If you wanted to know what the Tigers would look like when all their pistons were firing, you saw it today. And what they looked like was a Final Four team. You have to give Memphis tremendous credit for how the improvement in offensive execution since the USC game. It’s now back to how the Tigers looked last year, when they simply tore up zones with their ball movement. Watching the Tigers today zip the ball from one side to the other and get great shots from the middle of the zone, you got a sense of just how good this team can be.

Defensively, Memphis struggled for a stretch of the first half when Joey Dorsey was out. For about 10 minutes, the Tigers were giving up too many quality shots. But in the five minutes right before halftime, Memphis played probably as well as it can play without Dorsey to take a 43-40 lead. In the second half, the Tigers simply dominated.

I’ve got a lot more thoughts and observations, which I’ll share both in the newspaper and in this space over the next few days. In the meantime, enjoy the weekend and have a safe holiday season.