From the AP wire:
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Memphis Tigers are humming along, ranked sixth in the nation and enjoying the nation's longest winning streak at 17 games.
Imagine where they might be if Shawne Williams and Darius Washington hadn't gone to the NBA.
"Who knows how the scoring would've been?" senior guard Jeremy Hunt said. "We don't know. We think about it. But we don't ever get negative thoughts. We're just wondering."
It would be difficult for Memphis to improve much on this season.
The Tigers (25-3), who play Thursday night at UTEP, clinched a second straight Conference USA title outright last week for the first time in school history and have won three of the past four. Only Winthrop of the Big South Conference has gone undefeated in league play this season.
Read the Rest...
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Polls, Week 17
The coaches' poll is out. UNC is the only team that was above us that is now below us, but we didn't move. I was right-- Texas A & M hopped over us from #9 to #6. Florida dropped from #3 to #4. Wisconsin fell to #5, and UCLA and Kansas slid up to #2 and #3.
The AP poll has moved us up to #6. UNC fell from #5 to #8, Texas A & M is right behind us at #8. Florida fell to #5, Kansas moved up to #3, and Wisconsin fell to #4.
The AP poll has moved us up to #6. UNC fell from #5 to #8, Texas A & M is right behind us at #8. Florida fell to #5, Kansas moved up to #3, and Wisconsin fell to #4.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Houston
The last home game. Today at 2pm CT, watch it on CBS. Latest Line as of 11am CT: Tigers by 17.5You can see the CA's matchup here, with stats and info, yada yada yada.
Nice story here about senior Jeremy Hunt's redemption and how his mother deserves some praise. He's getting a second shot at Senior Day today.
Also? Florida and Pitt both lost yesterday. :)
Final Score: Tigers win, 77-64.
From ESPN: Tigers push nation's best win streak to 17.
So, as you will see above, I believed the game started at 2pm. Around 1pm, when I was sitting in Jillian's enjoying a pre-game lunch, I realized that hey! They're showing the FedExForum on TV! Oh, wait... the game's starting? Yes. The game was at 1pm CT. Oops. We ate fast and got to the game halfway through the first half...
Here's a senior day article by my favorite sports writer, Geoff Calkins.
Also from the CA, Tigers Streaking, and Tigers Replay. From the Houston Chronicle: Memphis coasts past UH
Oh, and the Tigers have wrapped up their first perfect home record since moving to the FedExForum. And we have one of the country's longest home court winning streaks, not sure where we are on that list now.
Next: Tigers at UTEP, Thursday night, 8pm CT (I double checked), on ESPN2.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Senior Day
Tomorrow's game against Houston is Senior Day for the Tigers' three seniors: Clyde Wade, Jared Sandride, and Jeremy Hunt. Coach Cal has confirmed that the three seniors will start the game.
Now, that is not a huge deal for Hunt, who has started many games in his time, and would be the first off the bench anyway. but Wade? and Sandridge? Y'all. They rarely play at all, only when there's a blowout. And they're certainly not used to starting games. Especially ones on national television. And we're talking FREE television, Network television. CBS.
Wade has started exactly one game. His freshman year. It's been a while, and his years at the U of M have been anything but uneventful off the court, but I'm not going to dwell on that now with his Big Day coming up.
Sandridge. Ah, Jared Sandridge. He's a JuCo transfer. He's never started a game. He's played in fewer games than not, probably.
Cal promises to leave them in as long as he can, if they don't try to do "stuff they can't do." Maybe Jeremy Hunt will get to stay in a while at least. I have not been his biggest fan certainly, but I'm very impressed with his apparent turning over of a new leaf. If it's for real, he's an example of how great an influence basketball can be on the life of a kid, and he's a role model for lots of Memphis guys out there who face a lot of struggles and temptations. If it's not for real, then, he fooled me. My bad.
Good luck, guys. I hope your senior season has another five weeks in it. Maybe we'll say goodbye to you finally in Atlanta...
