Tag: American Athletic Conference

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From My Seat Sports

Pandemic Football: To Play or Not to Play?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

What does the American Athletic Conference know about pandemic football that the Big Ten doesn’t? Or to rephrase for a more worrisome question, what does the Big Ten know about the coronavirus and football that the AAC doesn’t?

As spectator sports reawaken — with major restrictions — under the current pandemic conditions, two “Power 5” college football conferences announced last week that they will not be fielding football teams this fall. In addition to the Big Ten —  no Michigan! no Ohio State! no Rutgers! — the Pac 12 will keep its helmets and shoulder pads in closets at least until the spring when, maybe, we’ll have more clarity on how mankind emerges from this health crisis. Two “Group of Five” leagues — the Mid-American Conference and the Mountain West Conference — have also cancelled play this fall. But as of now, the Memphis Tigers and ten football-playing AAC brethren are preparing to clash on the gridiron next month. What are we to make of the differing approaches to the same contagion?
Larry Kuzniewski

When I ponder what football in 2020 might look like, it’s not the empty stands (a given) that captures my mind’s eye. It’s the sidelines. During an FBS college football game, more than 100 people — players, staff, trainers — stand along each sideline, typically over a 60-yard strip (between the 20-yard lines). It’s the precise opposite of social distancing. It’s social packing. Will every player and coach on every sideline this fall wear a protective mask? How will trainers safely address a twisted knee or turned ankle? When a player is unable to leave the field under his own power, how many people can safely attend to his care and transportation?

These are superfluous questions, of course, when it comes to football. On every snap in every game — more than 100 times per game — at least five and often as many as 11 players on one team each collide with a player on the other. It’s the kind of human behavior a catchy virus dreams about. Can such a sport be played while, at the same time, keeping that catchy virus outside the stadium?

Here’s the word that will most come into play in the weeks and months ahead, especially if football teams do, in fact, kick off near Labor Day: myocarditis. The condition’s quick definition (via Wikipedia): “inflammation of the heart muscle, also known as inflammatory cardiomyopathy.” Links have been established between COVID-19 infection and myocarditis, and specifically in the bodies of athletes. A sport already afflicted with criticism for the damage it does to the human brain is now measuring if it can be played without damaging another rather vital organ in the human body. Were I a 20-year-old athlete, my sense of immortality might supersede concerns about my gray matter. But damage to my heart? I suppose football can be played after one gets one’s “bell rung” a few times. If the heart isn’t operating properly, a lot more than football will be lost.

The coronavirus is a worldwide villain (thus use of the word pandemic). It knows no region, certainly no conference affiliation. Which makes a look at the football conferences ready to play this fall somewhat troubling: they all include schools in the southern United States. Do the powers-that-be running the SEC, ACC, Big 12, AAC, Sun Belt, and Conference USA have a handle on controlling the coronavirus that the leagues up north and out west haven’t discovered? We all love (or hate) the correlation between the South and football, how you can’t live with (or in) one without loving (or adopting) the other. But at what cost during a pandemic?

In late July, I asked Memphis quarterback Brady White — a California native and a PhD. candidate, mind you — if he was prepared for an interruption or cancellation of his final season as a Tiger. “What we’re doing now is different from everything we’ve done in the past,” he said. “We recognize that, and we accept it. We know the possibilities, but we’re preparing for a full season. We’re preparing to be playing September 5th at the Liberty Bowl. You’d rather over-prepare and be ready to play than sit on your hands and then you’re behind the eight ball [when games are played]. I love the way we’re doing it. The biggest thing for football players in general is getting your mindset to ‘go’ mode.”

We’ll know soon enough if the AAC and other southern football conferences choose the “go” mode for 2020. As college students gather on campuses where masks are required everywhere except dorm rooms, college football players will — or won’t — take the field with even more at risk than their knees and thinking caps. Those deciding when (or if) to take such a risk must get this right, as there won’t be a second chance.

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Sports Tiger Blue

The Ides of February

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The games must be played. However uncomfortable the next six weeks may become for the Memphis Tigers and their beleaguered head coach, at least 11 games remain on the schedule (counting at least one in the American Athletic Conference tournament). As of this writing, the Tigers are 13-8 with a 4-4 mark that has them tied for seventh place in the 11-team AAC. If the empty seats at FedExForum and calls for Josh Pastner’s job have been unsettling to this point, just wait for the reaction to a nosedive — if a nosedive occurs — while 68 other programs book tickets for next month’s Big Dance.

