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In its first and only season in the American Athletic Conference, Louisville has been tabbed to win the conference by the league's coaches.
The Cardinals received all possible nine first-place votes (coaches can't vote for their own teams) during Wednesday's media day festivities to beat out Connecticut and Memphis for the top spot in the league's preseason poll.
Here's the full poll:
| 2013-14 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON COACHES' POLL |
| Team (First-Place Votes) |
| Louisville (9) * |
| UConn (1) |
| Memphis |
| Cincinnati |
| Temple |
| SMU |
| Houston |
| USF |
| UCF |
| Rutgers |
Just feels wrong not seeing DePaul at the bottom there.
In addition to the team honors, Russ Smith has been tabbed as the conference's preseason Player of the Year...just like we all predicted. Russ was joined on the preseason all-conference first team by fellow veteran Chane Behanan. Montrezl Harrell was a second team honoree.
| 2013-14 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE PRESEASON INDIVIDUAL HONORS |
| Preseason Player of the Year |
| Russ Smith, G, Sr., Louisville |
| Preseason Rookie of the Year |
| Keith Frazier, G, Fr., SMU |
| Preseason All-Conference Teams |
| First Team |
| Sean Kilpatrick, G, Cincinnati |
| Shabazz Napier, G, UConn * |
| Chane Behanan, F, Louisville |
| Russ Smith, G, Louisville * |
| Joe Jackson, G, Memphis * |
| Second Team |
| Isaiah Sykes, G, UCF |
| Ryan Boatright, G, UConn |
| TaShawn Thomas, F, Houston |
| Montrezl Harrell, F, Louisville |
| Anthony Collins, G, USF |
| Victor Rudd, F, USF |
| * unanimous selection |
More from media day later on.