I love it. We dominate MSU and the pundits say, “But they can’t do that to Texas.” Well, the Tigers might not be able to beat Texas by 30 at the half. But I promise you that if Texas believes anything the media is saying then they are in for a long afternoon tomorrow. The Tigers are as focused as any team I’ve ever seen.
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No Joey Dorsey bulletin board material this year. Though I wasn’t in his breakout room for the entire session, I was there for a good bit of it and he was undoubtedly charming and talking a lot about his upbringing in Baltimore. Actually, the entire team was very charming and engaging today. To give you folks a little bit of insight into our business, the way this works is, the NCAA makes the entire starting five and the coach sit up on the podium for 30 minutes. Then, the five players go off into separate rooms for 30 minutes and the reporters can pretty much have at them in a less formal setting. Maybe it’s because they’ve been here now for three straight years, but the Tigers are just unbelivably good in that setting. They were relaxed. They were funny. They were very composed and insightful. If it’s your first exposure to Memphis players, you had to be impressed. I believe you will see a ton of stories tomorrow nationally with effusive praise of the Tigers. Maybe that’s not such a great thing; they’ve done so well as the underdog, so who knows.

By contrast, I’m sitting here watching Texas’ press conference. These guys could not look any more disinterested right now. D.J. Augustin looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than sitting up on the stage. Last week in Little Rock, a national writer made a comment to me that Texas was a “media disaster” because the players are just not good talkers. I can see now what he means.

Back again.

Think about it. Three years ago, when this run began, the odds of Memphis playing in three straight regional finals? Astronomical. It just doesn’t happen that often. Regardless of what transpires Sunday, last night’s romp validated this Memphis team and put it right back to the point where it has been the last two years.

Lots and lots and lots of thoughts. A couple things swirling in my mind.

– Memphis fans should thank Tennessee. It is clear, now more than ever, that the Vols did Memphis a big favor by beating the Tigers on Feb. 23. You go back to that day, and it’s amazing to think how the paths of those two teams went in completely opposite directions. The Vols never were the same, and it was obvious within the first week after that game (I talked about it here and on the radio) that they were going in the wrong direction as a team. The Tigers, on the other hand, used that loss as an opportunity to refocus. I think back to a blog entry I wrote the day after the UT game where I talked about how the Tigers’ stellar play from late December to late January had seemed to level off for a few weeks leading up to Tennessee. It was a good time for a loss, and clearly Memphis has gotten better and better since then. Can you imagine what this circus would be like if the Tigers were still undefeated? Totally different mentality leading up to last night’s game. Tiger fans, at this point, shouldn’t mind too much losing the all-time head-to-head series with the Vols. When it comes to NCAA Tournament success, the programs aren’t even in the same league.

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