Last Saturday’s loss at SMU can be viewed one of two ways. Glass half full: The Mustangs are a tier above every other team in the AAC (as the standings indicate), making a loss — even a blowout — on the team’s home floor nothing worthy of teeth-grinding. Glass half empty: The dramatic gap in talent between the SMU roster and the one at Pasner’s disposal accentuates how far this program has fallen, and how large the gap has become between reality as a Memphis Tiger and the dreams of a Sweet 16 (let alone Final Four) appearance.

Larry Kuzniewski

Shaq Goodwin: ‘We’ll man up.’

Forget the Tigers’ horrid record against ranked teams under Pastner. For now, the U of M program needs to find ways to merely beat its own league’s elite: SMU, Connecticut, and Cincinnati. Since moving to the AAC from Conference USA in 2013, the Tigers are now 4-12 against this trio of league exemplars. You can’t compete for national championships unless you can compete for your conference title. Which makes this week at FedExForum maybe the biggest two-game home stand of the 38-year-old Pastner’s career. Sweep Connecticut (here Thursday) and Cincinnati (Saturday) and the Tigers will find themselves at worst tied in the loss column with the Huskies and Bearcats this time next week. Split these games or (teeth-grinding time) lose both, and we can consider the nosedive underway. This is the collateral effect of the home loss to East Carolina on January 24th. Memphis must knock off a team it’s not expected to beat. One, at the very least.

Can the Tigers sweep this week’s contests? So much must happen to counter what we’ve seen of late. Freshman star Dedric Lawson is averaging 14.4 points and 9.0 rebounds this season, but averaged 8.5 points and 6.0 boards in the Tigers’ two narrow losses at UConn and Cincinnati last month. Lawson must make a difference against an AAC power before we can consider him truly among the best freshmen in Tiger history. Trahson Burrell must be the player who came an assist shy of a triple-double in the loss to ECU, and not the one who disappeared (eight points, two rebounds, no assists) at SMU. And the Tigers simply must find offensive support for their “Big Three” of Lawson, Shaq Goodwin, and Ricky Tarrant Jr. Two starters against the Mustangs — Sam Craft and Markel Crawford — failed to score. “Organizing” the team (Craft’s specialty) and marking the opponent’s top gun (Crawford’s) are important, but Tiger opponents have taken to sagging on Lawson and Goodwin. Points must be generated elsewhere.

Surely the Tigers welcome turning a page on the calendar, having finished a 4-5 January highlighted only by the narrow win over Temple at home and a road beatdown of UCF. Pastner and his staff would be wise to erase (or hide) any indication of the January stumble-fest. Make February a season within a season. Take the two big games this week, then focus on winning four — if not five — of the remaining six. (SMU comes to town February 25th). Six wins this month would put the team on the cusp of 20 when we next turn the calendar to March where college basketball’s elite are separated from the hoi polloi.

This team knows what’s being said about its performances to date. “I’ve been here a while,” said Goodwin after the Temple win, “and I know how they do Coach Pastner. My sophomore year, I asked him why, and he said, ‘You gotta win. You gotta win big games.’ We’ll accept that. We’ll man up on that. But we pay attention to it, and we’ll get it right once we get on a winning streak.”

If a winning streak is to happen for the 2015-16 Memphis Tigers it will start this month. Would it be enough to erase January, to lower the temperature on Josh Pastner’s hot seat? Come Thursday night, we’ll have some answers. 

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Sports Tiger Blue

#13 SMU 80, Tigers 68

No contest. The SMU Mustangs may be ineligible for postseason play this season, but they made clear the disparity between their talented roster and that of the Memphis Tigers Saturday night at Moody Coliseum in Dallas. Led by point guard Nic Moore (the favorite for American Athletic Conference Player of the Year scored 22 points), the Mustangs led by 11 points just nine minutes into the game and Memphis never closed within single digits.

The loss is a damaging opener to the hardest four-game stretch of the Tigers’ season. Now 13-8 and 4-4 in the AAC, the U of M will face Connecticut (Thursday) and Cincinnati (Saturday) at home in what amounts to must-win games for any chance at a favorable seeding in the AAC tournament come March. The team’s chances for an at-large NCAA tournament bid likely died last Sunday when East Carolina won its first league game at FedExForum.

The Tigers were held to 34-percent shooting (22 for 65) and missed 15 of 20 attempts from three-point range. SMU controlled the glass with 47 rebounds to the Tigers’ 32.

Senior Shaq Goodwin led the Tigers with 18 points before fouling out late in the second half. Two Memphis starters — guards Sam Craft and Markel Crawford — failed to score, freshman forward Dedric Lawson missed seven of eight shots from the field (seven points, 12 rebounds), and Ricky Tarrant Jr. was held to 10 points before also fouling out. Freshman guard Jeremiah Martin contributed 11 points off the bench, his highest point total of the season.

