AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Fabian White Jr. had 15 points and 14 rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 14 points to lead depleted No. 12 Houston past Temple 66-61 on Sunday night.

Jerome Ford rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns and Desmond Ridder threw three touchdown passes as No. 3 Cincinnati broke open a close game in the third quarter and rolled past No. 16 Houston 35-20 in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

Jerome Ford rushed for 187 yards and two touchdowns and Desmond Ridder threw three touchdown passes as No. 3 Cincinnati broke open a close game in the third quarter and rolled past No. 16 Houston 35-20 in the American Athletic Conference championship game.

Red hot Cougars travel to Temple looking for 9th win of 2021

Cougars QB honored by AAC after big game against South Florida

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self was so disgusted by the last round of conference realignment — when Missouri and Texas A&M bolted the Big 12 for the SEC — that he vowed never to play the Tigers again. Self's reason was simple: The departures, along with Nebraska's move to the Big Ten and Colorado's to the Pac-12, had left the Big 12 on precarious footing. Perhaps because the Big 12 may have come out ahead — at least, when it comes to basketball.

The American Athletic Conference will add UAB, Texas-San Antonio, Rice, North Texas, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic to the league.

Major college football is setting into a strange period of frayed allegiances that could last for at least another season.

Six schools from Conference USA want to join the American Athletic Conference and are expected to be accepted by the end of the week.

The American Athletic Conference is in rebuilding mode again.

The American Athletic Conference, a league born from the fall of Big East football eight years ago, is in rebuilding mode again. This time, it could find some competition in the market from the Sun Belt when it starts courting new members. Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston, three of the AAC’s most successful schools in the revenue-generating sports of football and men's basketball, announced Friday they would be joining the Big 12.

he Big 12 extended membership invitations Friday for BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston to join the Power Five conference that will be losing Oklahoma and Texas to the Southeastern Conference.

The Big 12 Conference is moving quickly to add new schools.

The Big 12 is moving swiftly to plug the holes looming with the upcoming departure of Oklahoma and Texas for the Southeastern Conference. A person familiar with the Big 12′s expansion plans said the conference’s presidents are scheduled to vote on applications for entry into the league at a meeting Friday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Big 12 has not been publicly disclosing its discussions about rebuilding the conference in preparation of Texas and Oklahoma leaving in 2025.

There are multiple reports that the University of Houston is one of the focal points of the Big 12's adjustment for an era without Texas and Oklahoma.

Last season was a bonanza for schools from outside the Power Five conferences.

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco says his league has never “plotted” with ESPN to undermine another conference by poaching its schools.

UH is here and two wins from a return trip to the Final Four that would end a 37 year drought. HOUSTON COUGARS ( 26-3)Last meeting against Syracuse: 1982, lost at Syracuse in the regular season 92-87. Any player entering this program and who wants to play for Coach Sampson better embrace defense. SYRACUSE ORANGEMEN ( 18-9)Head Coach: Jim Boeheim has his team in the Sweet 16 for a 20th time. Randy’s Prediction: UH wins 74-67 to advance to the Elite 8

The Houston Cougars are American Athletic Conference Champions for the second season in a row, clinching a tie at the top of the conference at 13-5. “On my visit, I played with the guys and DeJon (Jarreau) and I were on the same squad. I really felt right at home pretty much right away,” said Grimes on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s Sweet 16 game with Syracuse. “Not really at all, we played on the same team that day and I tried to get him the ball,” said Jarreau. AdFrom that day forward the bond between Grimes and Jarreau grew and hasn’t let up since.

(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson celebrates with the team following Houston's win over Cincinnati an NCAA college basketball game in the final round of the American Athletic Conference men's tournament Sunday, March 14, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins)This weekend, the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, and the University of Texas won their respective conference tournament championships. But those were not the only Texas teams headed to the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Here’s a look at which teams in Texas officially punched their tickets to the Big Dance Sunday.

7 Houston beat Cincinnati 91-54 on Sunday in the third consecutive American Athletic Conference tournament championship game between the two teams. AdThe Bearcats had won the previous two AAC title game matchups before last year’s tournaments were canceled because of COVID-19 after Houston had won its second consecutive AAC regular-season title. This was the most lopsided AAC tournament final game, surpassing SMU's 15-point win over Cincinnati in 2017. The Bearcats got to their fourth consecutive AAC tournament title game with a 60-59 win over the top-seeded Shockers in their semifinal game Saturday. AdHouston: The Cougars are going to their third consecutive NCAA Tournament.

