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Coaches Roundtable: Why has American fallen off?

Insider Men's College Basketball, Connecticut Huskies, SMU Mustangs, Cincinnati Bearcats, Temple Owls, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Houston Cougars, Memphis Tigers, UCF Knights, East Carolina Pirates, Tulane Green Wave, South Florida Bulls

Among the three of them, Seth Greenberg, Fran Fraschilla and Dan Dakich have more than 40 years of head-coaching experience at the Division I level. Each week they get together to discuss the hottest topics in college basketball.

1. The American produced a national champion in 2014, but it looks as though the league would be lucky to have three NCAA tournament teams this season. What has gone wrong with the conference?

Greenberg: Let's face it, this league is in transition. It has potential, and you have some schools -- Cincinnati, Memphis, UConn -- with rich traditions, and then you have emerging programs. The problem is the league is spread out all over the place, and there's a varied commitment to being successful. That's a league where the brand name teams would all like to be in another league. I don't want to speak out of turn, but if Memphis or UConn or Cincinnati had a chance to go to the ACC or Big 12 or Big Ten, they would.

Having said that, you can have a good program in that league. Cincinnati has been so consistent. Connecticut has won national championships. You've got places that have built facilities. There's a world-class coach at Houston in Kelvin Sampson. If those schools in metropolitan areas are able to attract players, they could have very good teams.

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