Shake Milton scored 13 points for SMU with Sterling Brown and Ben Moore each adding 12. The Mustangs are now 19-1 for the season and in control atop the AAC standings with an 8-1 mark. SMU will visit FedExForum for a rematch on February 25th, by which time both teams may be playing solely for pride.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 71, USF 56

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Josh Pastner knows his team won’t break any shooting records. Since well before the current season opened two months ago, the Tiger coach has preached defense and ball protection. To win consistently, the 2015-16 Tigers must keep opponents from lighting up the scoreboard, and they must value every possession. Saturday at FedExForum may become the 40-minute prototype for the balance of the campaign.

The U of M held USF to 32 percent shooting and committed only three turnovers in beating the Bulls to improve to 12-5 (3-1 in American Athletic Conference play). Freshman forward Dedric Lawson earned his seventh double-double of the season (18 points and 12 rebounds) and the Tigers pulled away with a second-half sequence that featured two dunks each by Trahson Burrell and Shaq Goodwin. But if you’re looking for a sign this team may be turning a corner, look at that turnover total. (The team’s previous low was seven against Southern Miss in the season-opener.)

Larry Kuzniewski

Sam Craft

“You gotta give a lot of credit to Sam [Craft], the starting point guard,” said Pastner. “And Ricky [Tarrant] played 34 minutes: three assists, no turnovers. He’s had a total of 25 turnovers all year, and he’s played a lot of minutes. But Shaq Goodwin and Dedric Lawson had no turnovers. Our biggest problem has been our bigs turning it over. We’ve got to take care of the ball Thursday [at Cincinnati].”

Craft started his second game less than a month after playing in the Birmingham Bowl for the Tigers’ football team. The junior hit four of six shots from the field for nine points. And Tarrant played every second of the first half, three days after getting three teeth loosened in a late-game collision with a Temple opponent. He scored nine points and picked up a pair of steals.

Goodwin struggled against a big USF frontcourt in the first half, but rallied late in the game to finish with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Markel Crawford twisted an ankle early in the second half and had to be helped to the Tigers’ locker room, but he returned to the court not long after.

Angel Nunez led USF with 16 points and Jaleel Cousins grabbed 16 rebounds. The Bulls are now 3-16 and 0-6 in the AAC.

“We were knocking on the door,” said Pastner, reflecting on the season to date. “I think we were actually able to get through the door against Temple. We needed that, a confidence boost. But we’ve got to keep it going. The one thing we haven’t done well this season — in addition to shooting — is finish. Today, and this week, we finished strong.”

Craft is becoming the season’s most distinctive story line, having replaced Jeremiah Martin in the starting lineup without so much as practicing — basketball, that is — until January. “I feel myself getting better every day,” said Craft. “I’m just listening to Coach Pastner, soaking in what he has to say. Like everything else, it takes time. I’ll keep pushing forward.”

The Tigers will next push forward against longtime rival Cincinnati (now 13-6, losers to Temple Saturday). The Tigers and Bearcats meet Thursday night in Ohio.

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Cover Feature News

Is This the Year for Memphis Football?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Wait ’til this year.

As far as teases are measured, the University of Memphis football program couldn’t have picked four more tantalizing words than their marketing slogan for 2014. The Tiger fan base is accustomed to waiting: It’s been five years now since a bowl appearance, and six seasons since a winning campaign (7-6 in 2007). And it’s been worse in the recent past: eight consecutive losing seasons from 1995 through 2002. If you’re counting — and we have to include the 2-10 mess of 2006 that ended a three-year winning streak — that’s 15 losing football seasons over the past 19. Memphis football fans wait. And wait.

Until this year?

The first step in this process — for Tiger players, coaches, and fans — is putting the dreadful end to last season behind for good. Sorry to open the wound, but to summarize: After winning three games and losing four others by less than eight points, the Tigers were declawed in their last two (a 41-25 loss to Temple at the Liberty Bowl and a 45-10 drubbing at UConn). These are not the kind of memories that help an off-season. To a man, the Tiger players say they have put those losses in history’s dustbin, but within motivational reach.

“[Those losses] motivate the team a lot,” says senior cornerback Bobby McCain, one of the potential team stars who will determine how quickly the lingering memories can be erased. “We wanted to finish strong, and we didn’t. Mentally, physically, emotionally, we just weren’t there. It was somewhat fatigue. But morale had shifted. We knew after the Louisville game, there would be no bowl game. We have to do better. That’s not a good look.”

