The 2016 regular season has come to a close and conference tournaments all over the country are firing up their barbecue pits for what will be six straight days of tailgating (and maybe some baseball) madness.
As the American Athletic Conference convenes in Clearwater on Tuesday to commence its bracketed foray, here are five things you can ponder while disembarking the tailgate scene for the ballpark.
1) Can Tulane keep its postseason from being a big downer after an emotional AAC-clinching season finale series victory against Houston?
The Green Wave finished the last half of the year with an 11-3 record in conference play. They are one of two teams in the AAC to have a winning record on the road (13-7). They will face Central Florida on Tuesday evening — a team who lost six straight to end the season. Gritting out the final weekend of the year against Houston was an emotional drain on the team. Will they be able to continue their momentum into the AAC Tournament and fulfill their goal of receiving a regional host bid? They’ll likely need a tournament crown to go along with their regular season honors to do so.
Wave probably need to win AAC Tournament to get that host. Polls are one thing… RPI is another. https://t.co/a3lvZZIjsT
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) May 23, 2016
2) Can UConn’s star athletes (and coaches) spin regular season gold into postseason glory?
Regular season accolades quickly flowed into Storrs on Monday. Joe Deroche-Duffin, who leads the AAC in homers (17) and RBIs (52), was named conference player of the year; Anthony Kay, who was 5-0 in AAC starts this year, was named Pitcher of the Year; Freshman Tim Cate, owner of a .193 opponent batting average, was named co-Rookie of the Year and HC Jim Penders, who led the Huskies to a 14-9 conference and 33-22 overall record, was named AAC Coach of the Year.
Don’t be fooled, however, those aren’t the only Husky contributors. Without folks like Bobby Melley, William Montgomerie and Willy Yahn, UConn wouldn’t be half the team they are today.
The big question for opponents of the Huskies — including Memphis who will open the AAC Tournament facing UConn — will be: can anyone beat Anthony Kay? Memphis is statistically the least frightening baseball team in the conference — it’s seventh in both hitting and pitching. Not only that but UConn is on a roll right now winning their last nine games to close out the 2016 season. For a UConn team that played 32 away games — most among AAC teams — it certainly won’t shy away from Clearwater’s neutral territory atmosphere.
3) Will East Carolina act like a crazed dog once postseason play begins or will it continue its also-ran status?
#ECU begins defense of its #AAC baseball tournament title as No. 2 seed in this year's event, Wednedsay against USF: https://t.co/lgXwkVZ6Ln
— BFriedACC (@BFriedACC) May 23, 2016
The Pirates finished the season without the kind of accolades a team like UConn raked in. In fact, the team has been labeled as an all-around also-ran since last winter. It was late December when AAC coaches voted the Pirates to finish third in the 2016 season. They would finish one spot higher than that prediction and that, only due to a major flub near the end of the season.
The Pirates placed second to end the season only a half game behind AAC regular season champion Tulane. Had ECU not dropped a series to AAC-bottom-feeder USF, it would certainly could have won the title for itself. That leaves East Carolina fans wondering how the team will respond now that the season moves into “win or else” territory. The Pirates are the second of two teams in the AAC to win more than half of their away games (13-7) and sport one of the league’s best hitters in Dwanya Williams-Sutton who leads the league in batting average (.372) and OPS (1.065). They will face South Florida — led by Luke Borders who has six homers in conference action — in the first round of the tournament.
4) Who will win the marquee matchup of the first round, Houston or Cincinnati?
Houston was voted as most likely to succeed in the AAC in 2016 but finished fifth with a sub .500 conference record. It has the co-Rookie of the Year on its roster in Joe Davis — who finished second in conference with 51 RBIs and 11 homers — and is the conference’s most balanced team, ranking third in team batting average and team ERA.
Why was @joedvs named @American_BSB Rookie of the Year? Here's why. #GoCoogs #M64 pic.twitter.com/jSIfzC1KyV
— Houston Baseball (@UHCougarBB) May 23, 2016
Cincinnati started the season 1-11 then won 10 straight games to even its record at .500. The Bearcats would finish the year fourth in the league standings after being picked to finish last in the AAC by the coaches. The team’s unquestioned ace is Andrew Zellner (2.31 ERA in AAC, 62.1 innings pitched, 1st in AAC). Unfortunately, they are 0-6 in neutral games and have an equally dissatisfying 8-15 away record. As if the team were not “wild-card” enough, they also rank tops in team ERA in the league yet worst in team batting average.
This game is easily the most competitively matched first round game in the AAC tournament and has all the makings for a classic. Whomever walks from this firestorm of a tete-a-tete will be well-suited for a four-game run in Clearwater.
5) With statistics pointing to anyone but the regular season conference champion as the team to beat, who will reign supreme in Clearwater?
UConn has all the stars. Houston has all the right tools. East Carolina is the forgotten dark horse. Cincinnati is the “x-factor” team.
Lest we forget that Tulane won the conference this year. The Green Wave don’t have the best pitching nor the best hitting nor the greatest individual players on the league’s rosters. What they have done this year is win more games than anyone else. That’s the only thing that matters now that the regular season’s song has been sung. Just win. And, win good enough to make a regional.
If you’re lucky, fight hard enough and you can host a regional — the very thing that Tulane will be vying for once the first bell rings Tuesday morning signaling the start to the 2016 AAC Baseball Tournament. Will any of these AAC teams be able to beat them twice? Who will step up and who will falter? Tuesday, it will all be decided.
AAC Tournament Brackets. #RollWave pic.twitter.com/axydMvHrKi
— Greenie Gals (@greeniegals) May 22, 2016
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