Tag: NCAA

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Sports Tiger Blue

Friendly Fire

Mario Anderson (photo by Wes Hale)

Memphis Tiger football would not be where it is today — and Ryan Silverfield would not be in charge of the program — were it not for Mike Norvell. The Tigers travel to Tallahassee this week for a Saturday confrontation with Norvell’s current team, the Florida State Seminoles. It’s hard to imagine a more poignant game against a former coach in the history of the Memphis program.

Should your memory be unusually short, Norvell arrived in Memphis as a rookie head coach before the 2016 season (with Ryan Silverfield a member of his staff). If you were familiar with the 35-year-old Arizona State assistant then, you frankly spent too much time on college football. But in just four years, Norvell won 38 games, led the Tigers to three appearances in the American Athletic Conference championship game (winning in 2019), and earned the most prestigious bowl berth (the 2019 Cotton Bowl) in Tigers history. That’s how you get the Florida State gig before your 40th birthday. Last season, Norvell’s fourth at FSU, the Seminoles went 13-0 but were somehow left out of the four-team College Football Playoff. (After several players opted out of the Orange Bowl, Florida State was crushed by Georgia.)

Florida State will not go 13-0 this season, having lost its first two games, to Georgia Tech and Boston College. Memphis will not be facing a Top-10 team this weekend, a disappointment for a program favored to win a “Group of 5” league but thirsty for an early-season attention grabber. Blowout wins over North Alabama and Troy go only so far.

Last July, I asked Silverfield about facing his former boss early in the 2024 schedule. “I’m gonna treat it like any other game,” he said. “I’ll see some of my closest friends down there. I’m from Jacksonville. If I didn’t get this job, I might still be sitting next to Mike, coaching his offensive line. But once training camp starts, I won’t give that game a single thought until the Sunday [before].”

To translate, it will be an emotional game for those with fond memories of Mike Norvell in Memphis (read: anyone who saw a game from 2016 to 2019). But for Ryan Silverfield and the current Memphis Tigers, the contest has to be treated like a step — among 12 games on the schedule — toward a higher goal. And the only way to stack wins toward a conference championship (and playoff contention) is going 1-0, week after week. Thus Florida State is “any other game.” 

The Seminoles will play better than the 0-2 team they are. The Tigers will likely fall short of the standard they’ve set by outscoring two teams 78-17. But quarterback Seth Henigan is climbing the Tiger and AAC record charts with every contest and the Memphis ground game seems to be in the capable hands of Mario Anderson (125 yards on 17 carries against Troy). This Saturday’s showdown in Tallahassee will be a fun and, yes, sentimental showcase for a Memphis team still rising.

• As for the U of M basketball program, coach Penny Hardaway is once again surrounded by smoke. (Didn’t he ask for this upon taking the job six years ago?) An anonymous letter to the NCAA alleges both financial and academic misdeeds on Hardaway’s watch. You can safely ignore the padding of recruits’ wallets. (See the $20 million it has reportedly cost Ohio State to build its current football roster.) But if academic fraud involving Malcolm Dandridge can be traced to Hardaway, it will be a sad and awkward exit for a local legend. That’s a big “if,” of course. Here’s to a day we can again discuss Tiger basketball without a cloud of scrutiny growing thicker and darker. 

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Paint, Dean Strickland, Tourney Time

Posted to Reddit by u/CUrlymafurly

Memphis on the internet.

Paint

“The paint is coming off!!” wrote u/CUrlymafurly on Reddit last week. Some MEMernet citizens cringe at painted brick in general. But this paint job hit a note for many more.

The mansion was once the stately Nineteenth Century Club. It was being painted in preparation for the new Tekila Modern Mexican restaurant. But owners made an agreement with preservationists and the paint is now being removed.

Dean Strickland

Posted to X by University of Memphis

“Jim Strickland, the 64th mayor of the city of Memphis, was announced today as the next dean of Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law,” the University of Memphis tweeted last week.

Tourney Time

Posted to TikTok by Bleacher Report

Jaylin James, a content creator with Bleacher Report, had fun at the NCAA tournament here last month. He hit Beale, ate Central BBQ, shared some popcorn with a basketball fan, experienced his first buzzer beater, and captured it all in a fun TikTok video.

