The American Athletic Conference has seen a different team win the regular season title each of the last two seasons. The Houston Cougars, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, and Cincinnati Bearcats shared the honors back in 2019-20, while the Wichita State Shockers won it last season due to COVID canceling a number of games. That didn’t sit well with Kelvin Sampson’s squad that finished the year second in the standings. Well, the Coogs are the current heavy favorite to take home a third title under Sampson’s watch should it remain in the catbird seat come the season’s end. There are however some interesting teams vying for the same bragging rights with the SMU Mustangs, Memphis Tigers and Tulane Green Wave all in fantastic form and offering up more attractive odds at DraftKings Sportsbook heading into the final two weeks of the campaign. Heck, even the resurgent Temple Owls could have a say down the stretch! Along with the Cougars, here are my underdog and longshot selections to win the AAC’s regular season title.

AAC Title Odds at DraftKings Sportsbook

Houston -700

SMU +500

Memphis +2000

Tulane +10000

Temple +20000

UCF OTB

Cincinnati OTB

Wichita State OTB

East Carolina OTB

Tulsa OTB

South Florida OTB

Favorite to Bet: Houston Cougars -700

Even without the services of Marcus Sasser who was expected to play a prominent role after playing Robin to Quentin Grimes who starred as Batman last season, the Cougars have been no worse for the wear. Currently the No. 7 ranked team in the country per the current Pomeroy Ratings, Houston has won 22 of its 26 overall played games to hold a 1-game lead over SMU with five left to play. Those same Mustangs still have to pay the Fertitta Center a visit after nipping the Cougars 85-83 as 7.5-point home dogs back on February 9. So too do the Bearcats and Temple Owls. The only two remaining road games find them in Tulane on Wednesday and at Memphis in the season finale with Kyler Edwards and company likely highly motivated to exact revenge. The ability to play suffocating defense and turn the opposition over has buttered Houston’s bread all season long. That recipe isn’t likely to change moving forward. Readily able to score at close range (No. 34) and defend the dickens out of the perimeter (No. 14), the Cougars know exactly how to frustrate their opposition and then slow the game down to a crawl (No. 316) when they got them in their grasp. While they haven’t been covering the CBB odds like they were earlier in the season, Houston’s still winning games. That’s all you can ask for at this point to be confident about laying this type of heavy chalk on the futures odds.

Underdog to Bet: SMU Mustangs +500

It’s been four long seasons since SMU last made an appearance in the Big Dance. That streak could however be coming to an end for Tim Jankovich and company with the Mustangs owners of a 19-6 SU record that has it on the precipice of overtaking the Cougars for conference bragging rights sitting a single game back. Currently ranked No. 57 overall by KenPom, SMU has a nice efficiency balance at both ends of the court with the offense clocking in at No. 54 and the defense No. 68. This however is a team that lives and dies by the 3-ball with it converting at a 37.0 percent clip (No. 40) and its long range makes accounting for 26.5 percent of its total scoring output (No. 46). The 1-2 punch of Kendric Davis and Marcus Weathers has really started to come into its own down the stretch with Emmanuel Bandoumel (10.5 PPG) and Michael Weathers (10.0 PPG) proving to be fantastic complementary players. On top of all that, this team takes care of business at the charity stripe (No. 61), and rarely sends the opposition to the free throw line in committing an average of just 15.3 fouls per game (No. 64). With three of its final four games to come in the comforts of Moody Coliseum where it stands 13-1 SU and 7-7 ATS overall, SMU will have a say in how the league title plays out which makes its 5-1 offering very attractive.

Longshot to Bet: Memphis Tigers +2000

Many had Anfernee Hardaway’s Tigers all but cooked at the end of January when they dropped three straight as favorites to UCF, ECU and SMU, but the team has completely turned its fortunes around by getting after it defensively and running a more efficient brand of offense. The latter has everything to do with a healthy Deandre Williams back in the fold. Since returning to the starting lineup at the end of January, the Tigers were undefeated in five straight until running into the buzz saw that proved to be SMU this past weekend. We can forgive them for that ugly 73-57 defeat after going into Houston and the ‘Natti and coming out victorious its two prior games. With three of its final four games set to be played in FedEx where it hasn’t lost a game since dropping the first meeting to the Mustangs – sans Williams – Memphis has a legit shot to at the very least share a piece of the regular season title come the season’s end. It’s got Temple and Wichita State coming in first before a visit to the 7-19 USF Bulls. The season finale could end up being for all the marbles against Houston in front of what’s likely to be a sold out arena. Oh to be a fly on the wall in both locker rooms for that one! Yes, there’s bad blood! Regardless, a dart throw on Memphis at 20-1 is a risk worth taking.