Memphis basketball seemingly broke the No. 16 curse last week with a pair of wins to secure the AAC championship.

After all, seven of the last eight weeks, teams occupying the 16th position in the Associated Press Top 25 lost at least one game during that week. But, last week, despite the Tigers (26-5) being No. 16 in both the AP poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, they went 2-0, beating UTSA on the road and South Florida at home.

But the curse found a way to hurt Memphis anyway, as Penny Hardaway's team − which will go into the AAC tournament as the No. 1 seed − drops to No. 17 in this week's coaches poll, released Monday. It's the 11th consecutive week the Tigers have appeared in the coaches' rankings. Their highest position of the season was 14th.

No. 15 Saint Mary's (up two spots) and No. 16 Texas A&M (which climbed five spots from last week) leapfrogged Memphis in this week's coaches poll. The Tigers are a narrow eight voting points behind the Gaels and three points behind the Aggies.

In the AP Top 25, Memphis stood firm at No. 16.

Hardaway gave his team part of the weekend to enjoy the fruits of their labor and properly celebrate winning the league crown. But, on Sunday afternoon, it was back to work.

"Everything is 0-0 right now," said Hardaway. "It’s time to go out there and represent in a great fashion."

The Tigers earned a double-bye for the AAC tournament. Their first game is set for Friday (noon, ESPN2) at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, and their opponent will be the winner of the Wichita State-South Florida game (11:30 a.m., Thursday).

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