MEMPHIS -- After a five-year hibernation, one might have expected the Tennessee-Memphis basketball rivalry to be a little rusty around the edges.

Oh, no. Quite the contrary.

The Vols and Tigers hit the ground running Wednesday night. And slapping and scratching and elbowing.

The 18,144 witnesses lucky enough to squeeze into the FedEx Forum were treated to a college hoops gem. A gem in a gym, if you like.

"This was a high-level basketball game,'' said Memphis coach John Calipari. "My hat is off to Tennessee.''

Mine too, Coach Cal.

An 11-point underdog against the No. 4 team in the nation, the Vols gave no quarter before going down 88-79.

There were some (blush) who had a feeling Tennessee might be in for a long, ugly night. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The stage was seemingly set for it. Playing an opponent of Memphis' size and skill is a day's work any time. Doing so sandwiched in between powerful LSU and No. 2 Florida is inviting trouble.

And Memphis wanted Tennessee orange blood (figuratively speaking), make no mistake.

The recruiting war over Bolivar Central point guard Willie Kemp last fall got, shall we say, testy. Calipari won that battle but the two coaching staffs didn't exchange Christmas cards, according to Wednesday's edition of the Memphis Commecial-Appeal.

"I got a call from my wife this morning,'' said UT coach Bruce Pearl. "She said, 'Honey, I read the paper and I didn't know you don't like John.' "

Pearl insists he does like John. He's a "huge fan,'' in fact.

"I grew up in Boston,'' said Pearl. "What he did at UMass (the University of Massachusetts) is one of the top four jobs in the history of college basketball.''

And then UT's Dane Bradshaw went and stirred the pot with some ill-advised quotes earlier in the week, something about the "gang bangers" in Memphis.

Bradshaw is from Memphis, of course. So you can imagine the welcome he got from virtually everyone in the arena other than his parents, Mike and Linda, and 20-odd assorted cousins and nieces.

First, Bradshaw went out and played the game of his life. The future lottery picks had nothing on this guy.

Then he hurried to apologize to any and all for his "terminology.''

"I saw Mrs. Calipari booing me before the game, and thought, 'Man, this has gotten bad,' " Bradshaw said.

"I definitely didn't want to come home to boos.''

Said Pearl, "I don't care who you root for, you've got to absolutely love that kid.''

And you've got to absolutely love the possibilities of the UT-Memphis hoops rivalry.

If there was a better college basketball atmosphere anywhere in the country Wednesday night, I'd like to have seen it. And, yes, I know Duke played N.C. State.

As long as we're taking our hats off, mine tips to the Memphis fans. Elvis may have left the building, but passion for basketball is alive and well in this city.

Now the onus shifts to UT fans in Thompson-Boling Arena next December -- and it will be December, not the middle of SEC season, Pearl promised.

This 40-minute thriller was the first installment of a 10-year contract between these two rivals. The feelings are so intense, it's probably a good thing the schools are 400 miles apart.

Calipari, in his sixth year at Memphis, and Buzz Peterson were close pals. Peterson's successor already has turned up the heat, both on the recruiting front and -- thanks to the amazing coaching job he's done in his debut -- on the court.

"It's not personal, it's business,'' said Pearl, sounding like Michael Corleone.

"It's competition. It's going to happen in recruiting. I'll tell kids why they should come to Tennessee and he's not going to like hearing it.

"And he'll tell kids why they should come to Memphis and sometimes it's going to conflict.''

Memphis and UT have raised conflict to an art form. If this was any indication, put me down for 40 minutes of it every year.