Memphis Basketball Not So Bad After All?

Author: Min-Q Kim
Posted on: Friday November 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Filed under: sports, memphis tigers, kansas jayhawks, josh pastner, college basketball, exclusive

When Dribble-Drive guru John Calipari high-tailed it to Kentucky, the jilted Memphis program was pretty much left for dead -- even on this very site. The new coach was fresh-faced Josh Pastner, an assistant under Calipari, but a first-time head coach who had a passing resemblence to an almost-grown Bobby Brady, and was throwing around phrases like "underneath the radar," "underdogs," and "no expectations" -- battle cry rhetoric if I've ever heard it...

Josh Pastner, via CollegeHoopsVideo.com

"One day, I'll be the head coach of the Memphis Tigers," he seemed to say...

Pastner and his squad were thrown into the deep end right away, having to play the #1 Kansas Jayhawks in just their second game of the season. The matchup was scheduled before Memphis' summer of discontent, and was supposed to be a showdown between the preseason #1 and #2. But, of course, things did not quite work out so well on Memphis' end, and the matchup between the unranked team going up against the consensus #1 looked like just another early-season blowout.

Well, games are played on the court, as they say, not on paper. And Memphis came to play: they showed their mettle and hung tough, taking the game to the final shot, which Memphis missed. But giving the #1 team in the country a run for their money and coming up one basket short (57-55), if nothing else, put the nation on alert. Memphis isn't rolling over this season, and the Tigers are still a team to be reckoned with.

Memphis proved they can still run with the best team in the country. (Photo: Mark Webber, via commercialappeal.com)

Memphis' Elliot Williams (middle) falls to ground after missing a last-second 3-point shot that would have won it. (Photo: Mark Webber, via commercialappeal.com)

As for Coach Pastner? Well, overnight, he's gone from boy scout to "Boy Wonder." It's not going to be easy for Pastner and co., but Conference USA still goes through Memphis, it seems, and if Memphis can make it to the Dance, who knows? March Madness wasn't named for its predictability.