…to the Henry signing — and yes, he did sign today, not just commit — is that there will be no temptation to try and recruit Lance Stephenson. Though Stephenson is probably headed to Europe anyway, even the idea that Memphis might try to get him should have been terrifying to the Tiger fan base. Stephenson is a nightmare.

But beyond that, Henry is a great player and a great kid and will be a lot of fun to watch. He can really, really shoot the ball, and the potential for him and Darnell Dodson playing out there on the wings next season could definitely change the way Memphis plays.

Now, where do the Tigers go from here? In an ideal world for Memphis, they get John Wall as their point guard. Will it happen? Who knows. The Baylor issue has been out there and will be out there until the kid makes a decision. But I think the possibility of Wall to Memphis is much stronger now than it was before his visit.

I also wouldn’t totally rule out the possibility of Memphis pulling a shocker. My suspicion is that the Tigers need another big guy. Favors? Cousins? Definite longshots, but who knows. The coaching situations could be shaky at both Georgia and Georgia Tech if those teams don’t have good years, and the UAB-Cousins saga is shaping up as one for the ages, so who knows.

Meanwhile, I have surfed a few message boards today, and I am amazed at how bitter some fan bases are when they lose recruits. I get on Memphis fans sometimes, but to their credit, they typically do not bring out the sour grapes when players decide to go elsewhere.

Can’t sleep, so I’m blogging.

The Memphis program: A+
I don’t think there were 18,000 people in the building, which was the announced attendance. But there were at least 16,000. Are you kidding me? For a game that starts at 11 pm.? Amazing. Major props to the crowd, as well, for giving Derek Kellogg such a warm reception.

Antonio Anderson: A
Took a few shots that were uncharacteristic, messed around with the ball too much at times. But he showed a lot of leadership, which is what he’s supposed to do.

Robert Dozier: A
He was active and the only guy who could score early in the game.

Free-throw shooting: A
18-for-23. That’s two straight games.

Wesley Witherspoon: A-
As bad as he was in the opener, he was darn good and showed signs of what he will bring when he gains experience. As I’ve said since the first time I saw him play with these guys this summer, he can get from point A to point B beautifully.

The uniforms: A-
I kind of like the two-tone look. It’s unique and cool.

Defense: A-
Tigers did a much better job than Saturday.

Tyreke Evans: B+
There are going to be some people, I’m sure, who will say he shot too much or took bad shots. Everybody took bad shots tonight. Evans missed three layups early, and if he had made them, he would have had a great night. As it was, he had a good night and competed hard.

Shawn Taggart: B-
Had 11 rebounds, but he got out-worked by Gaffney all night.

Willie Kemp: C
Didn’t get much done.

Pierre Henderson-Niles: C
One step forward, one step back.

Outside shooting: D-
They won’t be that bad all the time, thanks goodness. Not many jumpers went down

…and soon to be Tuesday morning!

Things are very quiet here. I’m on press row with some of the game-day operations staff, watching Antonio Anderson, Willie Kemp, Robert Dozier, C.J. Henry and Tyreke Evans do some early shooting. The TV crew from ESPN is here too.

OK, here’s some news. Based on the shorts the guys are wearing, it looks like the Tigers will debut their two-tone unis. They’re plain white on the front with a Nike swoosh on the left hip. The back is grey with blue stripes down the side and the back with the M on the lower right leg.

My initial reaction is that the uniform will look good. The contrast between the blue and the grey is not so huge that it looks weird; from the top of the arena you may not even be able to tell there are two different colors. This, of course, may not please some people who want deep grey. I’ll reserve further unifrom analysis until I see how the shorts fit together with the tops.

EDIT, 9:40 p.m.: Luke Bonner is a very large human being. He is sitting on the scorer’s bench right in front of me, and I’d say he’s a legit 7-1. Too bad for UMass that he’s out for a few weeks with an MCL injury. He would be a handful.

EDIT, 10:22: Well, people are indeed awake. The crowd is beginning to fill in. This 11 p.m. thing must be big with the students, since the student section is pretty much packed. Folks are filling in the other sections, too. Looks like this will actually be a decent crowd. I was thinking about 12,000 maybe. Will continue to update. Both teams are on the court shooting now.

EDIT, 10:35: Anyone in NYC watching this game from Times Square, please post a reply here and inform us what it was like. It would be very interesting to be there just for the experience. Of course, if it’s as cold in New York as it is here, I’m not sure I’d want to be watching a basketball game outside.

EDIT, 10:49: As predicted this morning, Tyreke Evans is in the starting lineup tonight and Doneal Mack will come off the bench.

EDIT, 11:00: Looks like a nice crowd, I’d say 14,000. I don’t know if it will fil in any more. After all, if you’re not here by 11 p.m., are you going to be here by 11:10? OK, starting lineup time for UMass. Enjoy the game.

The Intro Video: A+
The people from Running Pony who produced the video gave me an advance copy, and it’s really great. The blues theme is awesome and very Memphis, and the production of it is top-notch.