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From My Seat Sports Sports Feature

Transfer Nation

Penny Hardaway (U of M Athletics / Joe Murphy)

Let’s be glad there’s no such thing as an NIT championship parade. How awkward would that have been? Before Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers could deliver their 2021 trophy to the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center, nearly half of Hardaway’s nine-man rotation announced their intentions to leave the program. Sophomores Boogie Ellis, D.J. Jeffries, and Damion Baugh will transfer and freshman Moussa Cisse is dipping his toes into the NBA draft waters, though not hiring an agent just yet. Even one of Hardaway’s two four-star recruits for next season — Jordan Nesbitt — departed for Saint Louis University after enrolling at the U of M for the spring semester. Exhale. And deep breaths. The 2020-21 Tiger season is over . . . and so is that team, with an exclamation point.

Such is life in college basketball today. Forget the players; teams themselves are one-and-done. All of them. Something we’ve come to know as the transfer portal has created all-but-unfettered free agency in the sport, with more than 1,000 players “entering the portal” this offseason. And yes, two of those players — swingmen Davion Warren and Earl Timberlake — are already headed to Memphis. So if you’re doing the math, Memphis has subtracted five players (should Cisse actually enter the NBA draft) and added two for year four of the Coach Penny era.

There’s no need for grinding teeth or screaming into the Twitterverse over the roster volatility. The NCAA has, for generations, exploited talented athletes for financial gain, most glaringly the “March Madness” telethon each spring that crowns basketball’s champion. If we’ve reached the point where players can at least choose — without penalty — their program(s) of choice after actually experiencing life as a cash cow, it’s a better, more honest world. Makes the job of a coach and his recruiting staff a fiery gauntlet, but hey, that’s why they’re paid the big bucks.

• Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game would have been a nice look in Atlanta this summer. Scheduled to be played six months after the great Hank Aaron’s passing, the Midsummer Classic would have made for an uplifting salute to an American legend and a warm welcome-back as vaccinations allow more and more fans to actually enter stadiums. And considering Georgia voters changed the legislative branch of our government by sending two Democrats to the U.S. Senate, the showcase sporting event might have been seen as a “thank you” from an under-represented segment of our population. Aaron would have appreciated that.

Alas, the All-Star Game will not be going down to Georgia. With those new Senators still decorating their offices, the Peach State’s legislature enacted bills that serve as restrictions on voting. (Don’t you dare provide a voter a bottle of water!) So MLB yanked the All-Star Game and will stage the event in Denver. The decision was made quickly by commissioner Rob Manfred, but surely with loud whispers in his ears from corporate sponsors not thrilled about pouring millions of dollars into a state so bold-faced in its anti-democratic legislation.

Get used to this. The most powerful force in the United States of America is money. No man or woman, no voice or column, no march or protest will get things done in this country like the mighty dollar. It’s the one variable that can swing, yes, legislation. Piss off the “liberal media,” that’s fine. Only so many ears (and wallets) CNN (an Atlanta company!) can reach. But find yourself on the wrong side of the table from Coca-Cola (an Atlanta company!) or Budweiser, with millions of baseball fans in the mix? Those campaign donations will drop like a batter with a fastball to the chin.

No one wants politics mixed with their sports entertainment. But sports entertainment breathes the oxygen of American business. The mix has already been made. Major League Baseball simply used its All-Star Game as the most recent — sorry for this — hammer for change.

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News The Fly-By

Life After Sports

From Derrick Rose to Tyreke Evans, former Memphis Tiger Doneal Mack witnessed several of his teammates go on to play in the NBA.

But Mack knew going to the league wasn’t guaranteed, which motivated him to get his degree. And after playing basketball overseas for three years, he traded in sports for entrepreneurship. Mack currently owns his own 18-wheeler trucking company, D-Mack Trucking.

“At first, it was hard, because I wanted to play basketball, but I also had to work,” Mack said. “As you get older, you have to give it up. The ball doesn’t roll forever.”

Doneal Mack

The probability of a student-athlete playing professionally is extremely slim. According to National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) data, only 1.2 percent of men’s basketball student-athletes are estimated to be drafted into the NBA, and only 1.6 percent of football student-athletes will go to the NFL.

A University of Memphis research team was recently awarded a $10,000 grant from the NCAA to develop a four-phase career readiness program for student-athletes who don’t go pro after college. Entrepreneurship training, project-based learning, workplace readiness training, and a practicum with a community partner are among aspects being explored with the initiative.

Members of the U of M’s Center for Athletic Academic Services, University College, and sports and leisure studies departments collectively created the program.

