The last day of the American Athletic Conference regular season could not be any more dramatic for SMU and Tulsa. Those two teams, which have exchanged the conference lead all year, meet in Dallas Sunday in a winner-take-all game for the outright regular-season title (3 p.m. ET, ESPNU).
The 22nd-ranked Mustangs, who have gone 15-2 at home this year, are looking for their 15th conference title and their first since 1993. It will be the third time in school history that SMU has faced an opponent for the conference crown in the last game of the regular season. The Mustangs lost at TCU to close the1930-31 season and fell at Baylor to end the 1949-50 campaign).
Tulsa has won 10 regular-season conference titles in its history, including a share of last year’s Conference USA crown. The Golden Hurricane seeks its first outright conference championship since it won the WAC title in 2000.
While the SMU/Tulsa winner earns the top seed for next week’s American Athletic Conference Championship, the other two games Sunday also will have seeding implications.
Cincinnati hosts Memphis (Noon ET, CBS) as the Bearcats look to secure the No. 3 seed in the tournament. A win would move the Bearcats into a tie with Temple for third and give Cincinnati the tiebreaker based on its results against the team at the top of the standings, be it SMU or Tulsa. A Memphis win means that the No. 5-seeded Tigers would have a rematch with the Bearcats Friday in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.
East Carolina visits Houston in a game that will determine if the Pirates finish as the No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the conference tournament. East Carolina would finish alone in seventh place with a win and would fall in a tiebreaker with Tulane if the Pirates lose Sunday. Houston, which is assured of the No. 10 seed, looks to close the regular season with a three-game winning streak.