By the time the AAC Championship Game tips off, the Selection Committee will, for all intents and purposes will have the brackets completed. There's still one more fly which could end up in the ointment, though. The Memphis Tigers could play their way into the dance in the most shocking fashion possible, winning three games in three days to capture the AAC title. There will be a lot of bubble teams rooting like heck for the Connecticut Huskies to finish the job they started on Friday to leave that one last slot in the field of 68 open.
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HOW THE CONNECTICUT HUSKIES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Of course, the argument could be made that Connecticut has to win this game to get into the dance. We tend to doubt it, as wins over bubble-dwellers Cincinnati and Temple in Orlando probably will leave the Huskies in good shape regardless of what happens here on Sunday.
That said, they still will want to play as if their season depends upon the outcome of this game.
It was really against Memphis in February that the Huskies identified themselves. They're a defense-first team, and the fact that they held the Tigers to just 20 points in the second half of a win at the FedEx Forum was a huge rallying point for the remainder of the year.
That defense has now held three straight foes under 38 percent shooting from the field dating back to the regular season, and a lot of that has had to do with the play of Sterling Gibbs, Daniel Hamilton and Shonn Miller.
These three, in particular, have been forces on the defensive side of the court, and they're relentless when it comes to chasing the ball around the perimeter. That could end up being the key to finally slowing down Memphis on Sunday.
HOW THE MEMPHIS TIGERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Would the real Memphis Tigers please stand up? All of a sudden over the course of the last three games, the Tigers have mutilated teams by massive margins, and they really haven't had to break a sweat in the process.
Memphis' offense has been fantastic here in the AAC Tournament with Dedric Lawson leading the way with a pair of great games. Still, what teams are finding out in Orlando is that it's really tough to score against this defense near the rack. Shaq Goodwin and Lawson have had so many games this year where they've looked uninspired, and all of a sudden, they're starting to alter the direction of every shot headed towards the hoop.
Sure, this game against Connecticut is the toughest of the bunch, but let's not forget that guys like Goodwin and Ricky Tarrant have played in massive games of this magnitude and know what it's like to be in the NCAA Tournament. There's plenty of talent here, and it's the fact that that talent has underachieved so badly these last couple seasons that has Josh Pastner on a very hot seat.
That experience and talent must finally shine through on the biggest stage to propel the Tigers into the tourney.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
We've always believed that it's not the game the day after a marathon game that gets teams in conference tournaments. It's the game the day after the day of the marathon. It almost seems to be forgotten that the Huskies played four overtimes against Cincinnati two days ago. Their job when they reached the AAC Tournament was to win two games to clinch a spot in the dance. That job is done.
Now, unfortunately for the rest of the bubble-dwellers out there, they've got a game against a relatively rested team which hasn't had to play a close game in a while. The Tigers know that they've got nothing to lose and everything to gain here, and we think they're going to do enough in this one to eke out a spot in the tourney to end someone's NCAA Tournament dreams.
Memphis 60, Connecticut 58
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