“We want our student-athletes to do more than just graduate. We want them to be successful,” said Bob Baker, director of the Center for Athletic Academic Services. “Unfortunately, because of the time demands that they are under, they don’t have a lot of time to do internships and to get professional development experiences. A lot of them have hopes of playing professionally, but outside of that they’re not sure about what they’re going to do.”

The U of M was one of six universities selected to receive the grant out of a pool of nearly 140 applicants.

Due to student-athletes being required to attend numerous practices, conditioning sessions, and team meetings, and travel to away games, they’re more likely to miss classes, study less, and not secure an internship.

Billy Smith played shooting guard for the U of M from 1990 to1993. He said balancing his athletic career with school wasn’t easy, but he managed to do it.

“[Participating in] practice and then having to go to class and be just as productive is one of the toughest parts of being a collegiate athlete,” Smith said. “A lot of times, you may see athletes dozing off in class. That’s because they’ve been up since about 5:45 a.m., when the average student is still asleep. As an athlete, that can be one of the hardest transitions to make.”

Like Mack, Smith had aspirations of going pro but wasn’t drafted. He earned his degree in sports medicine and currently works in pharmaceutical sales.

Since the 2010-11 school year, only 12 U of M student-athletes have continued their athletic careers at the professional level, according to Baker. He said the new career readiness program would be a tremendous benefit for U of M athletes considering the likelihood of them not going to the league.

“I think this will increase their awareness, and it will change their mindset in terms of what’s going to happen and what options they will have after their sports [career] ends,” Baker said.

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Sports

Get College Basketball Out of Football Stadiums

georgia2_dome_1.jpg

Talk about taking the crowd out of the game.

Did you see the empty seats at those NCAA Regional games over the weekend? What genius at the NCAA decided it would be a good idea to play basketball games in indoor football stadiums? The Michigan-Florida game looked like a preseason exhibition game, with entire sections of lower-deck seats nearly empty. That’s what you get for playing in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. After fans of the losing teams go home, the winners can’t muster nearly enough locals and out-of-town fans who can afford the tickets and travel costs to make a respectable crowd.

It was a similar story in Indianapolis, where Louisville played Duke at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts.

Only the East and West regionals were played in basketball stadiums. The Final Four will be played this weekend at The Georgia Dome in Atlanta, home of the Falcons.

At one time, the move to football stadiums was a novelty that attracted upwards of 40,000 fans who could at least say “I was there” even if they couldn’t see much. No more. By the time the regular season, conference tournaments, and early rounds of the NCAA Tournament are over, most fans have had enough. The noise and excitement of a packed 15,000-seat stadium or even a 8,000-seat stadium beats a spotty, apathetic crowd at a cavernous football stadium every time.

This is March Madness of another kind. A maize-out in Ann Arbor or a crowd of Cameron Crazies in Durham or a sea of Tiger blue in FedExForum looks better on television. The atmosphere is electric. The pressure is intense. The background for the players is different. There is plenty of speculation that elevated courts can cause hideous injuries, like Kevin Ware’s. (Here’s another piece that quotes Dr. Frederick Azar, head of the Campbell Clinic in Memphis.) Time to call a time-out for a video review of tournament sites and change the call.

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News

Memphis Edges Gonzaga, 62-58

The Memphis Tigers stopped a two-game losing streak by beating Gonzaga on the road Saturday, 62-58. Frank Murtaugh has details.

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Sports Sports Feature

A Title Team?

The University of Memphis men’s basketball team currently sits at 8-0 and ranks second in the nation. Everything you hear and see in town suggests this team is poised to make a run for the national championship. And, despite a few good early wins against Oklahoma, UConn, and USC, that campaign kicks into gear this week: a road contest against Cincinnati followed by games against fifth-ranked Georgetown and 21st-ranked Arizona.

But does this Tiger team really fit the profile of a national champ? The NCAA tournament may be known for its exciting upsets, but history has shown that talent usually wins out in the end, and that typically means NBA-level talent. The teams with the most (and best) future pros have proven to have a significant advantage over their competition in the drive for the college hoops title.

Tiger fans have taken to lauding the talent on this year’s team, but how does it match up with other recent title winners as well as other teams competing for this year’s title?

