More Memphis Love

[Guest EagleBackr]

Got a kick out of this blurb from the Memphis paper on Saturday:

The Tigers had held their previous two opponents to a combined shooting percentage of .261. It was an effort that helped Memphis move to third in the nation in field goal percentage defense at .378 on the season.

Then came the NCAA Tournament.

Despite the win, the Tigers got lit up. Oral Roberts shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half while making 4-of-8 3-point attempts. In the second half, things got only moderately better, as the Golden Eagles shot 50 percent while making 3-of-7 3-point attempts. Add it up, and Oral Roberts shot 52.8 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from 3-point range.

"I don't know how much of that was us being bad or them just making plays," Calipari said. "I'll have to watch the tape."

Or not.

He could just trust his players.

"That was them making shots," said Williams.

"They made a lot of shots," said Anderson.

"Coach wants us to hold everybody to 30 percent shooting, but that's a good team," said Chris Douglas-Roberts. "They made a lot of shots."

Armed with these quotes, we went back to Calipari and told him it was a unanimous verdict: Oral Roberts just made shots. The players thought they were OK defensively.

"How did I know they'd say that?" Calipari replied with a smile. "I'm not going to watch the tape, then. I'll just take their word for it."

I gained a lot of respect for Memphis in this game. After all the pregame pub about them not deserving a #1 seed, and ORU being a popular upset pick, they had every reason to go for the throat the last couple of minutes and put the score over 100 points, but they didn't. And Calipari and the team TO A MAN were complimentary of ORU afterward. I hope they go a long way in the tourney. Not just because it makes us look better, but also because they were so gracious and respectful in victory...

[Guest darrenjj]

And i have them in the finals against UCONN in my Bracket!! Very young and very talented.