This afternoon, the American Athletic Conference released the schedule for the upcoming season. The University of Connecticut, coming off a National Championship, will get a series of challenges within the conference.
UConn will play six games against the other AAC teams that made the tournament last season, Cincinnati, Memphis and Tulsa. The Huskies will also play a home-and-home series with the NIT runner-up, SMU.
The Huskies will play the full conference schedule on television. They have two games on CBS, against Florida on January 3 and SMU on March 1. UConn will play at least 11 games on ESPN or ESPN2, six on the CBS Sports Network and five on SNY. The remainder will appear on the ESPN family of networks.
UConn will play home-and-home series against every team in the American, with two exceptions. They will not travel to play UCF and Houston will not be coming to Connecticut.
For those curious as to the locations of the Huskies' home games, you'll have to sit tight. The breakdown of which games are played at Gampel and which are played at the XL Center will be released at a later date. The times of games will also be announced at a later date.
UConn will open conference play at home versus Temple on New Year's Eve. UConn will face each of the American's new members twice. They face Tulsa first on January 13, then Tulane on February 7 and East Carolina on February 25.
You can view the full conference schedule here
As The American continues to evolve and take shape, UConn has emerged as the premier power. The reigning national champions, UConn finished 32-8 last season, with a 12-6 conference record. Last season's conference champion, Louisville, has fled to the ACC. Aside from UConn, it is up to Cincinnati, Memphis and SMU to keep the standards of play high in the conference.
The AAC will hold its conference tournament at the XL Center in Hartford. The tournament is scheduled for March 12-15.