Wow. That’s all I can say about that game yesterday. It was definitely one that touched on every emotion in we Tigers fans. We got worried (a very little), we got angry, we got excited, we got a little scared (a very little there again) and we felt the thrill of victory. In the end, I was proud of our kids. I know you’re saying, “but they almost blew it.” While that may be true they also played defense well enough to win in the end. They could have easily hung their heads and let State get a clear shot off. They made it hard enough for the Bullies to secure the win.
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I didn’t mean to ignore the blog during the first rounds; things are just so crazy once it comes to NCAA Tournament time, and there’s so much writing to do, it’s easy to forget. A few thoughts from this weekend.

- Memphis played very poorly on Friday night, and there were legitimate reasons to be concerned about that performance. It was obvious early on against Mississippi State, however, that Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier came to play. In fact, they might have been a little bit over-amped. Dorsey’s second foul and Dozier’s fourth foul were both completely unnecessary, fouling jump shots 18 to 20 feet from the basket right after both of them had blocked shots.

- Mississippi State did absolutely everything right in order to beat Memphis, and it still couldn’t win. The Bulldogs were physical. They blocked shots early. They got the Tiger bigs in foul trouble and then exploited it by force-feeding Rhodes for easy baskets once Dozier got four fouls. Ben Hansbrough played so far over his head, it was silly. They caught Memphis on a really bad free throw night, even by their standards. And Mississippi State, not a great free throw team itself, made well above its average rate from the line. It was a classic tournament scenario, and the Tigers pulled through it.

- A lot of Memphis fans this morning are talking about Mike Freeman’s hatchet job on CBSsports.com. There are plenty of legitimate criticism of the Memphis program and this team and these players. Freeman’s assertions are ridiculous. The stuff about “streetballers” is ignorant. The stuff about not playing team ball is ignorant. A team of streetballers wouldn’t have executed the way Memphis executed its offense in the final 8 minutes, which is what won the game for them. Memphis had 19 assists, 5 turnovers against Mississippi State. Let me repeat. That’s 19 assists, 5 turnovers. Freeman talks about all these bad shots Memphis took. Every game, I make a note of bad shots because I know what is and what isn’t a good shot for this team in this offense. I counted three bad shots the entire game. They got a few shots blocked, sure, but they weren’t bad shots. His comment about the talent gap was also ignorant. Memphis certainly has more talent than MSU, but the gap isn’t that wide. Mississippi State underachieved to get an 8 seed.

- A lot of people thought Memphis would be playing Pitt in the Sweet 16. Somehow, every year, Pitt gets people to buy into the same fool’s gold they have been selling since Ben Howland was the coach. Year after year, their roster is just not built to go very far in the tournament. Sure, they’re tough and they fight and scrap and play physical and have athletes. But when you can’t make anything other than a free throw, a putback layup or a 2-footer, you’re not going to get past the Sweet 16. You can get there, but you won’t go any further.

-So it’s Michigan St. instead. At every position, Memphis has the better athletes. It’s a good matchup. Michigan State, however, is always tough in the tournament and Izzo is a great tournament coach. They’ll have a good plan and they’ll make it an ugly game. Memphis, however, is a far more skilled team than the team Michigan State just beat. The Tigers have guys who can make tough plays, make difficult shots and hit open 3-pointers. All year long, Michigan State has been a team that is pretty good if Drew Neitzel is hitting threes. If he’s not, they haven’t been very good. I imagine the Tigers will try to deny him the same way they denied Chris Lofton in the Tennessee game.

- I’ve got plenty of thoughts on Texas, having now seen them up close a couple times. I’ll save some of that for later.

Somewhat overshadowed by the University of Memphis basketball team’s run to the Sweet 16 has been the start of the Tiger football team’s spring practice.

The Tigers concluded their first week — including two workouts in full gear Friday and Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium — with junior college transfer quarterback Arkelon Hall getting a crash course in the U of M’s spread offense. Tiger coach Tommy West said Hall needs some help with his footwork, a component in which offensive coordinator Clay Helton excels.

Week Two will likely see the Tigers conducting full-scale scrimmages Wednesday and Saturday.