Shawn Taggart: A
Legit double-double. Played the way he needs to play for this team to be successful, sustained a solid effort over the entire game.

Tyreke Evans: A
19 points in 24 minutes on a bad ankle with only a couple of practices under his belt in the last two weeks. Big-time effort. He made some really good decisions, really good passes as well.

The crowd: A
There weren’t many empty seats on Saturday night, which is a very good thing when big-time recruits are in the house. Very impressive crowd for the opener.

Antonio Anderson: A-
Showed leadership, played with a swagger, racked up 7 assists.. Hit a big 3-pointer in the first half that really helped Memphis get the momentum.

Doneal Mack: B+
There were a couple more open shots that he could have hit, but a very solid performance from Doneal. When he came back to Memphis after briefly transferring to New Orleans, I didn’t think it would have an impact one way or the other. I was wrong. Mack has improved as a player and will be a major contributor.

Roburt Sallie: B+
Didn’t get many minutes, but he was good when he got in the game. Fairfield got hot in the second half and cut the lead to 11, but Sallie stepped up and hit two threes in a row to get it back to 17.

Willie Kemp: B
Had some breakdowns and passed up a few shots, but he had five assists and no glaring mistakes.

Robert Dozier: B-
Not Rob’s best game by any means. Missed several rebound opportunities and only had four field goal attempts.

Wesley Witherspoon: C
Love his potential, but he’s not ready yet. Lots of defensive breakdowns, too many turnovers.

…it’s something else.

Tyreke Evans came back to practice Wednesday. On Thursday, he was out again — but not because of his ankle, which appears to be fine — but due to food poisoning.

Tomorrow, the Tigers won’t have a major practice because they play on Saturday. So this leaves Evans in a somewhat difficult position. You’re talking about one legitimate practice under his belt in two weeks. Evans is really good, but he’s not Superman.

My educated guess is that he will play against Fairfield, but he won’t start. Your starting lineup will probably be Kemp, Mack, Anderson, Dozier and Taggart with Evans coming off the bench.

- Meanwhile, the Tigers have quietly moved Kemp off the ball at times during the last couple practices and he’s played better. I think it’s a smart move to take some of the pressure off by letting Anderson/Evans/Witherspoon play the point some.

- UMass last night really had a chance to beat Southern Illlinois but wore out with about 6 minutes to go and started to break down defensively just enough to allow the Salukis to come back and win. Southern Illinois is much younger and not nearly as good as they’ve been in the past, but it was a pretty impressive effort for DK’s guys. I think the Tigers’ length will give UMass a lot of trouble.

Pretty intersting game tonight in Carbondale, Ill., between UMass and Southern Illinois in the Coaches vs. Cancer regional final. I’m going to stop by Tiger practice and then head up to watch former Tiger assistant Derek Kellogg try to get a huge road win before the Minutemen come into town on Monday. UMass beat Arkansas-Monticello, 90-71 on Tuesday.

There are a ton of games on Friday night. Some scores I’ll be watching:
- Marist @ Rutgers
- Texas Southern @ UTEP

On Saturday
- UAB @ Troy
- Western Kentucky @ Houston
- Oral Roberts @ Tulsa (Huge game for the league’s RPI)
- Chattanooga @ Tennessee (Tigers get UTC in Puerto Rico next Thursday)

Meanwhile, don’t expect to hear much news yet out of the early signing period. Will Coleman, Darnell Dodson and Nolan Dennis are going to sign with the Tigers, but the school has this policy now of not commenting or releasing info about the signed recruits until the end of the signing period. The only news that will come out of the signing period would be if an unexpected player decided to sign early, but it appears that everyone the Tigers are chasing right now to add to the class will be a spring signee.

I’ll separate my thoughts into encouraging and discouraging.

Encouraging
- Really liked what I saw from Pierre Henderson-Niles. Yes, it’s CBU, but he went after loose balls and rebounds and played with energy.

- Shawn Taggart didn’t play his best game offensively, but he competed. When he competes, he can do some really good things.

- Doneal Mack showed Tiger fans what I’ve seen in practices. He is going to be a nice guy to have this year off the bench. In past years, you didn’t know what you were going to get from Doneal. I think he’s turned the corner, because he doesn’t have to rely on his 3-point shot to make an impact.

- The Tigers were pretty active defensively, and they went after offensive rebounds.

Discouraging
- Point guard play was lacking. Willie Kemp was OK; Wesley Witherspoon is talented but too wild right now. The Tigers really need a floor leader, a guy who can pull it together. Antonio Anderson is probably that guy. As it is, there’s a lot of chaos going on out there.

- The Tigers didn’t shoot the ball particularly well.

- Roburt Sallie looked lost, but I think he’s way better than he played against CBU.

- Robert Dozier had great stats - an easy double-double - but I thought he was just OK. He showed some leadership at key moments of the game, but I think he can dominate a team like CBU. In fairness to Rob, he was much better in the second half than he was in the first 10 minutes but he was totally invisible for awhile there.