40 straight home games without a loss. I just had to type that out and read it again. That’s an amazing stat. It has been two calendar years since the Tigers have lost at home. There is a lot of things that can happen in two years. I’ve had friends move back into town and leave again since then. I’ve known women who have had two babies in that time frame. Couples have gotten married AND divorced in less time. There have been 734 sunsets and 735 sunrises since the scoreboard showed the opponent with more points than the Tigers. Sorry but that simply amazes me.

I was rooting for the Steelers last night for 2 reasons. The first is that the Steelers coaching staff has two former Tigers coaches, Keith Butler and Randy Fichtner. Butler not only coached at Memphis but he played. I know most Tigers fans know that but I figure some didn’t so I thought I’d share.

Has anyone else noticed that the Tigers seem bored in the first few minutes of games they know they’re going to win? I’m not disparaging the opponents (ok, maybe I am). But the Tigers know when to turn it up and when to glide.

Doneal Mack’s perfermance yesterday was amazing. There was a collective groan when he missed his last 3-point shot.

Mack was yet another player on the roster to lead the team in scoring. This season Doneal Mack, Jeff Robinson, Robert Dozier, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Derrick Rose, Joey Dorsey, Shawn Taggert, and Willie Kemp have all at least tied for most points in a game. That girls and boys is balance. This is a team that you may shut down CDR, Rose or even Dorsey on the offensive end. But that’s ok because there are about five other guys who can score points. And the fact that they don’t know who scores the most is even more impressive.

The unselfishness of this Tigers team is unprecedented. There was a perfect example of this yesterday in the 2nd half. Antonio Anderson had a pretty much unchallenged three. But what did Big AA do, he fired a pass down low to Shawn Taggert who laid it in. It showed me that the kids don’t care about who scores as long as the total has the Tigers with more points.

At what point is “the accomplishment that is not spoken of” spoken about? Do people start avoiding the team in February like teammates ignore a pitcher throwing a no-hitter?

I’m going to preface this by saying that I like Blair Savage-Lansden. She’s a very pleasant person but the time has come for the Women’s program to move onto someone new barring winning C-USA. That isn’t likely but if she does it then she should keep her job. But I have a feeling we’re going to be wishing her well in March.

I know some of y’all have questioned me about being critical of students. But the truth is they are letting the program down. Those empty seats yesterday were disheartening at best. I don’t want to hear the “christmas break” or “the weather” excuses. It sure didn’t stop them from attending the Georgetown or Arizona games. It is time for a change in the policies on how students are seated. Sit them based on attendance so the more you go, the better your seat. It’s as simple as that. So the student who are there for the Pepperdine games are the ones who get the best seats for the Tennessee game.

When Tim Walton is named defensive coordinator will he treat the defense like family? And will they say good night to each other on the road?