2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season
The 2015–16 American Athletic Conference men's basketball season took place between November 2015 and March 2016. Practices began in October 2015, with conference play beginning in December, and the season ended with the 2016 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at the Amway Center in Orlando, FL. The season was the third since the split of the original Big East Conference into two separate leagues. The tournament had only 10 teams, as SMU is serving a postseason ban due to academic fraud and unethical conduct
Preseason
At the 2015 American Athletic Conference media day on October 27, the conference released announced coaches predictions for standings and All-Conference teamsSee Also:
2015-16 Preseason Coaches' Poll
- SMU ' 98
- Connecticut ' 87
- Cincinnati 84
- Tulsa 76
- Memphis 59
- Temple 54
- Houston 48
- East Carolina 31
- UCF 30
- USF 20
- Tulane 11
Preseason All-AAC Teams
| First Team | Second Team |
| Octavius Ellis, F, CIN Daniel Hamilton, G/F, CONN Markus Kennedy†, F, SMU Nic Moore†, G, SMU James Woodard, G, TULSA | Troy Caupain, G, CIN Amida Brimah, C, CONN Sterling Gibbs, G, CONN Shaq Goodwin, F, MEM Shaquille Harrison, G, TULSA |
† denotes unanimous selection
- American Athletic Preseason Player of the Year: Nic Moore, G, SMU
- American Athletic Preseason Rookie of the Year: Jalen Adams, G, CONN
Rankings
AAC Regular Season
Conference Matrix
Postseason
American Men's Basketball Championship
- March 10–13, 2016 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida
- SMU is banned from postseason play due to academic fraud and unethical conduct
NCAA tournament
| Seed | Region | School | First Four | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Sweet 16 | Elite Eight | Final Four | Championship |
| 9 | South | Connecticut | Bye | vs. #8 Colorado - W, 74-67 | vs. #1 Kansas - L, 61-73 | ||||
| 9 | West | Cincinnati | Bye | vs. #8 St. Joseph's - L, 76-78 | |||||
| 10 | South | Temple | Bye | vs. #7 Iowa - L, 70-72 OT | |||||
| 11 | East | Tulsa | vs. #11 Michigan - L, 62-67 | ||||||
| W–L : | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 Total: 1–4 |
National Invitation Tournament
| Seed | Bracket | School | First round | Second round | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals |
| 5 | South Carolina | Houston | vs. #4 Georgia Tech - L, 62-81 | ||||
| W–L : | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 Total: 0–1 |
Honors and awards
All-Americans
All-AAC awards and teams
NBA Draft
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2016 NBA draft.| Player | Position | School | Round | Pick | Team |
| Daniel Hamilton | SG/SF | Connecticut | 2 | 56 | Denver Nuggets |