American Athletic Conference Announces Men’s Basketball Honors

IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference has announced the men’s basketball award winners and all-conference teams for the 2023-24 season ahead of the 2024 American Men’s Basketball Championship, to be held March 13-17 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The selections were made by the league’s 14 head coaches who were not allowed to vote for their own players.

South Florida, the No. 1 seed for the American Championship, earned four awards, including senior guard Chris Youngblood, who named one of the Players of the Year, along with Florida Atlantic junior guard Johnell Davis. Bulls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim was unanimously selected as Coach of the Year, while senior guard Selton Miguel earned two distinctions, Most Improved Player and a unanimous selection as Sixth Man of the Year.

UAB junior forward Yaxel Lendeborg was named the Defensive Player of the Year, while Tulsa guard PJ Haggerty was unanimously selected as the Freshman of the Year. Tulane junior guard Sion James earned the Sportsmanship Award.

Youngblood leads the Bulls with 15.3 points per game, shot 41.1 percent from 3-point range during the regular season and led South Florida to the regular season title, which included a 15-game winning streak. Davis is fourth in The American with 18.2 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, leading the Owls to the No. 2 seed for the American Championship.

Abdur-Rahim led the Bulls to a conference regular season title for the first time in program history in his first season after the Bulls were picked ninth in The American’s Preseason Coaches Poll. South Florida had a 15-game winning streak in conference play, tied for the fourth-longest conference win streak in league history.

Lendeborg leads The American in rebounding with 10.4 per game and is second in the league with 2.1 blocks per game. Haggerty is the nation’s leading freshman scorer and the second-leading scorer in the conference with 20.9 points per game. He earned American Freshman of the Week honors a record 14 times and is the first Tulsa player to earn Freshman of the Year honors.

Miguel is second on the Bulls with 14.7 points per game and shot 38.8 percent from 3-point range in the regular season. He is the first Bull to win either the Most Improved Player or the Sixth Man of the Year.

James is the first player to earn the Sportsmanship Award twice after earning the honor last season. He is The American’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Chair, Tulane’s SAAC Co-President and is a member of the NCAA SAAC.

Davis, Lendeborg and Youngblood were joined on the All-Conference First Team by Memphis senior guard David Jones and North Texas sophomore guard Jason Edwards. Davis was a unanimous first-team selection.

The All-Conference Second Team featured Miguel, Charlotte junior guard Lu’Cye Patterson, Florida Atlantic juniors Vladislav Goldin and Alijah Martin and SMU junior guard Zhuric Phelps.

Haggerty was joined on the All-Conference Third Team by Charlotte junior forward Igor Milicic Jr, East Carolina junior guard RJ Felton, Memphis senior guard Jahvon Quinerly and Tulane senior forward Kevin Cross.

Players of the Year

Johnell Davis, Jr., G, Florida Atlantic

Chris Youngblood, Sr., G, South Florida

Coach of the Year

Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida*

Defensive Player of the Year

Yaxel Lendeborg, Jr., F, UAB

Freshman of the Year

PJ Haggerty, G, Tulsa*

Most Improved Player

Selton Miguel, Sr., G, South Florida

Sixth Man of the Year