“Let’s just scrap that [2013 season],” adds senior tailback Brandon Hayes, back after being granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. “We could have had a much better season. We’re taking Austin Peay [Saturday] first, not looking ahead. If we start looking ahead at UCLA [September 6th], who knows what might happen?”

Larry Kuzniewski

Defensive end Martin Ifedi leads a veteran Tiger line

The 2014 Tigers will be a veteran team. (It’s been a while since those words were written.) In addition to familiar faces in the offensive skill positions — we’ll get to those later — the Tigers will have a defense built around three players with more than 20 career starts (defensive end Martin Ifedi, linebacker Charles Harris, and McCain) and four more with at least 12 (linemen Ricky Hunter and Terry Redden, linebacker Ryan Coleman, and cornerback Andrew Gaines). This is a unit that, through 10 games last season, ranked 16th in the country in total defense (and 23rd in points allowed). Of course, it’s a defense that — after the blowouts against Temple and UConn — fell to 39th in the country (44th in points allowed). Coach Justin Fuente, defensive coordinator Barry Odom, and an entire fan base are betting on that 10-game sampling being the real deal, and those final two an ugly anomaly.

“We showed last season that we can compete against any team we line up to play,” says the senior Ifedi, a candidate for the Bednarik Award (given to the nation’s top defender) and the Lombardi Award (top lineman or linebacker). “No matter the name — Louisville, UCF — we were close. We just fell short.”

Senior tailback Brandon Hayes and cornerback Bobby McCain (21) will play prominent roles for Coach Justin Fuente

Ifedi enters the season one sack shy of the Memphis career record (Tramont Lawless had 21 from 1996 to 1999), and he isn’t shy about the preseason recognition he’s received or the thought of improving on his sack total of a year ago (11.5). “When I got here as a freshman,” he says, “I thought about that sack record to myself, jokingly. But now it’s reality. It will be a big accomplishment for me. I need to dominate every game, play up to my ability. I want to win one of those awards; show the nation and the conference that I’m definitely one of the best.”

Says Fuente, “[Martin] has got to be a really good player on a good defense that, in turn, becomes a good football team. Then he’ll get every accolade he deserves. If you start freelancing, that’s when you struggle. I don’t think he’ll do that.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Coach Justin Fuente

Ifedi should combine with Redden and Hunter to give Memphis one of its strongest defensive lines in years. Add freshman Ernest Suttles to the group — Suttles impressed Fuente with his off-season work — and Memphis, dare we suggest it, has depth on the defensive front. “Terry Redden’s as good a defensive player as we have,” says Fuente. “When he’s in there, it’s a different ball game, because you can’t single-block him.”

“We have high hopes and high expectations for the defense,” says McCain, who led the Tigers with six interceptions (in just nine games) last season, the most by a Memphis player in 12 years. “We want to have a chip on our shoulder, to have the game in our hands in the fourth quarter.”

Joe Murphy

Bobby McCain

McCain and Gaines will be joined in the secondary by two more upper-classmen: safeties Reggis Ball and Fritz Etienne. McCain sees his unit as a complementary piece to the line and, not incidentally, the linebackers. (The Tigers’ hardest hitter may be senior linebacker Tank Jakes.) “You can win ball games by cutting down on big plays,” says McCain. “The three units work together well. We know we’re going to get pressure from the front seven. And if we’re leading in the fourth quarter, they’re gonna throw the ball.”

The Tiger schedule is packed with game-changing quarterbacks, ready and able to stretch the field early and late: UCLA’s Brett Hundley, Houston’s John O’Korn, Temple’s P.J. Walker. Will Ifedi and friends be able to reduce the time these signal-callers have to gaze down field? And will McCain and friends be able to pounce once the ball is in the air? These are questions that, when answered, will determine how close the U of M may be to bowl eligibility.

Larry Kuzniewski

Paxton Lynch (in red) and Brandon Hayes offer hope from the Tiger backfield.

There will also be familiar faces on offense, but Fuente cautions against using the same “veteran” tag his defense has earned. “I worry about the balance,” he says. “[The defense and offense] are two different groups. An older, veteran group on defense, but still a young group offensively, if you look at them as a whole. There are guys who have played, but they’re still young. We don’t have to pull them right out of high school and put them on the field anymore. But there’s a different balance there.”

