Emotion will certainly be running high Friday night when UConn plays Cincinnati in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference championship tournament. It’s always that way when the Huskies and Bearcats get together because the games are physical and it will be a major upset if the game isn’t tightly officiated.
But the word out of Memphis is there will be a subplot that could get a lot of attention. Tension has been building all week over the selection of the AAC Player of the Year. UConn guard Shabazz Napier walked away with the hardware on Wednesday, getting the nod from the conference coaches over Cincinnati’s Sean Kilpatrick and Louisville’s Russ Smith.
According to multiple reports, Kilpatrick and Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin immediately began expressing their displeasure with the vote. Kilpatrick led the league in scoring and Cincinnati was the regular-season co-champ along with Louisville. But Napier led the Huskies in scoring, rebounding and assists – a rare feat in college hoops.
Kilpatrick grumbled that he would make things “20 times tougher” on all opponents in the AAC tournament. The semifinal game is the rubber game between the two teams this season since they split the regular season series.Kilpatrick scored 21 points for the defensive-minded Bearcats in the quarterfinals. Truth is Cincinnati would have lost many more games this season without Kilpatrick’s offensive production.
After UConn beat Memphis in the quarterfinals, Dom Amore of the Hartford Courant reported Napier said: “… I don’t really care about him. … He cares so much about the MVP. I don’t care about that, I mean, if he wants it, he can have it. I’m not into I’m not into individual accolades. I’m not looking to play Cincinnati just to play Kilpatrick, I’m here for my team.”
Napier actually laughed and told reporters in Storrs Monday that the award didn’t matter to him. It was later revealed that Napier already knew at that time that he had won the award.
Here’s the report, from a Cincinnati perspective, as written by Bill Koch of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
It should be an interesting night in Memphis.
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