What Goes Around Comes Around

Picture from LWS

In an earlier post, I asked if there could have been a more fitting end to the season than all of Memphis' flaws manifesting in the final 3 minutes of the title game.

Turns out, there could be... and there is. While Calipari's band of criminals were in San Antonio over the weekend, another band of criminals broke into some Tiger players' apartments.

Living in the Memphis metro area, I can tell you that there is a lot of outrage over this. Concerns like "Who would do this to these young men representing our University?" and "This is like those lowlifes who stole things from Katrina victims!" Of course this sort of outcry was missing when Joey Dorsey twice punched people and ran, or Robert Dozier and Jeremy Hunt punched women, or when Shawn Taggart and Jeff Robinson were arrested for inciting a riot, or when Andre Allen was arrested for soliciting a prostitute.

But hey, with those blue and gray glasses on your face and a cup of Calipari kool-aid in your hand, the world is a very different place. One free of rules and discipline and consequences. I wonder how they'll function in the next few years when Calipari isn't around...

Score one for Decent Society... Rock Chalk Jayhawk

Could there have been a more fitting end to the college basketball season than what occurred last night? Joey Dorsey fouled out of the game on a cheap foul he had no business getting. Fatal coaching flaws by Calipari showing a lack of basic understanding about when to foul and when to play defense. And the free throws… ah yes… the free throws. One glorious brick after another. Basically, the Tigers’ season in a microcosm. They lost a 9-point lead quicker than anyone since the Knicks against the Pacers.

Finally free of the shackles of basketball, the Memphis players can get back to doing what they do best… getting arrested. They’ll have plenty of time to beat up ex-girlfriends, incite riots, solicit prostitutes, punch people and take off running, and all the other activities that make their motors hum. Reserve guard Andre Allen was so anxious to get back to real life, that he failed a drug test the week of the Final Four. Good to see that he was taking this opportunity so seriously.

As for this team’s legacy, it’s a shame that they set the single season wins record, considering half of their wins came against C-USA teams. Kansas finished with just one less win than the Memphis, despite having to actually navigate a legitimate conference. Instead of Houston and Rice, KU notched wins over Texas, Texas A&M, and Baylor. Instead of Tulsa, KU beat Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

John Calipari’s only other appearance in the Final Four has been stricken from the record books thanks to a fantastic watch that Marcus Camby was given. Though Calipari successfully weaseled his way out of that, the UMass program is just now righting itself from his tenure there. In my opinion, this appearance has at least a decent chance of disappearing too.

After a long 5 months, the college basketball season has come to an end. That means it’s time for Calipari to start flirting with other jobs. Only this time, I think he bolts instead of bilking a bankrupt Memphis athletic department for money it doesn’t have, which has become his annual tradition.

For more information on attending the summer University of Memphis basketball camp, please call (800) CHOK-JOB.

Memphis' perfect season goes the way of Calipari's integrity

Picture from LWS

This game was a microcosm for why the Tigers have no shot at winning a national title. Your coach got schooled and your thugs got outrebounded by 15, shot less than 50% from the FT line, and missed almost 20 straight 3s. Why the hell did Memphis shoot 27 3s?

If I were a girl in Memphis, I'd lock myself in a safe area. The Tigers will be angry tonight and looking to slap someone around...

Weekend Games (2/23)

Some mildly entertaining conference games tomorrow are overshadowed by the #2Tennessee@#1Memphis game late tomorrow night. I'll have thoughts on that below...

Arkansas @ Kentucky
These two were the power teams in conference in the early to mid-90s and have waged some epic battles through the years. Both are in 2nd in their respective divisions and could use this win to improve their standings and their postseason prospects. The 'Cats though have their backs farther up against the wall. I see Patrick Patterson having a big game here and UK taking the victory.

Georgia @ Vanderbilt
The 'Dawgs seem to play everyone close, then lose it late. I'll surprised if they play this one close. Vandy is typically lights out in Memorial Gym and there's no reason to think they won't be tomorrow.

Ole Miss @ LSU
After a couple of close losses and a resounding win in Florida, LSU fell on rough times in Fayetteville Wednesday night. Ole Miss pulled the opposite, snapping a streak of bad games with one of their best efforts of the season. With any hopes of dancing at the end of the year held together by a thin thread, I think the Rebels find a way to get it done tomorrow in Baton Rouge.

