ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team has enjoyed its most successful season in the American Athletic Conference in 2016-17, and following the final day of regular season action on Sunday, the Knights earned their highest seeding ever for The American Championship.
UCF (20-10) finished 11-7 in league play to secure the four seed in the upcoming 2017 Frontier Communications American Athletic Conference Championship in Hartford, Conn. The Knights will receive a first round bye and play fifth seeded Memphis (19-12) in the quarterfinals Friday at 2 p.m.
UCF and Memphis split the regular season series this year with each team winning on its home court. The Tigers won 70-65 at FedEx Forum on Jan. 22, before the Knights took care of business 72-57 at CFE Arena on Feb. 4.
The tournament gets started Thursday at the XL Center with teams seeded sixth through 11th squaring off in the first round.
SMU won the American Athletic Conference regular season title thanks in part to the Knights' victory over Cincinnati. The Mustangs finished 17-1 in league play, splitting their season series with the Bearcats. Cincinnati was only game back, at 16-2, with losses to just SMU and UCF.
A win against Memphis on Friday could lead to a potential rematch against top seeded SMU in the semifinals for the Black and Gold. The Mustangs, who defeated UCF 65-60 back on Jan. 25, will play the winner of #8 Temple and #9 East Carolina in quarterfinal action.
The American Championship Final is scheduled for Sunday at 3:15 p.m. on ESPN. The winner will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
UCF's quarterfinal and semifinal games will have television coverage on ESPN2 and radio coverage on FM 96.9 The Game will be available for UCF's games all tournament long.
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