American Conference men's basketball tournament
Annual college basketball tournament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Conference men's basketball tournament (sometimes known simply as The American Championship) is the conference tournament in men's basketball for the American Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (14 as of the 2023–24 season[1]). Its seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament; however, the official conference championship is awarded to the team or teams with the best regular season record.
| American Conference men's basketball tournament | |
|---|---|
| Conference basketball championship | |
 | |
| Sport | College basketball |
| Conference | American Conference |
| Number of teams | 14 |
| Format | Single-elimination |
| Current stadium | Legacy Arena |
| Current location | Birmingham, AL |
| Played | 2014–present |
| Last contest | 2025 AAC tournament |
| Current champion | South Florida (USF) |
| Most championships | Cincinnati, Houston, SMU, Memphis (2) |
| TV partner(s) | CBS ESPN / ESPN2 / ESPNU / ESPNews |
| Official website | theamerican.org/mbball |
The creation of the conference tournament was a product of the split of the original Big East Conference. While the American is the legal successor to the old Big East, it gave up the rights to the long-standing conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City to the new Big East. As a result, the 2014 tournament was numbered as the first tournament for the conference.
The conference adopted the "American Athletic Conference" name upon the Big East split, dropping the word "Athletic" in July 2025.
Champions
| Year | Champion | Score | Runner-up | MVP | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Louisville† | 71–61 | Connecticut | Russ Smith, Louisville | FedEx Forum (Memphis, TN) | |
| 2015 | SMU | 62–54 | Connecticut | Markus Kennedy, SMU | XL Center (Hartford, CT) | |
| 2016 | Connecticut | 72–58 | Memphis | Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut | Amway Center (Orlando, FL) | |
| 2017 | SMU | 71–56 | Cincinnati | Semi Ojeleye, SMU | XL Center (Hartford, CT) | |
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 56–55 | Houston | Gary Clark, Cincinnati | Amway Center (Orlando, FL) | |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 69–57 | Houston | Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati | FedEx Forum (Memphis, TN)[2] | |
| 2020 | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |||||
| 2021 | Houston | 91–54 | Cincinnati | Quentin Grimes, Houston | Dickies Arena (Fort Worth, TX)[3] | |
| 2022 | Houston | 71–53 | Memphis | Fabian White Jr., Houston | ||
| 2023 | Memphis | 75–65 | Houston | Kendric Davis, Memphis | ||
| 2024 | UAB | 85–69 | Temple | Yaxel Lendeborg, UAB | ||
| 2025 | Memphis | 84–72 | UAB | PJ Haggerty, Memphis | ||
| 2026 | South Florida | 70–55 | Wichita State | Wes Enis, South Florida | Legacy Arena (Birmingham, AL) | |
| 2027 | – | – | – | – | Yuengling Center (Tampa, FL) | |
| 2028 | – | – | – | – | ||
† Louisville was forced to vacate their 2014 win due to 2015 sex scandal
Tournament championships by school
| School | Titles | Winning years |
|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 2 | 2018, 2019 |
| Houston | 2 | 2021, 2022 |
| SMU | 2 | 2015, 2017 |
| Memphis | 2 | 2023, 2025 |
| UConn | 1 | 2016 |
| Louisville | 1 | 2014* |
| UAB[a] | 1 | 2024 |
| South Florida | 1 | 2026 |
| Charlotte[a] | 0 | |
| East Carolina | 0 | |
| Florida Atlantic[a] | 0 | |
| North Texas[a] | 0 | |
| Rice[a] | 0 | |
| Temple | 0 | |
| Tulane | 0 | |
| Tulsa | 0 | |
| UCF | 0 | |
| UTSA[a] | 0 | |
| Wichita State | 0 |
Italics indicate school no longer sponsors men's basketball in The American.
- First conference season in 2023–24.