Hayes will provide leadership from his tailback position, and there’s probably no player on the Tiger roster more grateful to be in uniform for the 2014 season. Having gone through the standard farewell rites of departing seniors last fall, he learned during the off-season that the NCAA had awarded him a sixth year of eligibility (in addition to a redshirt season, Hayes missed the 2010 campaign with a knee injury). He’s climbed his way to the top of the running back depth chart with a work ethic Fuente has cited as an example for two years now.

“It’s a blessing,” says Hayes. “I told myself that if I get a year back, I’m going to train differently, eat differently. I’ve got my body right, up to 210 pounds [from 198]. A lot of speed work, a lot of hills; working on my breakaway speed. I need to finish runs better. What might be a 26-yard run, I need to make it 56. Or if it’s 35, I need to take it the whole way.”

Of course, for the Tigers to succeed, the inspirational components of Hayes’ story need to translate to the field. After leading the team in rushing in 2012 (576 yards), Hayes ran for 860 yards last season and carried the ball 201 times without fumbling. He aims to become the first player since DeAngelo Williams (2002-05) to lead Memphis in rushing three straight seasons.

The receiving corps will feature no fewer than five veterans (Keiwone Malone, Joe Craig, Sam Craft, Mose Frazier, and Tevin Jones) and a redshirt freshman (Anthony Miller, a record-breaker at Christian Brothers High School) Fuente is convinced will stretch the field. But who will be quarterback Paxton Lynch’s primary target? Craig’s yardage total last season (338) was the lowest to lead Memphis since Bunkie Perkins (remember him?) had 314 in 2000. The best hope would seem to be competition driving six receivers hungry for footballs slung their way.

Fuente emphasizes this very priority, suggesting the receivers have to play better as a group this fall. And the same goes for the entire squad. “Will we be able to eliminate the petty jealousies that tear away from an organization or team?” he asks. “Will we be disciplined enough to hold the rope and prepare every single week?”

No position will be scrutinized more than quarterback, and Lynch returns as one of those “veteran-but-young” players, a redshirt sophomore who started all 12 games a year ago, to somewhat mixed results. His 2,056 passing yards were more than Danny Wimprine had as a redshirt-freshman in 2001. But Lynch averaged only 5.9 yards per attempt (Wimprine’s figure was 6.8 in ’01). He threw nine touchdown passes and was intercepted 10 times. Fuente is convinced Lynch is the quarterback this team needs.

“He’s continued to get stronger,” says Fuente. “He feels more comfortable in his own skin, his role, comfortable with the older players. He’s more athletic than anyone talks about, especially being so tall [6’6″]. He’s gotten better mechanically throwing the football, and he’s got good vision. He can see everything.”

Lynch feels comfortable in his quarterback shoes, but intends to make his impact felt team-wide in 2014. “I need to be more confident in myself,” says Lynch. “As a leader, everyone is looking at you. I could have prepared myself more [last year], and I’ve been working on that. When I make a mistake, I can’t put my head down. I’m diving into the playbook pretty hard. I have to know what everyone else on the field is doing … and everyone on the other side of the ball, too.”

“Paxton has matured,” says Hayes. “He knows what everybody is doing. He’s not timid. He’s got veteran qualities. Somebody messes up, he lets you know. I’m really excited to have seen him grow.”

Adds Fuente, “I’m just as interested in the other 10 around him playing better, to help him out. I’ve been encouraged by what I’ve seen so far.” Tackle Al Bond is the only senior in the offensive-line mix, a unit that must gain traction — literally and otherwise — for the offense to improve measurably. “They just have to get used to the [fast] tempo,” says Lynch. “It’s harder on those big guys. If they get in shape, we’ll be all right. I trust them. We just have to keep pushing each other to get better.”

Despite the loss of record-setting punter Tom Hornsey — the 2013 Ray Guy Award winner — the Tigers’ special teams should help win a game or two. Four capable return men are back (Craig, Craft, Malone, and McCain), and in sophomore Jake Elliott, the Tigers have one of the best young kickers in the country. Elliott earned first-team all-conference recognition last fall when he converted 16 of 18 field-goal attempts, including eight of nine from beyond 40 yards. A still-growing program must win the close games before it starts dreaming of any laughers.

“Nobody thinks we can beat [UCLA or Ole Miss],” says Ifedi with an audible snarl. “This is good. We’ll punch them in the mouth and they won’t know what hit them. Memphis is not going to be an easy game for you; I guarantee that.”

Adds McCain, “I’m gonna make sure the mindset of the whole team is to win ball games. Not just go in and put up a fight, lose by three. We want to win the ball game. I want to go to a bowl game. Doesn’t matter which one, as long as we get into the postseason mix.”

