Four Tigers Named to AAC Preseason Teams
Four Memphis Tigers earned 2021-22 American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference honors from the league’s head coaches, and the Tigers were picked to finish second in the preseason coaches poll. In all, 40 percent of the league’s two preseason teams are Tigers.
In the preseason coaches poll, the Tigers picked up three first-place votes and had 92 total points, just behind 2021 Final Four participant Houston’s eight first-place votes and 98 total points.
Memphis redshirt-junior Landers Nolley II and freshman Jalen Duren were voted to the Preseason All-Conference First Team, and Duren was also selected as the Preseason Rookie of the Year. Senior DeAndre Williams and freshman Emoni Bates were voted to the Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
Nolley II led Memphis in scoring last season at 13.1 points per game and was named to the All-AAC First Team after the campaign, which included being voted the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 National Invitation Tournament. He also led the Tigers in minutes per game (27.5), 3-point shooting (.387, 65-168) and free throw shooting (.803, 49-61). His 3-point field goal percentage was fifth-best among sophomores in Memphis history and the 65 3-pointers were third-most.
Williams became eligible prior to Memphis’ Dec. 16 game against Tulane last season and helped the Tigers to a 16-5 record in the games that followed, with the five losses by a combined 15 points. He ended the year one of six players in the nation to average at least 11.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
Duren and Bates are part of Memphis’ second top-ranked recruiting class in the last three seasons, with the duo reclassifying to the Class of 2021. Duren, a 6-11 center, helped Montverde Academy (Fla.) to the 2021 High School Nationals championship as a junior last season and averaged 14.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting 62.9 percent from the floor.
Bates, a forward standing 6-9, averaged 24.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game as a junior at Ypsi Prep Academy in Ypsilanti, Mich., and he was the 2020 Gatorade National Player of the Year after averaging 32.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game in 2019-20.
Duren is the third-straight Tiger to be voted the conference’s Preseason Rookie of the Year, joining Moussa Cisse in 2020-21 and James Wiseman in 2019-20. Cisse went on to win the postseason award after last season, and Precious Achiuwa won it after 2019-20.
