Sorry folks, no Gillen tonight. I figured that was important info for some of you, given that CSTV analyst Pete Gillen has become a cult hero among Memphis fans. Instead, it’s the team of Tom Hart and Steve Lappas tonight, and I’m sure they’ll do a fine job.

Supposedly, there’s going to be 7,000 people tonight at Moody Coliseum, which would be about three times the size of a normal SMU basketball crowd. This actually is a neat old fieldhouse to watch a college basketball game. If they put some money into a few things cosmetically and got the program going a little bit, this wouldn’t be bad at all. On a sidenote, if you’ve never been to SMU before, this is a great campus. It’s obviously a small and very expensive private school, and when you look around here, it’s amazing to think that this was the epicenter of cheating in college football during the 1980s. I did not get a chance to walk through the new practice facility, but I’ve seen a few members of the Memphis traveling party and they all say it’s amazing. I was also told that Memphis had an incredible shootaround this morning, maybe the best of the season. Let’s see if that intensity carries over to this game and the Tigers take care of business, making it an easy night.

Don’t know for sure whether Joey Dorsey (stomach flu) is going to play but he’s out here warming up a little bit and I heard he was looking OK earlier. He may not start, however. Could be a lot of Shawn Taggart tonight, and the way he’s been playing lately, I wouldn’t mind seeing that at all. Taggart really has come on the last two games, and he rebounded the ball better against Southern Miss than I’ve seen him all year.