2017 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament

The 2017 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament was the conference tournament for the American Athletic Conference during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It was held March 9–12, 2017, at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Originally, the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida (host of the 2016 Tournament) was slated to host the tournament for a second consecutive year, but in November 2014, the NCAA awarded the Amway Center with first and second-round games for the 2017 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament^[1] As a result, the XL Center hosted the tournament in 2017, with the tournament returning to Orlando in 2018.^[2]

2017 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
Tournament Logo
Classification	Division I
Season	2016–17
Teams	11
Site	XL Center Hartford, Connecticut
Champions	SMU (2nd title)
Winning coach	Tim Jankovich (1st title)
MVP	Semi Ojeleye (SMU)
Television	ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews
American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournaments ← 2016 2018 →

2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 11 SMU †	17	–	1		.944			30	–	5		.857
No. 18 Cincinnati	16	–	2		.889			30	–	6		.833
Houston	12	–	6		.667			21	–	11		.656
UCF	11	–	7		.611			24	–	12		.667
Memphis	9	–	9		.500			19	–	13		.594
UConn	9	–	9		.500			16	–	17		.485
Tulsa	8	–	10		.444			15	–	17		.469
Temple	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
East Carolina	6	–	12		.333			15	–	18		.455
Tulane	3	–	15		.167			6	–	25		.194
South Florida	1	–	17		.056			7	–	23		.233
† 2017 AAC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Seeds

Teams are seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

Seed	School	Conference	Tiebreaker
1	SMU	17–1
2	Cincinnati	16–2
3	Houston	12–6
4	UCF	11–7
5	Memphis	9–9	1–1 vs Houston
6	UConn	9–9	0–2 vs Houston
7	Tulsa	8–10
8	Temple	7–11
9	East Carolina	6–12
10	Tulane	3–15
11	South Florida	1–17

Schedule

Session	Game	Time*	Matchup#	Score	Television	Attendance
First round – Thursday, March 9
1	1	3:30 PM	#9 East Carolina vs. #8 Temple	80–69	ESPNU	4,874
	2	6:00 PM	#10 Tulane vs. #7 Tulsa	60–66	ESPNews
	3	8:00 PM	#11 South Florida vs. #6 UConn	66–77
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 10
2	4	Noon	#9 East Carolina vs #1 SMU	77–81	ESPN2	1,844
	5	2:00 PM	#5 Memphis vs #4 UCF	54–84
3	6	7:00 PM	#7 Tulsa vs #2 Cincinnati	61–80	ESPNU	7,365
	7	9:00 PM	#6 UConn vs #3 Houston	74–65
Semifinals – Saturday, March 11
4	8	3:00 PM	#1 SMU vs #4 UCF	70–59	ESPN2	8,117
	9	5:00 PM	#2 Cincinnati vs #6 UConn	81–71
Championship – Sunday, March 12
5	10	3:15 PM	#1 SMU vs. #2 Cincinnati	71–56	ESPN	6,856
*Game times in ET. #-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

	First round Thursday, March 9					Quarterfinals Friday, March 10					Semifinals Saturday, March 11					Championship Sunday, March 12
						1	SMU	81
						9	East Carolina	77
	8	Temple	69
	9	East Carolina	80
											1	SMU	70
											4	UCF	59
						4	UCF	84
						5	Memphis	54
																1	SMU	71
																2	Cincinnati	56
						2	Cincinnati	80
						7	Tulsa	61
	7	Tulsa	66
	10	Tulane	60
											2	Cincinnati	81
											6	UConn	71
						3	Houston	65
						6	UConn	74
	6	UConn	77
	11	South Florida	66