“My expectations for this squad are higher,” says Fuente. “But you have to balance that. The nonconference schedule is a stretch for us. We’re still teaching our guys how to lead, what a football program is supposed to be on a consistent basis. I think we’ve made huge strides.”

So … wait ’til this year? “It’s year,” emphasizes Fuente. “The entire season. It’s not wait for the second game or third game. Let’s get to the end of it and see how it stacks up. Our kids are ready to go. Let’s go see how good we can get. We’d love to take another step in front of a lot of fans.”

What the Schedule Holds

With Ole Miss back on the schedule, the SEC is again on the Memphis radar after a two-year hiatus. Dating back to 1997 (the year after the Tigers’ upset of Tennessee at the Liberty Bowl), the Tigers are 2-25 against the country’s most powerful conference. Whether or not the SEC stays on the schedule remains to be seen. “I’m okay with playing one stretch game,” says Fuente. “That’s what you’ll see from us in the future. My concern is the league; where are we in the league? Can we build our facilities and compete in this league? I have no inferiority complex with the Southeastern Conference. Our job is to be Sprite, not Coke and not Pepsi. To build a program that’s competitive in our realm.” — FM

August 30 — Austin Peay (6 p.m.)

September 6 — at UCLA (9 p.m.)

September 20 — Middle Tennessee

September 27 — at Ole Miss

October 4 — at Cincinnati

October 11 — Houston

October 25 — at SMU

October 31 (Fri) — Tulsa (7 p.m.)

November 7 (Fri) — at Temple (6:30 p.m.)

November 15 — at Tulane

November 22 — USF

November 29 — UConn

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Cover Feature News

Hoop City 2013: 20 Questions – pt. 2

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The start of college basketball season is more about questions than answers. And this is particularly the case for the 2013-14 Memphis Tigers, who are coming off a season that saw them finish 31-5, including an undefeated 16-0 record in their final season in Conference USA. The Tigers also won the C-USA tournament, and one game in the Big Dance, over St. Mary’s, before bowing to a bigger and stronger Michigan State team in the round of 32. This year’s team is an intriguing mix of veteran guards and heralded and untested recruits at numerous positions. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the University of Memphis will be playing in the newly formed American Athletic Conference, a much tougher league.

So let’s get to those questions.

1: How will Joe Jackson be remembered?

The “King of Memphis” is finally a senior? A certified city legend at White Station High School, Jackson first donned a Tiger jersey in 2010 with expectations that approached those of Penny Hardaway a generation earlier. Has he met the standard? Jackson was named MVP of the Conference USA tournament as a freshman and sophomore, then earned the league’s Player of the Year honor last season (when he led Memphis with 13.6 points and 4.8 assists per game). Entering the season with 1,209 career points, he should finish his career comfortably in the program’s top 10. (If he matches his 490 points of last season, Jackson would rank sixth.) With 187 assists (he had 173 last year), Jackson would become only the fourth Tiger to reach 600 for his career. “Kings” play on the NCAA tournament’s second weekend, though, and Jackson has yet to reach that sweet territory. A legacy waits to be defined.

2: Can Josh Pastner coach in the deep end?

Like his predecessor, John Calipari, Pastner ran roughshod over the kiddie pool that was Conference USA, winning the last three tournament championships and the last two regular-season titles, going 19-0 in league play last season, the Tigers’ farewell tour before joining the AAC. Pastner’s record against teams from the traditional power conferences — ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and former Big East — isn’t as stellar: 7-15 (with three of those wins against a Tennessee program struggling for relevance since Bruce Pearl’s dismissal in 2011).

Pastner will spend his fifth season as a head coach armed with a fat contract extension and staring at a schedule that features at least four games against coaches who reached the Final Four before he entered high school (Louisville’s Rick Pitino and SMU’s Larry Brown). His Tigers will face five programs that hang national-championship banners above their courts: Oklahoma State, Florida, Cincinnati, Connecticut, and Louisville.

“Our non-conference schedule will allow us to be tested for the American,” Pastner says. “We’ll know early what we need to do to get better, what our strengths and weaknesses are. We have no margin for error when you look at our schedule. We’re going to have to stay at a high level and take [an opponent’s] best shot. We were up 18 on Louisville [last December], and they didn’t stay down.”

3: Can a basketball team have too many freshmen?

