The Commercial Appeal Prep Staff has selected its Preseason Dandy Dozen High School football teams and we will start revealing a team a day beginning Sunday, Aug. 10. Be sure to check out our video each day at www.commercialappeal.com/preps

Who do you think should be included in our Dandy Dozen? Teams eligible must be from Shelby, DeSoto, Tipton or Fayette County.

Some questions heading into the season:
Is this the year that Olive Branch defeats South Panola?
Does defending state champion St. George’s have enough to repeat?
Who is the best in Division 2-AA? MUS or CBHS?
Which team will climb to the summit in tough Region 8-5A?
Will traditional power Germantown bounce back from missing the playoffs in 2007?
Can Coach Devin Rutherford lead White Station to another 12-win season?
How good will Briarcrest Christian be in Coach Major Wright’s first season?
Kingsbury, Melrose or Fairley in Region 8-4A?
Will Covington bounce back from its 2-8 season?
Is Millington still the team to beat in Region 7-5A?

Let us know your choices…..

As we reported last month, the Tigers will open up the Puerto Rico Tip-Off with Chattanooga; the irony being that Memphis will travel all the way down to San Juan to play an intra-state opponent. Obviously, Memphis is expected to win that game — I don’t think the Tigers would have agreed to play in Puerto Rico unless they were guaranteed an “easier” first-round opponent, by the way — which would set up a semifinal with either USC or Seton Hall.

If it’s USC, it would be a match-up between arguably the top two freshmen in the country in Tyreke Evans and DeMar DeRozan. It would also be a rematch of last year’s Jimmy V Classic, which was one of the most painful games to watch between two good teams that I’ve ever seen.

The other side of the bracket also offers interesting possibilities in a championship game or consolation game matchup. With Virginia Tech, you’ve got Seth Greenberg, an old Calipari nemesis when he coached at South Florida (in the old C-USA). With Missouri, you’ve got Mike Anderson, the former UAB coach, and freshman Laurence Bowers, who was the second banana on Elliot Williams’ team last season at St. George’s. And finally, you’ve got Xavier, who is coached by the man Calipari calls his “cousin,” Sean Miller.