Mississippi State @ South Carolina
This game features possibly the league's best two guards in MSU's Jamont Gordon and USC's Devan Downey. It should be very entertaining to watch those two duel. While MSU is the better team overall, my Spidey-sense is telling me that South Carolina wins this one. Not sure why or how, but just a feeling I get.

Sunday
Alabama @ Auburn
Not sure how Auburn wins the games they do, but I know how Alabama loses. They can't hit FTs and don't take care of the ball. That's a recipe for disaster on the road, particularly in a rivalry game. AU wins.

As for the Memphis/Tennessee game, if you're a member of decent society - and not a Memphis graduate - there's little to no reason to pull for the Tigers in this one. The Tigers won't be put off by the Vols' bright orange uniforms, as many of the Tigers have worn orange prison jumpsuits in the past several months. While Tennessee football team is racking up charge after charge, John Calipari's band of misfits won't be sold short. In the past 18 months, they've solicited prostitutes, incited riots, hit women, and been subdued with chemical elements. Somehow, the city of Memphis has still embraced this team. I wonder how they would feel if they weren't #1 in the country.

That said, the Tigers are a talented team and have the longest home winning streak in the country. It will be a great test for the Vols, particularly on the inside, which may - or may not - be UT's weakness. At least they know they'll be safe once the game starts, as the Memphis players typically only hit girls.

I see the Vols pulling the mild upset here. Pearl>>>>>>Calipari when it comes to Xs and Os. I think they'll junk up the defense enough that the Tigers inability to hit 3s is exposed. The trio of Smiths and the 3s of Lofton will be too much for the Tigers to handle.

A True Sign of The Apocalypse

Is there anything worse for college basketball than the band of renegades known as the Memphis Tigers being 25-0 and ranked #1 in the country? Are these really the “student-athletes” the NCAA would select as their representatives?

Saturday night’s win in Birmingham was another example of the classlessness that this Tiger team has, though with John Calipari as a coach, who can be surprised? No doubt he wins a lot of games, but between his recruiting tactics, his arrogance, and his utter refusal to discipline players, only those lemmings who have ingested a full serving of the Calipari kool-aid can have even a shred of respect for the man.

While the UAB students are certainly not blameless here – they were hurling pom poms and 4-letter words at the Tigers as they attempted to leave the floor – many Tiger players took to jersey popping and jawing back, which only exacerbated an already hostile situation. In particular, Pierre Niles, Shawn Taggart, and Jeff Robinson jumped up off the bench and taunted the UAB fans.

(As an aside, what is it with the University of Memphis? This just a few months after football coach Tommy West hurled F-Bombs at Ole Miss fans?)

But Saturday night’s near melee is just another in a growing string of grievances decent society has with the Tigers.

Taggart and Robinson already been arrested this season – along with Joey Dorsey – for inciting a riot outside a nightclub in Memphis. Robert Dozier – who, by the way, is still starting despite hitting his ex-girlfriend a few weeks ago – is seen in the middle of the fracas as well. But given Calipari’s history, this is nothing new. In 2003, he suspended 2 players for a game, then ended up moving that suspension twice so they would miss a lesser opponent. In his most blatant display of ineptitude, in 2005, he suspended Jeremy Hunt all of 2 games for hitting his girlfriend before permanently suspending him from the team. And by permanently, I mean for the season. Hunt came back and played last season. The list goes on and on.

(As another aside, kudos to the security guard standing directly beneath Pierre Niles smacking the Larry the Cable Guy wannabe. The fans and players must feel infinitely more secure knowing that – while she may be diminutive – at least she’s not paying attention.)

So this is what we’re left with. A mid-major team full of arrestees sitting atop college basketball's rankings. The good news is there’s no chance this team cuts the nets down in March. Zip. Zero. Nada. They can’t hit FTs (58.3%, 340th in nation) or 3s (34%, 219th). Their March story will be the same it has been the last 2 seasons – dominate the 16- and 8-/9-seeds on pure athleticism, get by the Sweet 16, then get embarrassed by a well-coach, disciplined team in the Elite 8. They’ll not only lose, they’ll look bad doing it.

***UPDATE 2/19: Great article by Jeff Goodman on Fox Sports and Pat Forde on ESPN about this same subject...***

New Basketball Rankings (Jan. 21) + Links

SSDD. Another week has come and gone and the same 3 SEC teams are ranked. There is a difference in the ARV column as Arkansas is no longer receiving votes after losing 2 games against the worst 2 teams in the SEC East. Mississippi State, once just an underachieving afterthought, has ridden the strength of a 4-0 in conference to pick up a handful of votes. While it's unlikely they're ranked before season's end, they are playing to their potential now.

