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No. 1 seed SMU advanced to the AAC Tournament final by beating No. 4 UCF, 70-59, on Saturday. The Mustangs will face No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the tournament final which will be played at 2:15 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.

The two teams split the season series, with SMU winning the most recent game over the Bearcats. But both lost on the road, so on a neutral court in Hartford, this will ultimately decides who gets the automatic NCAA Tournament bid - even if both figure to be top 10 seeds when the field is released on Sunday.

Outside of the major conference powers, the emerging American Athletic Conference is quietly producing perennial heavyweight teams to launch into the NCAA tournament year in and year out. Under Mick Cronin, Cincinnati has been to six straight NCAA tournament appearances, and SMU has seemingly taken a giant step forward this season under first year coach Tim Jankovich.

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Predictions

Gary Parrish: Cincinnati

Matt Norlander: Cincinnati

Chip Patterson: SMU

Jerry Palm: Cincinnati

Howard Megdal: Cincinnati

Kyle Boone: SMU

Bracket

Click here for the full AAC tournament bracket

Scores (All times Eastern)

Thursday, March 9 (First round)
Game 1: No. 9 East Carolina 80, No. 8 Temple 69
Game 2: No. 10 Tulane 60, No. 7 Tulsa 66
Game 3: No. 11 USF 66, No. 6 UConn 77
Friday, March 10 (Quarterfinals)
Game 4: East Carolina 77, No. 1 SMU 81
Game 5: No. 5 Memphis 54. No. 4 UCF 84
Game 6: No. 2 Cincinnati 80, No. 7 Tulsa 61 
Game 7: No. 6 UConn 74. No. 3 Houston 65
Saturday, March 11 (Semifinals)
Game 8: No. 1 SMU 70, No. 4 UCF 59
Game 9: No. 2 Cincinnati 81, No. 6 UConn 71
Sunday, March 12 (Championship)
Game 10: No. 1 SMU 71, No. 2 Cincinnati 56