| AAC men's basketball tournament | |
| Optional Subheader: | Conference basketball championship |
| Sport: | College basketball |
| Conference: | American Athletic |
| Number Of Teams: | 14 |
| Format: | Single-elimination |
| Current Stadium: | Dickies Arena |
| Current Location: | Fort Worth, TX |
| Years: | 2014–present |
| Most Recent: | 2024 AAC tournament |
| Current Champion: | UAB |
| Most Championships: | Cincinnati, Houston, SMU (2) |
| Television: | CBS ESPN / ESPN2 / ESPNU / ESPNews |
The American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament (sometimes known simply as The American Championship) is the conference tournament in men's basketball for the American Athletic Conference. It is a single-elimination tournament that involves all league schools (14 as of the 2023–24 season[1]). Its seeding is based on regular season records. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament; however, the official conference championship is awarded to the team or teams with the best regular season record.
The creation of the conference tournament was a product of the split of the original Big East Conference. While The American is the legal successor to the old Big East, it gave up the rights to the long-standing conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City to the new Big East. As a result, the 2014 tournament was numbered as the first tournament for the conference.
| width= px style="" | Year | width= px style="" | Champion | width= px style="" | Score | width= px style="" | Runner-up | width= px style="" | MVP | width= px style="" | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Louisville | 71–61 | Russ Smith, Louisville | FedEx Forum (Memphis, TN) | |||||||
| 2015 | SMU | 62–54 | Connecticut | Markus Kennedy, SMU | XL Center (Hartford, CT) | ||||||
| 2016 | Connecticut | 72–58 | Memphis | Daniel Hamilton, Connecticut | Amway Center (Orlando, FL) | ||||||
| 2017 | SMU | 71–56 | Cincinnati | Semi Ojeleye, SMU | XL Center (Hartford, CT) | ||||||
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 56–55 | Houston | Gary Clark, Cincinnati | Amway Center (Orlando, FL) | ||||||
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 69–57 | Houston | Jarron Cumberland, Cincinnati | FedEx Forum (Memphis, TN)[2] | ||||||
| 2020 | Canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||||||
| 2021 | Houston | 91–54 | Cincinnati | Quentin Grimes, Houston | Dickies Arena (Fort Worth, TX)[3] | ||||||
| 2022 | Houston | 71–53 | Memphis | Fabian White Jr., Houston | |||||||
| 2023 | Memphis | 75–65 | Houston | Kendric Davis, Memphis | |||||||
| 2024 | UAB | 85–69 | Temple | Yaxel Lendeborg, UAB | |||||||
| width= px style="" | School | width= px style="" | Titles | width= px style="" | Winning years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 2 | 2018, 2019 | |||
| Houston | 2 | 2021, 2022 | |||
| SMU | 2 | 2015, 2017 | |||
| UConn | 1 | 2016 | |||
| Louisville | 1 | 2014* | |||
| Memphis | 1 | 2023 | |||
| UAB | 1 | 2024 | |||
| Charlotte | 0 | ||||
| East Carolina | 0 | ||||
| Florida Atlantic | 0 | ||||
| North Texas | 0 | ||||
| Rice | 0 | ||||
| South Florida | 0 | ||||
| Temple | 0 | ||||
| Tulane | 0 | ||||
| Tulsa | 0 | ||||
| UCF | 0 | ||||
| UTSA | 0 | ||||
| Wichita State | 0 |
Italics indicate school no longer sponsors men's basketball in The American.