All looks to be well with the Tigers tonight; full lineup expected. Nice officiating crew with Hal Lusk, Duke Edsall and Tom O’Neill. Looks like at least a couple thousand Memphis fans are in the stands, though it’s a little difficult to tell since Memphis and Middle Tennessee fans are both wearing blue. The Tennessee sections are filling in somewhat. The arena will probably be about half full for tip-off, but I’d expect by halftime we’ll see evidence of the reported sellout.

I wouldn’t expect too much trouble with Middle Tennessee. I am sure they’ll try to play zone, and it will be up to the Tigers to make some shots early and try to get Middle out of it. For what it’s worth, the Tigers shot the ball very well yesterday in their practice here. The Sommet Center is a hockey arena primarily, and the seating configuration is a little bit different. The background that the shooters see is deeper than usual, which certainly can make perimeter shooting difficult. But the Tigers have shot well in big arenas like this before (i.e., the Alamodome), so I’ll be making a note of how that factors into the game.