Virginia was forced to withdraw from the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Saturday because of a single COVID-19 case. They were already missing David McCormack and Tristan Enaruna, who both tested positive before the conference tournament. Pitino is the fifth coach to lead five teams to the NCAA Tournament, joining Lon Kruger and Tuby Smith. The Cougars routed Cincinnati in the AAC final, ending the Bearcats hope of slipping into the NCAA Tournament field of 68 as an automatic qualifier. 7 Houston and Cincinnati, which needs to win to get in the NCAA field.

Gorham scored Houston’s last six points on a nifty one-handed reverse layup and four free throws, and the Cougars held off Memphis for a 76-74 semifinal win Saturday. That was only seven days after losing in Houston on a game-ending banked 3-pointer after tying that game with 1.7 seconds left. The whole season we’ve been working to try to get to the NCAA Tournament,” Ellis said. Cincinnati (12-10) won the last two AAC title games over Houston, 69-57 in 2019 and 56-55 in 2018. Memphis hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2014.

HOUSTON – HOUSTON (AP) -- Quentin Grimes scored a career-high 33 points and had six rebounds to help No. 12 Houston beat Western Kentucky 81-57 on Thursday night. “You can’t play 21, 22, 23 minutes, whatever it was when we took the lead,” Western Kentucky coach Rick Stansbury said. Western Kentucky got no closer than 12 the rest of the way. Western Kentucky, which leads the Conference USA East Division, played its third game since Jan. 24 and first since Feb. 13.

University of Houston’s head baseball coach Todd Whitting knows the COVID-19 pandemic will impact this season. “There’s so many unknowns in this time, and we haven’t played a game, it’ll be a year in March. ”We’ll have Texas Southern at home for opening weekend,” explained Whitting. We’ve never played TSU opening weekend. “They want to know what we’re doing in practice.”The Coogs season opener is set for Feb. 19.

HOUSTON – COVID-19 strikes again in the college football world. The Univesity of Houston’s upcoming football against Southern Methodist University has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases within the Cougar’s football program. UH, SMU and the American Athletic Conference are working to reschedule the game and will make an announcement at a later date. “The health and well-being of our student-athletes and staff remain our top priority,” UH Vice President for Athletics Chris Pezman said. Big 12 Conference also announced that the Texas at Kansas game on Nov. 21 has been postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests and rescheduled for Dec. 12.

A limited number of media will be allowed to cover Saturday’s football game, which will be nationally televised on FOX. Hickok got into the tournament as an alternate after Bill Haas tested positive earlier in the week. That’s the most positive tests on the PGA Tour since late June, when four players tested positive in a span of a week. Cameron Champ, Denny McCarthy and Dylan Frittelli had positive tests in Connecticut, and Harris English tested positive in Detroit. The Bosnian soccer federation said Wednesday that besides Kolasinac, another national team player, Ibrahim Sehic, also tested positive.

California doesn’t have the minimum number of scholarship players available for the game as a result of the positive test and the need for other players to isolate under contact tracing protocols, the Pac-12 said in a statement Thursday. Wilcox had said Wednesday night that the game was in jeopardy because of the large number of players needing contact tracing. The school said the player with a positive test is asymptomatic. This marked the first positive test on Cal’s football team since practices began last month. This is the fourth time a Tulsa game has been postponed or canceled because of COVID cases.

HOUSTON – Houston is riding a five-game winning streak along. Here’s a list of things to watch for as Houston travels to take on Cincinnati Saturday at 5 p.m. on ESPN2:1. Houston must out rebound CincinnatiThe Cougars (17-4) are the best rebounding team in the AAC, ranking first in offensive and total rebounds per game. In the AAC championship game, Cumberland dropped 33 points in a Cincinnati win. Houston guards must play wellThere is no question the depth of the guards for Houston is the strength of their team.

HOUSTON - Undefeated Southern Methodist University sits on top of the first American Athletic Conference Power Rankings this week. SMU leads the AAC in total offense as well with their averaging 290 yards per game. The Bearcats were the first American Athletic Conference team to beat Central Florida in two years. Memphis (5-1, 1-1)Next game vs Tulane (5-1, 2-0)8. UConn (1-5, 0-3)Next game vs Houston (2-4,0-2)Copyright 2019 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

Cincinnati (30-4) earned the AAC's automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament with its first conference tournament championship since the Bearcats won Conference USA in 2004. Corey Davis Jr., who had 15 points for Houston, went scoreless after helping the Cougars to a 37-35 halftime lead. Houston becomes the fourth team coach Kelvin Sampson has led to the NCAA Tournament, joining Washington State, Oklahoma and Indiana. That could make them dangerous entering the NCAA Tournament. Houston Cougars will play San Diego State on Thursday at 6:20 p.m. on TBS.