With the rash of upsets over the weekend, the Memphis Tigers are the new #1 team in the country. They're a mid-major school who scheduled a bunch of big games at home, took advantage of a young UConn team early, fell bass-ackwards into an OT win against USC, and will now feast on the D3-equivalent schools that make up C-USA. What a joke.



* Interesting read on the semi-decline of the SEC this year in basketball
* A look at the NCAA tourney hope of the SEC teams
* Little man Terry Bowden took time off from campaigning for coaching jobs to throw together some alpha-numeric characters and spaces to form this mumbo-jumbo of a column
* And how dare you or anyone call yourself a fan of your team until you show this kind of lunacy dedication...


* While Eddie Murphy will most likely win a Razzie or two for Norbit, kudos to his soothsaying abilities...

Freshman Point Guard Comparison

While it will be nice to have a few more months of Dick Vitale free basketball on ESPN, he's certainly not the only thing wrong with their hoops coverage. Their fixation on certain teams and conferences shows an obvious bias and definitely skews their objectivity. Their constant talk of certain members of this year's freshman class is no different.

Take a look at the stats for 3 freshmen point guards below. One of them is a guard who you probably know all about, as the talking heads on ESPN wax poetic about him incessantly. Another is a guard you’ve probably heard of if you follow SEC basketball. The other you may not have heard of even if you do follow SEC basketball. Tell me - based on these stats - which one deserves all the hype, while the others get little to none...



Ok, enough with the suspense… Guard A is Florida’s Nick Calathes, Guard B is Memphis’ Derrick Rose, and Guard C is Ole Miss’ Chris Warren. I understand that Memphis is the best team of those 3 – Florida lost nearly everyone of consequence off their back-to-back title teams and Ole Miss is still recovering from the Rod Barnes era – but when you compare player to player, there’s very little difference in any of the three.

So, you tell me, based on season stats, what has Derrick Rose done to be deemed “one of the best freshman guards in America” and Calathes and Warren haven’t? The teams are a combined 26-1 and Ole Miss is the lowest ranked team at #32 in the new polls. I’m sure it has nothing to do with ESPN picking Memphis #1 in their rankings or that Memphis (justifiably) is on the family of ESPN networks more than Florida and Ole Miss combined.

I’ve seen very little to justify Rose’s hype. He’s remarkably strong and tall for a guard of any age, but he’s no outside threat at all. The majority of his points come inside the paint and from the foul line. As the season wears on, teams are really going to start playing off of him and making him prove he can shoot the ball.

That’s not to say he isn’t the best player of the 3 of them. He’s certainly got the best chance for a pro career, as Warren is listed at 5’10 and Calathes is a bean pole at 6’6, but only 185. Neither comes close to the strength packed into Rose’s 6’4, 195 frame. My argument is that Rose has done no more to distinguish himself as a top freshman than Warren and Calathes have. If he has, please feel free to comment or email me to let me know...

**UPDATE: 8:30 PM CST (12/19)** Okay... so just hours after I posted this, Rose scores 26 points, including 5 3s. He looked great for the most part tonight, but his 6/5 A/TO ratio still needs improving. That said, his updated numbers still don't put him significantly ahead of Calathes and Warren for season stats.

Tommy West's "apology"

A little off topic, but still SEC-related...

I'm not sure University of Memphis HC Tommy West gets it. He has apologized for using strong language in defense of his team before Saturday's game against Ole Miss, but looking at his choice of words, it's obvious he feels he did no wrong dropping multiple F-bombs in front of young children.

When you go to a game, it's pretty much assumed you'll catch some foul language from college students who may have over-imbibed. You don't expect to hear it from a head coach, before the game, directed at opposing fans. And his rationale of "(if) I’m walking my team into our tunnel and there’s a crowd of the opponents’ fans harassing our team, then I am going to defend my football team" is a joke. Do his offensive linemen really need protection from a fratboy yelling "Tigers Suck!"? Are his linebackers really cowering at the taunts of Ole Miss alumni? If they are, West has other issues besides a lack of a distinguished vocabulary.

West is a good coach and has won more at Memphis than any other coach there, but acts like this and his infamous outburst in Starkville a few years back make it easy to see why he's still at a CUSA school.