Evidently Memphis Doesn't Either!

[50's PONY]

Future looks ripe for boredom
By Don Wade
Contact
January 28, 2004

On the court, victory came easily.

The Tigers had an 18-point lead before the game was 11 minutes old. They were off and running, only to spend most of the second half dozing to a 66-53 win over a talent-challenged South Florida team Tuesday night at The Pyramid.

"We were lethargic," Tigers coach John Calipari said after his team had limped to the finish line by going the last 8:49 without a field goal.

Still, the Tigers avenged what happened here last season when the Bulls celebrated a bit too much after a one-point win.

But we expected the Tigers to right that wrong. We knew the Tigers were far the better team before the game. We knew it during the game, even though the game was "sloppy," to borrow Tiger guard Jeremy Hunt's word.

Of course, we also know this: Every remaining game between Memphis and the many schools leaving the league, of which South Florida is one, is a bitter reminder that the better athletic program doesn't always win the bigger game of conference realignment.

How does South Florida, which is relatively new to Division 1-A football and totally devoid of basketball tradition, make the Big East cut while Memphis misses it?

"It's not right," Memphis athletic director R. C. Johnson said from his suite Tuesday night. "It's not right and that's not much of a saving grace.

"Obviously, if we were located in Tampa and they were located in Memphis, it would have been a no-brainer."

And obviously on a night apparently too cold for many Memphis fans to trudge downtown - an estimated crowd of 8,500 - this was no saving grace as the fans even seemed a bit lethargic.

Hunt said, "When it's a little dead it can be a little boring, but we still can't let our intensity go down."

Understand, from the players' perspective, this game was all but a done deal before the opening tip. South Florida was down to seven scholarship players and started a walk-on. Still, that team played the Tigers evenly in the second half - 32-32.

"A good team would have come back (and won)," said the Tigers' Anthony Rice.

South Florida is not a good team. And the Tigers' basketball future, when it loses Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette to the Big East and Charlotte and Saint Louis to the Atlantic 10, will include many league games against teams about as bad as the Bulls.

In response, Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky has done what coaches do when they lose the recruits they really want: settle for the recruits he can get. So in two years the basketball schedule will feature Marshall, SMU, Rice, Central Florida and Tulsa.

That's a recipe for lethargy.

Johnson, of course, speaks bravely about this future. We'll make up for the conference schedule with the nonconference schedule, he says. Utah succeeds this way, he says. UNLV used to dominate this way, he says.

And, yes, there should be opportunities - at least for a while - to continue playing old rivals Louisville and Cincinnati.

"Instead of playing Cincinnati the last game of the year, we'll just have to play 'em the first game of the year," said season-ticket holder Charlie Fite, 51,

Nice idea.

But on a cold night in January, when it felt like we were looking into the future, to a time when the Tigers perhaps end with Marshall and South Florida finishes with Cincinnati, it sure didn't feel right.

Contact reporter Don Wade at 529-2358 or send an e-mail.

MORE WADE COLUMNS »

[leopold]

This has nothing to do with us.

Memphis is the biggest loser in all of C-USA and the WAC in this whole realignment mess. It stinks for us in that TCU, who is supposed to be our biggest rival, is walking out the door, but Memphis is losing its two largest rivals in Louisville and Cincinnati to the Big East, not to mention getting a major slap in the face to what is a proud basketball program and tradition. Plus, as this article points out, they're being passed over in favor of a program that is a relative infant(USF).

This is not a slap in the face to my alma mater or the other schools joining, but SMU, Rice, Tulsa, and whoever else that comes in does not replace UL and UC for the Tigers.

[GoRedGoBlue]

Maybe tulsa does..

Originally posted by leopold:
This has nothing to do with us.

Memphis is the biggest loser in all of C-USA and the WAC in this whole realignment mess. It stinks for us in that TCU, who is supposed to be our biggest rival, is walking out the door, but Memphis is losing its two largest rivals in Louisville and Cincinnati to the Big East, not to mention getting a major slap in the face to what is a proud basketball program and tradition. Plus, as this article points out, they're being passed over in favor of a program that is a relative infant(USF).

This is not a slap in the face to my alma mater or the other schools joining, but SMU, Rice, Tulsa, and whoever else that comes in does not replace UL and UC for the Tigers.

[Charleston Pony]

Memphis has every reason to be disappointed. They have been a good bball program and are losing most of the strongest conference mates they had and rivals (Louisville and Cincy) that they go back to the old Metro Conference with.

It's up to the newcomers to show them CUSA can be as good as any non-BCS group. It's way past time for SMU to start regaining the respect we've lost over these past 15 yrs. We've obviously got a long ways to go.

[Sam I Am]

Tulsa and Rice can play ball with Memphis most any night. We will too some day soon.

[Mike Damone]

Calipari can recruit out of this world. We are not going to be at that level anytime soon. Two years ago, they got screwed when Dajuan Wagner left after 1 year and got picked #3, and two of their signees that didn't make it to campus were first round picks as well: Amare Stoudmire went #11 was rookie of the year and Quintel Woods went around 20 to the Blazers. This year Memphis has a class that is top 10 and incredible as well.

[OldPony]

I was once told that Memphis turns out more college basketball players per capita than any other city. Memphis St (to us old guys) has always had a lot of great local players to choose from with less competiton withing a 3 hour drive than most city schools. They got screwed but thanks God there is something left of decency in CUSA to join. Rice can't hold a candle to them most years. Only Tulsa of the newcomers can.