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.