The Tigers’ 2013 recruiting class — led by a pair of local five-star recruits, Austin Nichols (Briarcrest) and Nick King (East) — has been ranked as high as second in the country (by ESPN and Scout.com). Add five more frosh — forward Kuran Iverson should be in the rotation on opening night, and center Dominic Woodson is the largest player on the squad — and two senior transfers, and the University of Memphis will feature nine players on its roster who did not wear blue and gray a year ago. Not since the 1972-73 season has a Tiger team welcomed so many new faces at once. Presuming Pastner goes with an eight-man rotation once the season is in full swing, there are four or five players who may not be happy with their playing time come New Year’s Day. Whether or not player disgruntlement creeps into the season’s narrative will be a contributing factor to how deeply into March this team might play. By the way, that 1972-73 team fell one Bill Walton short of a national championship.

4: Is “rookie leadership” an oxymoron?

David Pellom (a transfer from George Washington) and Michael Dixon (from Missouri) will play as seniors for the Tigers this season. They’re “one-and-done” players from the other side of the eligibility spectrum, squeezing in one final college season in a new program before exploring pro careers. Pellom averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds last year for a GW team that struggled to a 10-21 record. Michael Dixon won the 2012 Sixth Man Award in the Big 12, averaging 13.3 points off the bench in Tiger stripes of a different color. (Dixon sat out the 2012-13 season, having faced allegations of sexual assault. No charges were ever filed.) Can two veterans — introduced from different basketball worlds — help shape the personality of this year’s team?

“At GW, I was a rebounding guy,” Pellom acknowledges. “Only thing I can do is carry it over here. I’m a leader, very enthusiastic on the court, an athletic guy. [Coach Pastner] tells me in practice to always be talkative, to push the young guys, to hustle. He’s big on 50-50 balls. Get on the floor. It’s big-time basketball here. In D.C., we weren’t the primary team. Here, we’re as big as the Memphis Grizzlies.”

Dixon is especially grateful for the new basketball life he’s been granted by the NCAA and U of M. And he relishes being part of the backcourt band that will lead this team. “We don’t have a ceiling,” he says. “We have a lot of young guys who are talented. It’s our job as seniors to bring [the freshmen] along the way. The teams I played for at Missouri were a collective unit. We shared the ball, played together. Here, we have so many different skills and talents. So much more than at Missouri. But talent alone doesn’t win games. We’ve got a lot of guys coming out of high school, and you don’t have to play much defense in high school. Every possession matters in college. And you’ve got to be coachable. I’m ready to do whatever’s asked of me to help us be one of the top teams in the country.”

5: Can a lighter Shaq Goodwin be a stronger player?

Goodwin arrived on the U of M campus a celebrated McDonald’s All-American, then finished seventh on the team in scoring (7.4 points per game) and, more disturbingly, fifth in rebounding (4.4). Eliminating his daily trips to a certain fast-food establishment, Goodwin shed no fewer than 40 pounds since playing his last game as a freshman for the Tigers. If you ask him, his smaller size will result in bigger impact.

“When I was 270 pounds, I couldn’t touch my toes,” Goodwin says through his ever-present smile. “It just didn’t feel right. I have a quicker bounce now, a better first step. I get lower on rebounds, initial contact. It all started with the Michigan State game [in the NCAA tournament]. After losing, I sat down with Coach [Pastner]. If I wanted to get where I want to be, I had to change myself. I’m not heavier, but I actually feel stronger.”

Adds Pastner, “Shaq is a different person, in an unbelievable way. His conditioning is superior. He didn’t make the [U19] national team because the coaches felt he clowned around too much. But he realized that his way didn’t work. He’s a totally different guy.”

6: Just how strong is the Tiger backcourt?

Larry Kuzniewski

Head Coach Josh Pastner

Pastner likes to share the fact he has four senior guards at his disposal, each with a 30-win season under his belt. In the world of college basketball, where guard play has dominated for the better part of three decades, this is a full quiver. “I hope to be a coach ’til I’m 70 or 75,” Pastner says. “That’s another 30 or 35 years. I don’t know if I’ll ever again be in a position where I have four high-level senior guards. Not this level. It’s a privilege to coach them, and they’re very talented. But we have to produce on the floor. The expectations don’t guarantee wins. We have to take full advantage of having these seniors. And they’ll have to step up when the bright lights are on.”

Pastner welcomes the challenge of finding playing time for Jackson, Dixon, Geron Johnson, and Chris Crawford, noting that he’d play five guards at once if that will help the Tigers win a game. He points out the group’s unselfishness, noting that Jackson, Johnson, and Crawford each had more than 100 assists last season. The addition of Dixon could mean intangible benefits, both for the backcourt band and the entire team. “Michael’s unselfish, and he communicates,” Pastner says. “He gets after it on defense, and that’s always a positive.”

7: How important is November?

