
Houston AP
C
Memphis AP
C
SMU AP
C
South Florida AP 22 21 17 RV RV RV RV
C 21 21 17 RV RV RV RV
Temple AP
C
Tulane AP
C
Tulsa AP
C
UCF AP RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV
C RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV RV
Wichita State AP
C

Note: The Coaches Poll releases a final poll after the NCAA tournament, but the AP Poll does not release a poll at this time.

Conference matrix

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This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Each team will play 18 conference games, and at least 1 against each opponent.

  Cincinnati Connecticut East Carolina Houston Memphis SMU South Florida Temple Tulane Tulsa UCF Wichita State
vs. Cincinnati 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Connecticut 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. East Carolina 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Houston 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Memphis 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. SMU 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. South Florida 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Temple 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Tulane 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Tulsa 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. UCF 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
vs. Wichita State 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0
Total 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0

Player of the week

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Throughout the conference regular season, the American Athletic Conference offices named a Player(s) of the week and a Rookie(s) of the week.

Week Player of the week Rookie of the week Reference

Postseason

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AAC tournament

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[4]

First round
Friday, March 8
Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 9
Semifinals
Sunday, March 10
Championship Game
Monday, March 11
            
1 Connecticut 92
8 East Carolina 65
8 East Carolina 50*
9 SMU 48
1 Connecticut 81
5 South Florida 45
4 Houston 55
5 South Florida 72
5 South Florida 61
12 Tulane 52
1 Connecticut 66
2 UCF 45
2 UCF 66
7 Tulsa 54
7 Tulsa 61
10 Wichita State 50
2 UCF 66
3 Cincinnati 58
3 Cincinnati 68
11 Memphis 48
6 Temple 58
11 Memphis 59

Note: * denotes overtime

NCAA tournament

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Seed Region School 1st Round 2nd Round Sweet 16 Elite Eight Final Four Championship
2 Albany Connecticut W 110–61 vs. #15 Towson(Stoors) W 84–72 vs. #10 Buffalo(Stoors) W 69–61 vs. #6 UCLA(Albany) W 80–73 vs. #1 Louisville(Albany) L 76–81 vs. #1 Notre Dame(Tampa)
11 Portland UCF L 45–60 vs. #5 Arizona State(Coral Gables)
W–L (%): 1–1 (.500) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 1–0 (1.000) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 (–) Total: 4–2 (.667)

National Invitation tournament

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School 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship
Cincinnati W 76–62 vs. Youngstown State(Cincinnati) W 72–65 vs. Minnesota(Cincinnati) W 72–65 vs. Butler(Cincinnati) L 55–69 vs. TCU(Fort Worth)
Houston L 80–88 (OT) vs. Arkansas(Fayetteville)
South Florida W 84–50 vs. Stetson(Tampa) L 54–71 vs. James Madison(Harrisburg)
W–L (%): 2–1 (.667) 1–1 (.500) 1–0 (1.000) 0–1 (.000) 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–) Total: 4–3 (.571)

Honors and awards

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AAC Awards

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2018 AAC Women's Basketball Individual Awards[5]
Award Recipient(s)
Player of the Year Napheesa Collier, Connecticut
Coach of the Year Geno Auriemma, Connecticut
Defensive Player of the Year Napheesa Collier, Connecticut
Freshman of the Year Christyn Williams, Connecticut
Newcomer of the Year Florence Sifa, Cincinnati
Sixth Player of the Year Kayla Thigpen, South Florida
Most Improved Player Krystal Freeman, Tulane
2018 AAC Women's Basketball All-Conference Teams[5]
First Team Second Team Third Team Freshman Team
Napheesa Collier, Connecticut
Crystal Dangerfield, Connecticut
Mia Davis, Temple
Katie Lou Samuelson, Connecticut
IImar’I Thomas, Cincinnati
Kay Kay Wright, UCF
Dorian Branch, Houston
Alliya Butts, Temple
Krystal Freeman, Tulane
Antoinette Miller, Cincinnati
Enna Pehadžić, South Florida
Alicia Froling, SMU
Angela Harris, Houston
Lashonda Monk, East Carolina
Crystal Polk, Tulsa
Megan Walker, Connecticut
Carla Bremaud, Wichita State
Sydni Harvey, South Florida
Dynah Jones, Tulane
Jamirah Shutes, Memphis
Kayla White, SMU
Christyn Williams, Connecticut

WNBA draft

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Player Team Round Pick # Position School
Katie Lou Samuelson Chicago Sky 1 4 G/F Connecticut
Napheesa Collier Minnesota Lynx 1 6 F Connecticut

References

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  1. ^ "Michelle Clark-Heard Named Women's Basketball Head Coach". gobearcats.com. March 27, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  2. ^ "Head coach Michelle Clark-Heard leaving WKU for Cincinnati". wkuherald.com. March 27, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "UConn Tops American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Poll". theamerican.org. American Athletic Conference. October 15, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  4. ^ "2019 American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament Bracket" (PDF). TheAmerican.org. SideArmSports. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "UConn's Collier Named 2019 Women's Basketball Player of the Year" (Press release). American Athletic Conference. March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.