Dane Bradshaw figured things had gotten bad when he saw Ellen Calipari booing.

"Sorta booing," he said.

No need to start anything else, is there?

So Bradshaw ran over to John Calipari's wife. He apologized for anything he had said that caused offense.

"How about that?" said Calipari. "He goes over to tell my wife, Miss Cal, I apologize."

So it's official, then.

This game had everything.

It had brawling and making up.

It had loud and louder.

It had Calipari calling himself a child, and Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl disagreeing with that assessment, and the two coaches walking arm and arm on the court.

And most of that was before the game started! Then things got really interesting.

"That was a high-level basketball game," said Calipari.

"What a great game for the fans," said Pearl.

See?

They agree. Someone mark this moment.

But who's going to argue with either of the coaches after what went down at FedExForum Wednesday night?

Calipari has always said he'd love to play Tennessee if he could get the game on national television. Pearl had the following idea.

"Just take this game and let ESPN look at it," he said.

They could even FedEx it!

But include the pregame stuff, too, the newspapers and the radio shows. That's part of what made this so delicious.

Calipari said Pearl went too far in the recruitment of Bolivar point guard Willie Kemp. Pearl said he must already be getting to the Memphis coach.

Heck, he said it again right before the basketball game. The Tennessee alumni association had a shindig on Beale Street. Pearl stood on a chair to give a pregame pep talk.

"One thing I promised you is we're going to get under the skin of our opponents," he said.

Pause.

"It looks like we've already ticked them off!"

Loud roars to that one.

Then everyone adjourned to FedExForum, where more than 18,000 gathered to watch the cross-state rivals.

Larry Finch was in the crowd. Willie Kemp sat behind the Memphis bench.

The scoreboard screen focused on a big group of Memphis fans.

Yeah!

Then the cameras swung to a guy from Tennessee.

Boo!

Back to the Memphis fans.

Yeah!

Back to the guy from Tennessee.

Boo!

"I think the people in Memphis like to see the Vols," Pearl said. "Whether you like them or not, it makes it interesting."

So does the breakneck pace, which was fast and warped to faster.

Most teams don't have the nerve to run with Memphis. Pearl didn't have the nerve not to.

"It's what we do," he said.

Better than Memphis, too, for a while there.

And in the middle of it all was Bradshaw, the designated villain, and boy, does that seem silly this morning.

Bradshaw is a Memphis kid from socks to curls. He loves everything about the place. When some LSU fans jeered him the other day, he said was more scared of a "gangbanger from Memphis in the stands."

He didn't say this to smear the city. He said it as a badge of honor.

LSU fans tough?

Ha!

He's from Memphis. He once played despite a death threat. No frat boys could scare him off.

"I feel as though I represent Memphis every time I'm on the court," he said.

If so, he did the city proud on this night.

He was everywhere, doing everything, getting points (21), steals (5), assists (4), rebounds (10) and bruises (under his left eye).

Bradshaw also dropped in a 3-pointer to give Tennessee a four-point lead at the half, then ran off the court, cupping his hand to his ear.

"He showed he's from Memphis," said Shawne Williams, and can you imagine a better compliment?

Of course, Williams is from Memphis, too, so maybe that explains the outcome. Williams posted up Bradshaw for the first basket of the game. Then, with the game tied at 69-69, he decided to wander back in there.

Memphis went on a 10-0 run.

Williams scored seven of those points, all from the post or the line.

"I was proud of the way we grinded it out," said Calipari.

Proud and relieved and apologetic, even.

That's right. Maybe someone should mark this moment, too. It happened in the press conference afterward.

"Let's not get into this back and forth," he said. "We're two grown ...

Calipari thought about this.

"... one grown man and one child, me."

So the Tiger shall lie down with the Vol. So peace shall reign in the land.

"There's no animosity," said Pearl.

At least, until next time.