LAHAINA, Hawaii — From a Memphis viewpoint, there are two distinct ways to look at this game against Georgia Tech, regardless of the outcome.

1) Memphis vs. Thaddeus Young — If Memphis wins, there will be a good bit of glee coming from the Tigers fan base (and privately, a good bit within the program). If Memphis loses, it will be hard to ignore the obvious question: How much different would the outcome have been if Young was in a different jersey.

2) Two top-25 teams trying to establish a pecking order early in the season — If Memphis wins, I think John Calipari and staff will feel very good about their trip here, no matter what happens in the final. Should the Tigers lose, however, the pressure will definitely be on in the consolation game against either Kentucky or UCLA because nobody wants to leave here 1-2. Though games this early in the season certainly are be-all, end-all kind of games, this test should give Memphis a pretty good idea whether that preseason top-15 ranking was justified.
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Here’s an interesting view from a Griz fan:

Dear Coach Fratello:

I don’t care if we win 10 games.

I don’t.

I really don’t.

Just as an observer, never as a player of any magnitude, here is my opinion of how you build an NBA basketball team. You get a combination of some veteran players; players who know the game. You get some young legs, some very talented young legs, and give them two or three years to develop a chemistry, an identity. Every team who has ever won an NBA championship knew who they were. They were not NBA champions, initially. They were a combination of veteran leadership and young legs, albeit young talented legs. They had patient ownership. They had patient coaches who knew that the most important goal was teaching. If, they had the magical combination of youth and veteran leadership, they reached the promised land.
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