Now, that is not a huge deal for Hunt, who has started many games in his time, and would be the first off the bench anyway. but Wade? and Sandridge? Y'all. They rarely play at all, only when there's a blowout. And they're certainly not used to starting games. Especially ones on national television. And we're talking FREE television, Network television. CBS.
Wade has started exactly one game. His freshman year. It's been a while, and his years at the U of M have been anything but uneventful off the court, but I'm not going to dwell on that now with his Big Day coming up.
Sandridge. Ah, Jared Sandridge. He's a JuCo transfer. He's never started a game. He's played in fewer games than not, probably.
Cal promises to leave them in as long as he can, if they don't try to do "stuff they can't do." Maybe Jeremy Hunt will get to stay in a while at least. I have not been his biggest fan certainly, but I'm very impressed with his apparent turning over of a new leaf. If it's for real, he's an example of how great an influence basketball can be on the life of a kid, and he's a role model for lots of Memphis guys out there who face a lot of struggles and temptations. If it's not for real, then, he fooled me. My bad.
Good luck, guys. I hope your senior season has another five weeks in it. Maybe we'll say goodbye to you finally in Atlanta...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Rice
Tonight's game against Rice will air on ESPN at 6pm CT.Current line as of 10am CT: Tigers by 21
Final Score: 99-63
I don't really know can be said. I missed the first half of the game. The part I saw was just Joey Dorsey putting on a dunking demonstration, Jeremy Hunt scoring his 1,000th point, and even the scrubs hitting threes. You can read about it on ESPN.com if you want.
I did get to hear the ESPN commentators discussing how we didn't deserve a 2 seed in the tournament.
The Tigers did clinch the C-USA regular season title, as if that was in doubt. It was their 16th straight victory. The interesting thing about that is that I believe at least 3 teams this season have lost when trying to win their 17th straight game, including Florida.
Next: Houston on Sunday at 2pm CT, will be aired on CBS. It's senior day...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Memphis still under radar
From Andy Katz' Blog on ESPN.com:
This is perfect for Memphis coach John Calipari.
The Tigers win a thriller in overtime at Gonzaga and the talk is more about the Zags than the Tigers.
The new polls came out and the Tigers moved up from eighth in the coaches' poll to seventh, and from ninth to seventh in the AP poll. In the coaches' poll, though, Kansas jumped over the Tigers, moving from No. 9 to No. 6.
You don't think this kind of stuff is perfect fodder for Calipari? Of course it is. Cal has a team that, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to be discussed on a regular basis as a high seed, let alone a Final Four team.
Once again, perfect for Cal, as he is relishing playing in a headline-less league in Conference USA.
"We probably should be five with what we've done," Calipari said Monday. "We lost 50 percent of our scoring (Shawne Williams, Rodney Carney and Darius Washington), two first-round draft picks (Williams and Carney), and look how we've responded? Our team is playing better as a team than we did a year ago. We may not have as much talent, but we're playing better."
A year ago, Memphis played its way to a No. 1 seed but had much more of a challenge within the conference from UAB, UTEP and Houston.
This season, the Tigers are cruising along at 12-0 (one of the only two remaining teams that are unbeaten in conference play, along with Winthrop in the Big South). But Memphis isn't booked for a No. 1 seed like a year ago, even though the Tigers look like they could go undefeated in C-USA and have wins at Gonzaga, against Oklahoma and Kentucky in Maui, and versus Ole Miss at home (wins that look and sound good, but are against teams that, save for Ole Miss, aren't playing as well as they did a year ago).
Calipari was quick to say that the perceived weakness of C-USA shouldn't hurt the Tigers since it didn't a year ago when it was a No. 1 seed. But the difference, and Calipari acknowledges this, is there aren't any other at-large hopefuls in the league.
"People are waiting for us to drop one game, to see us lose," Calipari said. "We're not talking about the streak [in C-USA]. But we do tell our kids that we can't lose to that team or they'll make us a 6-seed."
Calipari said that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but he is paranoid when it comes to the NCAA Tournament selection process.
Calipari said the Tigers, who lost at Tennessee and Arizona, as well as to Georgia Tech in Maui, is a better defensive team this season. That's not surprising when you see that Memphis has given up fewer than 60 points in seven of its 12 conference games.
