If it wasn’t the greatest 24 hours in University of Memphis sports history, it belongs in the conversation. Last Friday night in New York City, the Tiger men’s basketball team fell four points shy of beating the top-ranked team in the nation. Then Saturday afternoon, the football team rose to the occasion for a must-win that extends the collegiate career of the greatest player in the program’s history. Have you exhaled yet?
I can’t stand labeling a defeat as ‘a good loss.’ It’s like describing a blind date as having a good personality. That said, it’s hard not to use the backhanded qualifier in reflecting on the U of M’s narrow loss to Duke in the championship of the NIT Season Tip-off at Madison Square Garden. (The Tiger program is now 0-7 when facing teams ranked number one in the country.) My favorite image of the game? Believe it or not, it wasn’t Joey Dorsey’s summary rejection of a Josh McRoberts dunk attempt early in the first half. (Not only did this play set the tone for how Friday’s game would be played, it may well serve as this season’s performance marquee. It was that great a play.) No, my favorite image was that of freshmen Chris Douglas-Roberts and Robert Dozier, arms linked on the bench late in the second half, linked in tension, rooting interest, and hope. The kind of image you expect to see on the bench of, yes, Duke in late March. But on the Memphis sideline, the day after Thanksgiving? Coach John Calipari has spoken early and often about this team’s enthusiasm for playing together, for ‘buying in’ as the cliche would have it. Friday night, in the world’s most famous arena, against college basketball’s most famous program of the last quarter century, Memphis fans saw a team on the launching pad of greatness.
Based on their performance, it would seem the moon may not be too ambitious
an aim.
With chatter of the previous night’s basketball game filling the Liberty Bowl Saturday afternoon, the Tiger football program took the field for perhaps the most significant Senior Day in school history. As if saying goodbye to the greatest Tiger of them all weren’t enough, there were 15 other seniors —- including such notables as Maurice Avery, John Doucette, O.C. Collins, Andrew Handy, and Marcus West — who will now be remembered for being the class that took a sleepy program to three consecutive bowl games.
(Among the possible December destinations for the Tigers are Fort Worth, Detroit, and Honolulu.) And DeAngelo Williams would be the first to sing the praises of a class that met cynicism with an optimism almost exclusive to youth, and that met adversity with stubborn flexibility (the team’s top returning receiver at quarterback for the last six games?).
Appropriately enough, Williams shared the spotlight in the 26-3 win over Marshall with senior kicker Stephen Gostkowski. Drilling four field goals, from distances of 42 yards to a school-record 53 yards, Gostkowski established a new Conference USA record with 67 career field goals, and moved his U of M scoring record up to 357 points (a mere 13 ahead of Williams, who with two touchdowns Saturday now has 57 for his brilliant career).
The 2005 Tiger football team was not as good as the ’03 or ’04 squads. Their defense was second-tier in a second-tier conference. Offensively, they were carried by Williams and picked up by the midseason promotion/rescue of Avery at quarterback. But when measuring the impact of this team for posterity’s sake, listen to coach Tommy West for a dose of perspective.
”I don’t know if I’ve ever seen as much fight in a football team,” said West after Saturday’s win. “Regardless of how bad it gets, or how bad it looks, you work your tail off to try and make it happen. I told them today that if they could win this game, they’d be special, more special than the 9-win team or the 8-win team. To go through what they’ve gone through, and find a way to win six . . . it’s almost incredible. This has been the most frustrating season I’ve ever been through, and now it’s been one of the most gratifying. It meant a lot to those 16 [seniors]. You want to leave something. For these guys to go to three straight bowls — we’d only been to two [in history] — that’s a sizable accomplishment.”
A basketball program with its sights on the top ten and a football program making bowl preparations. Right here in Memphis. Happy holidays.
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