It came down to the final day of action but the field is now set for the American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament. Tulsa entered Sunday alone in first place, but after Wichita State dominated the Golden Hurricane 79-57, the AAC ended its regular season with a three-way tie at the top.
Cincinnati and Houston tied with Tulsa at 13-5 in conference play, but Cincinnati won the tiebreaker to claim the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament. Houston is the No. 2 seed, followed by Houston at No. 3 and Wichita State at No. 4. The AAC tourney will be huge in deciding who makes the Big Dance.
As of Monday, Sporting News' Ryan Fagan projected only Cincinnati and Houston to get into the field, as No. 11 and No. 8 seeds, respectively. Memphis and Wichita State were listed as two of the "first four out" teams.
MORE: Get the latest March Madness odds from Sports Insider
Outside of those teams, UConn might be the hottest team coming in. The Huskies have won five in a row, and though those wins have mostly come over the bottom feeders in the conference, UConn did top No. 21 Houston on Thursday.
"We’re 18-12 but we’re a good team,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told reporters after the team's win over the Cougars. “They (Houston) are a really good team, potentially a great team. We’re a good team that’s finally learned how to win.”
Houston is probably securely in the Field of 68, but if any other AAC teams have aspirations of going dancing, wins in the conference tournament are going to be vital.
Here is the complete breakdown of the 2020 AAC Tournament, from brackets, TV information and schedules:
AAC Tournament bracket 2020
The AAC tournament gets started on Thursday with the first round of matchups featuring the 5-through-12-seeds. All 12 teams from the AAC automatically qualify for the conference tournament. Thursday will feature four first-round games, followed by four quarterfinal matchups on Friday, two semifinal matchups on Sunday and the championship final on Selection Sunday.
Below is the full seeding for the 2020 AAC Tournament:
| Seed | Team | Record (AAC) |
| No. 1 | Cincinnati | 20-10 (13-5) |
| No. 2 | Houston | 23-8 (13-5) |
| No. 3 | Tulsa | 21-10 (13-5) |
| No. 4 | Wichita State | 23-8 (11-7) |
| No. 5 | UConn | 19-12 (10-8) |
| No. 6 | Memphis | 21-10 (10-8) |
| No. 7 | SMU | 19-11 (9-9) |
| No. 8 | UCF | 16-14 (7-11) |
| No. 9 | USF | 14-17 (7-11) |
| No. 10 | Temple | 14-17 (6-12) |
| No. 11 | ECU | 11-20 (5-13) |
| No. 12 | Tulane | 12-18 (4-14) |
FAGAN: Sporting News March Madness projections 4.0
Odds to win AAC Tournament
Despite being the 2-seed, Houston has the best odds, per SportsInsider.com, to claim the AAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars top all other teams at 2/1 odds, followed by Cincinnati (11/4), Wichita State (4/1) and Memphis (9/2). Below are the full odds to win the 2020 AAC Tournament, per SportsInsider.com:
| Team | Odds |
| Houston | 2/1 |
| Cincinnati | 11/4 |
| Wichita State | 4/1 |
| Memphis | 9/2 |
| Tulsa | 6/1 |
| UConn | 12/1 |
| SMU | 25/1 |
| USF | 50/1 |
| Temple | 50/1 |
| UCF | 50/1 |
| ECU | 100/1 |
| Tulane | 100/1 |
How to watch the AAC Tournament live
The AAC Tournament will be carried on the ESPN family of networks. The first round will be broadcast on ESPNU before splitting coverage with ESPN2 in the quarterfinals. ESPN2 will carry the semifinal round, and the championship game will air on ESPN.
| Round 1 |
| ESPNU |
| Quarterfinals |
| ESPNU, ESPN2 |
| Semifinals |
| ESPN2 |
| AAC championship game |
| ESPN |
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT BRACKETS:
B1G | SEC | ACC | B12 | P-12 | Big East
2020 AAC Tournament schedule
The 2020 AAC Tournament will begin Thursday, March 12 and run through Selection Sunday on March 15, taking place at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas. Below is the full schedule for the tournament:
Round 1: Thursday, March 12
| Time (ET) | TV (national) | |
| Game 1: No. 8 UCF vs. No. 9 USF | 1 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Game 2: No. 5 UConn vs. No. 12 Tulane | 3 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Game 3: No. 7 SMU vs. No. 10 Temple | 8 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Game 4: No. 6 Memphis vs. No. 11 ECU | 10 p.m. | ESPNU |
Quarterfinals: Friday, March 13
| Time (ET) | TV (national) | |
| Game 5: No. 1 Cincinnati vs. Game 1 winner | 1 p.m. | ESPN2 |
| Game 6: No. 4 Wichita State vs. Game 2 winner | 3 p.m. | ESPN2 |
| Game 7: No. 2 Houston vs. Game 3 winner | 7:30 p.m. | ESPNU |
| Game 8: No. 3 Tulsa vs. Game 4 winner | 9:30 p.m. | ESPNU |
Semifinals: Saturday, March 14
| Time (ET) | TV (national) | |
| Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner | 3 p.m. | ESPN2 |
| Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner | 5 p.m. | ESPN2 |
AAC championship game: Sunday, March 15
| Time (ET) | TV (national) | |
| Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner | 3:15 p.m. | ESPN |