Some tropical-island trips are better than others. When the Tigers lost their first two games at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas last year — dropping their record to a repulsive 2-2 — you would have thought pork shoulder had been banned in Memphis, Tennessee. It took 22 wins in their next 23 games — hello, C-USA! — to persuade Tiger faithfuls that a leap from the Hernando DeSoto bridge wouldn’t ease their troubles.

After opening against Austin Peay at FedExForum on November 14th, the Tigers will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to face Oklahoma State on November 19th. They’ll play three games over Thanksgiving weekend (sound familiar?) at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, where Siena, LSU, and St. Joseph’s will be in the Tigers’ bracket. Yes, a couple of early-season losses are quite possible. Beyond damage to the team’s ranking, though, pre-winter stumbles are hardly catastrophic.

8: Does a band of native Memphians help or hurt the Tiger cause?

Jackson (White Station) and Chris Crawford (Sheffield) will be the first pair of local products to play four years together as Tigers since Cedric Henderson and Chris Garner from 1993 to 1997. With the addition of King, Nichols, and Markel Crawford (Melrose), the Tigers could see as many as five native sons in their rotation. Does the local talent make a college team distinctly part of its community, or might the pressures of playing on such a bright stage in front of family, friends, and all things familiar compound and complicate the task of winning a championship?

When I asked Markel Crawford about his favorite player growing up, he lit up with a smile and said, “Penny Hardaway.” Hardaway played his last game as a Tiger more than a year before Markel was born. When asked about his thoughts on wearing a Tiger uniform for the first time, Nichols paused then responded, “It will be an honor.”

Tiger basketball runs deep in Memphis and stretches back well beyond the lifetimes of current players. “In this day and age,” Pastner says, “you can be connected [with players far and wide] via Facebook or Twitter. But it’s a tremendous positive, having a great recruiting base in our backyard. That doesn’t mean we’ll sign every kid from Memphis. There could be times when it’s not the right fit. When it is the right fit, though, it’s a no-brainer for the student-athlete to play at the University of Memphis.”

9: Are the Tigers a tougher team than they were last season?

We’ll let Pastner take this one: “We are not a smash-mouth team. We’re better when we’re trying to score in the 80s or 90s, where we can play as fast as possible. Michigan State kicked our butts, but we hit a segment in the second half of that game where we could not score. We have to be able to score when teams force us into smash-mouth games. You don’t have to be big to be tough. It’s rebounding, getting 50-50 balls. Diving on the floor. You need to have the mentality of toughness.”

Adds Goodwin, “This team has no choice but to be mentally tough. We’ve gone through defensive boot camp, starting at 6 in the morning. The four senior guards we have, they’re staying on everybody to be mentally tough.”

10: What will constitute a successful 2013-14 season?

The Tigers will not win 31 games this season, and they won’t go undefeated in conference play. Still, they may be a more memorable team than the one of a year ago. Beat a marquee team (Oklahoma State, Florida, or Gonzaga among non-conference foes), win a big conference game on the road (at Louisville, UConn, Cincinnati, or Temple), or win 22 or 23 games with the schedule they’re facing, and the Tigers could end up with a higher seed than the number six they landed last March as Conference USA champions. And landing a higher seed would be a major step toward a return to the Sweet 16 for Memphis, territory Josh Pastner has yet to see as a head coach.

We’ll leave the last word to Chris Crawford. “Time moves fast,” he says. “Joe and I are the last ones here from our freshman class. We want to make our last year together the best one.”

Categories
Opinion

Should College Athletes Get Paid?

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With all that money in big-time college football and basketball — and much more to come under new television contracts — should the players be paid?

Second question: what, if anything, should the University of Memphis do to become more like its old rival, Louisville, which is in the preseason Top 10 in football and is graduating to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) next year? In basketball, Louisville reported an astonishing $42 million in revenue in men’s basketball in 2011-2012 — nearly six times as much as Memphis. And this was the year BEFORE winning the NCAA tournament.

Some perspective first from Wren Baker, deputy athletic director at University of Memphis. As is often the case with well-intentioned disclosure mandates, the reporting from different colleges and universities to the U.S. Department of Education is “highly inconsistent.” Some (including Memphis) were told to make expenses and revenues balance, but DOE didn’t get around to everyone. Baker, who was athletic director at a previous employer in Oklahoma, said including or excluding a major fundraising campaign such as the $7 million Tiger Scholarships in basketball makes a huge difference. Generally speaking, he said, expenses are a more reliable figure than reported revenue. Basketball revenue is probably understated, while football revenue is overstated.