What to know about the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament 2022 schedule
The American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament begins Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, at Dickies Arena when the No. 8 seed Cincinnati Bearcats face the No. 9 seed East Carolina Pirates at 1 p.m.
With the future of the American Athletic Conference clouded as Cincinnati, No.1 seed Houston and No. 6 seed Central Florida will leave the conference no later than the 2024-2025 season for the Big 12, this will be one of the final tournaments to include these exact teams.
The Bearcats play in one of three men's games on Thursday and the winner between the No. 8 and No. 9 seed will play Houston at 1 p.m. on Friday.
The American Athletic championship game is set for 3:15 p.m. Sunday.
Here's what to know about the MAC Tournament in 2022:
What is the AAC Basketball Tournament schedule?
Here is the men's bracket.
Here's the bracket! We're ready for the 2022 @Join_AFReserve #AmericanHoops Championship later this week at @DickiesArena! pic.twitter.com/U7oSkFah2Y
— American MBB (@American_MBB) March 6, 2022
Is the AAC Tournament 2022 streaming?
Yes. The tournament is on the ESPN family of networks and will be streamed on a variety of streaming services that offer ESPN, like Hulu Live, as well as the Worldwide Leader's own streaming service, ESPN+
Is the American Athletic Conference Tournament on TV?
Yes. All the games will be aired by ESPN networks.
Thursday games are on ESPNU at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. with 30 minutes in between the two afternoon games.
Friday's afternoon games, the 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. tipoffs are on ESPN2 while the night games, the 7 p.m. and and 9 p.m. tips, will be on ESPNU.
Saturday's semifinal games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. are on ESPN2.
The championship game at 3:15 p.m. Sunday is on ESPN.
AAC Tournament 2022 predictions
ESPN Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi predicts three teams from the American will make the NCAA Tournament. He predicts that Houston, which reached the Final Four last season, will be the automatic qualifier and be a No. 5 seed.
He has SMU as the the last team in the field and playing in the First Four games in Dayton while Memphis, a preseason top 10 team is an 11th seed.
USA Today also has SMU among the last teams in and has Memphis as an 11th seed facing Ohio State, is in as a No. 5 seed.
What about the Cincinnati Bearcats' tournament chances?
The Bearcats and first-year coach Wes Miller enter the tournament on a five-game losing streak would have to win four days in a row and beat the No. 1 seed in on Friday en route to winning the tournament. The Bearcats are 17-14 overall and ranked No. 104 at Kenpom.com, the famed college basketball analytics site.
The Bearcats beat East Carolina twice this season, including a 1-point win, 60-59, on the road in January. The Bearcats lost 71-53 in Houston and 80-58 at home to the Cougars.
The Bearcats last won the conference championship in 2019, capping off back-to-back tournament championship wins.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: American Athletic Conference basketball tournament 2022 schedule