The U of M currently has three players solidly on the NBA radar: Freshman point guard Derrick Rose is a consensus Top 5 pick. Junior swingman Chris Douglas-Roberts is projected to be anywhere from a mid-first-rounder to a second-rounder. Senior center Joey Dorsey — too short and too old for his college production to mark him as a top-notch pro prospect — could go anywhere from late-first (a long shot) to falling out of the draft completely.

By comparison, look at the NBA pedigree of recent champs. The Florida team that won the past two NCAA tournaments sent five players into the NBA, including three Top 10 picks — Al Horford, Corey Brewer, and Joakim Noah. The 2005 North Carolina title team sent six of its players into the NBA draft, including four players in the Top 15 and two players (Marvin Williams and Raymond Felton) in the Top 5. The previous year’s victorious Connecticut squad had a whopping seven players from its title-team roster drafted into the NBA, including three Top 10 picks (Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, and Charlie Villaneuva).

This recent stretch of college champs littered with pros isn’t a fluke: Eleven of the past 13 college champions had at least four players drafted into the NBA, a number this Memphis team is unlikely to match. The two exceptions are the upset-special Syracuse team of 2003, which boasted two draftees (Carmelo Anthony and the Grizzlies’ Hakim Warrick, picked third and 19th, respectively) and was only a number-three seed heading into that year’s tournament, and the 1999 Connecticut team in which Rip Hamilton was a Top 10 pick and Khalid El-Amin and Jake Voskuhl were high second-rounders.

So, even if you take an optimistic view of the pro prospects of Rose, Douglas-Roberts, and Dorsey — that Rose goes very high, Douglas-Roberts goes in the middle of the first round, and Dorsey gets drafted — this Tiger team would barely match the profiles of those exceptions to the rule.

If Douglas-Roberts and Dorsey instead meet their low-end expectations — falling to the late-first or early-second round and going undrafted, respectively — then you’d have to go all the way back to the 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks, from which only Corliss Williamson was drafted, to find an NCAA champion with a less impressive stable of pro prospects than this year’s Tiger team.

Tiger fans may think their team is outrageously talented, but NBA prospect lists don’t agree. In fact, several current college teams — particularly North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, and Arizona — boast a more impressive array of pro prospects than John Calipari’s team.

It is true that the act of winning can help get players drafted, but second-tier Tigers such as Antonio Anderson and Robert Dozier are too marginal in skill for a good tournament run to boost their pro prospects much.

Basically, if the Tigers win a title this season, it will mean one of two things: that Dorsey and Douglas-Roberts have enhanced their status as pro prospects or the team itself has bucked a very strong trend.

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Sports Sports Feature

Bama Booster Awarded $5 Million Judgment Against NCAA

CREDIT: image: illinijboard.com

A jury awarded University of Alabama football booster Ray Keller a $5 million judgment today against the NCAA. Keller claims he was caught up in the NCAA’s attempts to “set a trap” for Alabama and another booster, the late Memphian Logan Young.

From the AP:

“The state court jury awarded Ray Keller $3 million in punitive damages, $1 million for mental anguish, $500,000 for economic loss and $500,000 for damage to reputation.

“Keller, a timber dealer and fan whom the university severed ties with because of the probe, argued that the NCAA slandered and libeled him during the announcement of penalties by referring to him and others as ‘rogue boosters,’ ‘parasites’ and ‘pariahs.'”

According to Keller’s attorney, the NCAA “acted in a ‘blind rage’ to target the late Logan Young of Memphis, a former Alabama booster convicted of paying a high school coach $150,000 to steer a recruit to Alabama.”

Before serving his six-month sentence, Young died after an accident in his home in 2006.

Read the AP story here.

For more on the Young case, go here.

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Sports Sports Feature

USA Today Touts Basketball Tigers

USA Today has a nice story on the basketball Tigers online today.

An exerpt: For all his attributes, and he has a ton, Chris Douglas-Roberts has been scrutinized for the absence of an outside shot.

Not anymore.

The 6-6 guard says he spent countless hours in the offseason working on everything from his midrange jumper to his three-point shooting. He is one reason Memphis is considered a favorite to reach the NCAA tournament title game.

With four other returning starters and the addition of one of the most heralded freshmen in the country in 6-4 guard Derrick Rose, the team could give Memphis its first NCAA championship in basketball.

“Yeah, we’re talented, and we’re deep,” Memphis coach John Calipari says. “But when you have good guys that get along. .. and they’re on a mission, that’s when it becomes like, ‘Wow.'”

Like “wow” indeed. Read the rest here.