From ESPN.com: It was deader than an armadillo trying to cross a six-lane Texas highway.
That was the consensus on the University of Memphis when Louisville, Cincinnati, South Florida, Marquette and DePaul packed up their toys for the Big East, and Charlotte and St. Louis bolted for the Atlantic 10. Most people presumed the Tigers, left with no one to play with, would fade into the basketball backdrop.
Instead, Memphis not only has lifted itself into a possible preseason No. 1 perch, it has pulled its entire conference along with it. Conference USA, tagged when the league broke up in 2005 as a one-bid league for eternity, is on the verge of becoming a multi-bid league again.
And it can thank the would-be basketball orphan Tigers …
Read the ESPN.com story.
