The American announced the winners of its basketball honors for the 2025-26 season on Tuesday, and no Tigers players were listed as an award winner or featured on the All-conference teams.
The selections were made by the conference’s 13 coaches.
Last season, Memphis won three individual awards, including Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, and three players were listed on the All-Conference First Team. It’s the first time a Memphis player hasn’t won a conference award since the 2019-20 season, when the Tigers finished fifth in the conference.
The most alarming part of the awards was the 10-player “All-Newcomer Team,” which didn’t feature a single Memphis player. The Tigers replaced their entire roster during the offseason, meaning every player on the roster was eligible for the newcomer team, and nobody received enough votes to make the 10-player team.
The conference has expanded its awards over the past few years to eight different awards, including Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year and the Amir Abdur-Rahim Sportsmanship Award.
It’s not a huge surprise that the Tigers missed out on the postseason awards. Memphis lost seven of its last eight games of the regular season, finishing eighth in the conference, and only one player ranks inside the top 10 in a statistical category among the conference.
South Florida was the big winner, winning four individual awards, and three players were listed among the three All-Conference teams. Izaiyah Nelson won Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, while Bryan Hodgson was named Coach of the Year in his first season with the Bulls.
Memphis, UTSA and Rice were the only three teams to not have a player appear in the conference honors.
2026 American Conference Honors:
Player of the Year: Izaiyah Nelson (USF)
Defensive Player of the Year: Izaiyah Nelson (USF)
Freshman of the Year: Josiah Parker (FAU)
Newcomer of the Year: Izaiyah Nelson (USF)
Most Improved Player: Devin Vanterpool (FAU)
Sixth Man of the Year: Will Berg (Wichita State)
Amir Abdul-Rahim Sportsmanship Award: Asher Woods (Tulane)
Coach of the Year: Bryan Hodgson (USF)
First Team All-Conference:
Jordan Riley (ECU)
Wes Enis (USF)
Izaiyah Nelson (USF)
David Green (Tulsa)
Kenyon Giles (Wichita State)
Second Team All-Conference:
Chance Westry (UAB)
Je’Shawn Stevenson (North Texas)
Rowan Brumbaugh (Tulane)
Miles Barnstable (Tulsa)
Tylen Riley (Tulsa)
Third Team All-Conference:
Dezayne Mingo (Charlotte)
Devin Vanterpool (FAU)
Joe Pinion (USF)
Derrian Ford (Temple)
Karon Boyd (Wichita State)
All-Newcomer Team:
Chance Westry (UAB)
Je’Shawn Stevenson (North Texas)
Wes Enis (USF)
Izaiyah Nelson (USF)
Joe Pinion (USF)
Derrian Ford (Temple)
Miles Barnstable (Tulsa)
David Green (Tulsa)
Tylen Riley (Tulsa)
Kenyon Giles (Wichita State)