So, if you want to ding Memphis because it's Memphis, that's fine with Cal. He's confident that the crew of Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jeremy Hunt, Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey and Antonio Anderson can go just as far as the more heralded collection a year ago -- the Elite Eight.
As for the Tigers' latest victim Gonzaga, Calipari said he can't understand why folks are down on the Zags after they lost by one point at Spokane Arena on Saturday.
"People are like, 'They lost,' " Calipari said of commentators making it seem like the Zags are toast since they lost to Memphis, essentially at home. "Did you watch the game? I think what they've done and who they've beaten, even without [suspended center Josh] Heytvelt, means they're in [the NCAAs]."
Gonzaga likely will enter the WCC tournament -- and might have to win it -- as a No. 2 seed. The Tigers will be the No. 1 seed in C-USA, barring a late swoon.
This is perfect for Memphis coach John Calipari.
The Tigers win a thriller in overtime at Gonzaga and the talk is more about the Zags than the Tigers.
The new polls came out and the Tigers moved up from eighth in the coaches' poll to seventh, and from ninth to seventh in the AP poll. In the coaches' poll, though, Kansas jumped over the Tigers, moving from No. 9 to No. 6.
You don't think this kind of stuff is perfect fodder for Calipari? Of course it is. Cal has a team that, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to be discussed on a regular basis as a high seed, let alone a Final Four team.
Once again, perfect for Cal, as he is relishing playing in a headline-less league in Conference USA.
"We probably should be five with what we've done," Calipari said Monday. "We lost 50 percent of our scoring (Shawne Williams, Rodney Carney and Darius Washington), two first-round draft picks (Williams and Carney), and look how we've responded? Our team is playing better as a team than we did a year ago. We may not have as much talent, but we're playing better."
A year ago, Memphis played its way to a No. 1 seed but had much more of a challenge within the conference from UAB, UTEP and Houston.
This season, the Tigers are cruising along at 12-0 (one of the only two remaining teams that are unbeaten in conference play, along with Winthrop in the Big South). But Memphis isn't booked for a No. 1 seed like a year ago, even though the Tigers look like they could go undefeated in C-USA and have wins at Gonzaga, against Oklahoma and Kentucky in Maui, and versus Ole Miss at home (wins that look and sound good, but are against teams that, save for Ole Miss, aren't playing as well as they did a year ago).
Calipari was quick to say that the perceived weakness of C-USA shouldn't hurt the Tigers since it didn't a year ago when it was a No. 1 seed. But the difference, and Calipari acknowledges this, is there aren't any other at-large hopefuls in the league.
"People are waiting for us to drop one game, to see us lose," Calipari said. "We're not talking about the streak [in C-USA]. But we do tell our kids that we can't lose to that team or they'll make us a 6-seed."
Calipari said that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but he is paranoid when it comes to the NCAA Tournament selection process.
Calipari said the Tigers, who lost at Tennessee and Arizona, as well as to Georgia Tech in Maui, is a better defensive team this season. That's not surprising when you see that Memphis has given up fewer than 60 points in seven of its 12 conference games.
So, if you want to ding Memphis because it's Memphis, that's fine with Cal. He's confident that the crew of Chris Douglas-Roberts, Jeremy Hunt, Robert Dozier, Joey Dorsey and Antonio Anderson can go just as far as the more heralded collection a year ago -- the Elite Eight.
As for the Tigers' latest victim Gonzaga, Calipari said he can't understand why folks are down on the Zags after they lost by one point at Spokane Arena on Saturday.
"People are like, 'They lost,' " Calipari said of commentators making it seem like the Zags are toast since they lost to Memphis, essentially at home. "Did you watch the game? I think what they've done and who they've beaten, even without [suspended center Josh] Heytvelt, means they're in [the NCAAs]."
Gonzaga likely will enter the WCC tournament -- and might have to win it -- as a No. 2 seed. The Tigers will be the No. 1 seed in C-USA, barring a late swoon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
