A loss to the Georgetown Hoyas is nothing to be ashamed of. We've had them as high as #4 in Bracketeering and fully expect them to challenge for the championship in the once-again loaded BEast.
However last night's 17-point blowout loss will finally force a spotlight on the Memphis Tigers and reveal something most college hoops experts have known for weeks. Memphis isn't very good. Not only are they nowhere close to the 13th best team in the country as AP and Coaches polls suggest, they may not even be the smart favorite to win an improving Conference USA.
The Tigers entered with a strong record at 9-1, but dig a little deeper and one quickly finds very little substance in terms of opponents and several reasons to be very alarmed in regard to how narrowly they escaped against some poor competition.
The Tigers' best win was an early four point home win over Miami (FL). Their lone loss was a double digit loss to Kansas, who when it is all said and done could wind up winning Bill Self his second ring in four years. The Jayhawks are certainly on the short list (with Ohio State and possibly Syracuse and Pitt) of teams that could give Duke a run. Nothing alarming about a loss at KU.
The rest of the "wins" are wins in title only. The eye test reveals losing efforts by an overrated team. The Tigers required overtime to beat lowly Arkansas State (4-8) and needed an extra frame to down Austin Peay (8-6) at home. Several nights ago they needed a late rally to defeat Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The record might have read 9-1 but anyone actually watching the games couldn't possibly think they were seeing one of the Top 20 teams in the country.
Last night Georgetown finally put a score to match what had long been evident. The Hoyas, behind All American candidate Austin Freeman's 24 points, jumped out to an early lead and never relented. The final score, 86-69 was even a little closer than the actual game. Georgetown dominated from opening tip to the final horn.
Memphis still has a game with rival Tennessee before diving headlong into conference play. Southern Miss, UCF and UAB are all off to solid starts and could be legitimate obstacles to the league crown. After missing the tournment last year, a second straight ommison would be nearly unthinkable for the Tiger faithful and could make second-year coach Josh Pastner's seat pretty warm.
My personal opinion is that the program is in great hands with Pastner, who is doing a good job of rebuilding after the carnage of Hurricane Calipari blew out of town, taking the nation's top recruiting class with him. However this season might still be a rebuiding one rather than the "rebuilt" program that some of the early rankings might have lured fans into believeing.
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