American Athletic Conference men’s basketball coaches selected University of Cincinnati senior guard Jarron Cumberland (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington HS) as the league’s preseason player of the year while predicting a third-place finish for the Bearcats at conference media day Monday at the Airport Marriott.
Cumberland, who also was unanimously selected first team All-AAC for the second consecutive year on Monday, claimed AAC Player of the Year and American Championship Most Outstanding Player accolades last season and serves at the league’s top returning scorer for 2019-20. He started all 35 games a year ago, averaging 18.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.5 minutes. He averaged 23.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the AAC Tournament and set the tournament’s championship game record, scoring 33 points on 11-of-24 shooting with eight rebounds against No. 11 Houston.
Cumberland garnered Associated Press honorable mention All-America accolades and was a semifinalist for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award last season.
He marks Cincinnati’s first returning league player of the year since Steve Logan won Conference USA’s top player award in 2001 and 2002. He is the second returning player of the year in AAC history (SMU’s Nic Moore won the award in 2015 and 2016).
Cumberland ranked among AAC leaders in eight categories in 2018-19: points (third at 18.8), three-point field goal percentage (seventh at .388), three-point field goals made (seventh at 2.3), free throw percentage (10th at .773), assists (11th at 3.6), assist-to-turnover ratio (13th at 1.3), minutes played (14th at 32.5) and steals (15th at 1.1).
Cumberland scored 657 points during 2018-19, the 10th most points scored in a season in school history while becoming the 53rd member of Cincinnati’s 1,000-point club. He enters 2019-20 ranked 20th on the all-time scoring list with 1,363 career points.
// BEARCATS PICKED TO FINISH THIRD IN AACLeague coaches predicted a third-place finish for Cincinnati behind Houston and Memphis, who tied for first. The Bearcats received 94 points and one first-place vote.
Houston and Memphis garnered 113 points each, with the Cougars receiving seven first-place votes and the Tigers earning four first-place votes.
The predicted order of finish for the remaining AAC teams follows: Wichita State (88 points), USF (79), UConn (75), Temple (72), SMU (47), UCF (40), Tulsa (36), ECU (20) and Tulane (15).
// 2019-20 AAC PRESEASON POLL & AWARDSCoaches Preseason PollFinish – Team (First-Place Votes) – PointsT-1 – Houston (7) – 113T-1 – Memphis (4) – 1133 – Cincinnati (1) – 944 – Wichita State – 885 – USF – 796 – UConn – 757 – Temple – 728 – SMU – 479 – UCF – 4010 – Tulsa – 3611 – ECU – 2012 – Tulane – 15
Preseason Player of the Year: Jarron Cumberland, Sr., G, Cincinnati
Preseason Rookie of the Year: James Wiseman, Fr., C, Memphis *
Preseason First Team: Jarron Cumberland, Sr., G, Cincinnati *Quinton Rose, Sr., G, TempleDeJon Jarreau, R-Jr., G, HoustonJames Wiseman, Fr., C, MemphisLaquincy Rideau, R-Sr., G, USF
Preseason Second Team ^Alexis Yetna, Jr., F, USFJayden Gardner, So., F, ECUNate Pierre-Louis, Jr, G, TempleAlterique Gilbert, R-Jr., G, UConnDavid Collins, Jr., G, USFChristian Vital, Jr., G, UConn* unanimous selection^ extra member due to tie in voting
