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Memphis focuses on bigger picture, not one loss
Mark Weber/Commercial Appeal
Memphis' Joey Dorsey, left, argues with the official over a jump ball call during second half action against Tennessee.
Memphis Tigers
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For the soon-to-be former No. 1-ranked University of Memphis basketball team, Saturday's loss to Tennessee only felt like the end of the world.
No, Memphis will not emulate the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers as undefeated national champions. The No. 1-elect Vols, with their 66-62 victory, put paid to that notion.
But the reality, although it was too much for the despondent Tigers to contemplate it in the wake of a rare loss at FedExForum, is that there is still a great deal left to play for over the next six weeks.
The perfect record is gone, and a host of school-record winning streaks along with it, but Memphis (26-1) is still streaking toward a Conference USA regular-season title. The Tigers will be heavy favorites in next month's C-USA tournament and, barring a disastrous post-Tennessee hangover, are still in line for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
"It's all still there," freshman point guard Derrick Rose said. "There ain't nothing to worry about."
Memphis has a couple more days to regroup before facing Tulsa on Wednesday night at FedExForum. Sophomore guard Doneal Mack expects the Tigers to put the loss behind them and proceed with their march toward March.
"We'll get it straight for the next game," Mack said. "We've got to use this for motivation. We've got to look at what we did wrong on the tape."
Although Sunday was technically an off day for the Tigers, who were outrebounded 50-34, shot 47.1 percent from the free-throw line and missed their last 12 3-point attempts against the Vols, Mack said "I know everybody's gonna be in the gym."
Tennessee, which almost certainly will assume the Tigers' place atop the rankings today, has less time to come to grips with its newfound status as a basketball superpower.
The Vols (25-2) travel to Nashville on Tuesday night to face a Vanderbilt team that hasn't lost at home to a top-ranked opponent in 30 years. The 20th-ranked Commodores (23-4) have won three consecutive games at Memorial Gym against teams ranked atop the Associated Press poll. They beat Florida last year, Kentucky in 1993 and North Carolina in 1987 when each of those teams was No. 1.
Senior guard Chris Lofton isn't worried about the Vols being overwhelmed by a No. 1 ranking. He's more concerned about beating the Commodores and preserving Tennessee's two-game lead in the SEC standings.
"I think we'll handle it fine. We've got to remember that on Tuesday night we play a very good team that's gonna be ready to play," Lofton said. "They don't lose a lot at home and they're gonna be ready for us."
While Vols coach Bruce Pearl whipped his team's fans into a frenzy at a pregame pep rally on Saturday - "We're 40 minutes from No. 1," he told them - his players expect him to downplay the ranking.
"Coach is gonna preach every day to us that it don't mean nothing," said sophomore forward Tyler Smith, whose turnaround jumper over Dozier with 26.5 seconds left proved to be the game-winner.
As for the Commodores, Smith said their recent 93-52 bludgeoning of Kentucky - it was the Wildcats' worst loss since 1989 - has commanded the Vols' full attention.
"They beat Kentucky by 40-odd points and Kentucky beat us," Smith said, "so it's gonna be a tough game."
Should Tennessee escape from quirky Memorial Gym with what would be its 10th straight win, the Vols can clinch at least a share of the SEC crown by beating Kentucky on Sunday in Knoxville.
Memphis, meanwhile, can wrap up its third outright C-USA title in as many years with wins over the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday and at Southern Miss on Saturday.
Dozier insists that the Tigers "never were" caught up in the increasing hoopla over their unbeaten start to the season. But the post-game scene in the Memphis locker room, where the majority of players declined to field questions from the media, gave lie to that.
"We were supposed to come up with a victory," said Rose, who did his part by scoring 23 points.
Dozier, despite what Rose described as the emptiness of the moment, was eventually willing to consider the fact that the Tigers' season will continue.
"You live and you learn," Dozier said. "There's a bigger tournament coming up."
In the meantime, Rose said, it would be ridiculous to let Saturday's disappointment derail what could still be a dream season.
"We're the only team in the nation with one loss," he said. "There ain't nothing wrong with that."
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Posted by thethommyb on February 24, 2008 at 11:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The chances that we'll survive the remainder of the SEC schedule, honestly, are slim. It happens all the time - a team reaches the pinnacle, having never been there before, and it brings out the freaking Incredible Hulk in everybody they play afterward. And they get dragged down.
But hey, we are here now. This is wild. When we got to number three, I wanted to photocopy the polls and tape it to my wall. No way I thought the last week or so would happen the way it did.
I repeat: this is wild. Enjoy now.
Posted by mparker on February 25, 2008 at 12:12 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by orangebloodgmc on February 25, 2008 at 8:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sorry, John Adams, your team lost this one.
Posted by Colliervol on February 25, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Agreed thommyb. IMO, it will be more difficult Tuesday night in Nashville than it was Saturday night in Memphis. UT at #1 in that crazy gym against a good Vandy team. If UT gets out of there with a win, it would be an outstanding achievement against arguably as tough a two game stretch as any highly ranked team has had to face.
As far as Memphis goes, if they don't get consistency from Dorsey and Dozier, I doubt they can win the NCAA tournament. They will need them to show up for six consecutive games and I've never seen that happen. That will be their biggest challenge.
Posted by VolnDothan on February 25, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a unique team. They will win out. Talent-laden, motivated, and focused. Go Vols!
Posted by pauln500 on February 25, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm surprised no one is talking about how Calipari did such a poor coaching job at the end. According to Dick Vitale, he had one time out left, but didn't use it. With about 10-seconds on the clock, they came down court and just slung up a wild shot. Pearl, a far better coach, would have called a time out to set up the game-winning play.
Thankfully, Calipari didn't have his head in the game..........He was probably combing his hair !?!?
Posted by HotlantaVol on February 25, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Pearl outcoached Calamari in the last few minutes of that game. Plus, our guys executed. That's what it takes to be the best.
Posted by mtnvol on February 25, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Was it me or did Dorsey whine alot?
Posted by johnlg00 on February 25, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Now that Memphis is behind us--and how great is that!--Vandy becomes the next "Game of the Year". I don't know what Vandy will try to do defensively but it is hard to see how they could do a better job on Chris than Memphis did, especially since they should now know does NOT mean they will win the game, as it might have in previous seasons. If they try to bully him, I have one small suggestion that might help. Any time he is in front of a ref, he should try to cut around his defender, even if he is not involved in the play at the time, since after all the defender wouldn't necessarily know that. Every time the defender tries to grab him, he should yell out to get the ref's attention. If he does that often enough, it may eventually dawn on the ref that the defender is holding and bumping ALL THE TIME. That might get Chris an extra call or two. On the other hand, the ref might see it as a form of "flopping" to draw a (fake) charge, so what do I know(;-P)? Here is something to try when the refs AREN'T around. Chris is actually pretty strong for his size, so he should perhaps do a little roughing of his own--an elbow in the gut or a knee in the thigh might discourage a little of that bellying up by the defender. It would also be worth a foul or two to run an over-zealous defender into some hard screens by Brian or Duke or Chilly. Just a few "FWIW" thoughts....(;-D)
Posted by MOOREVOLS on February 25, 2008 at 11:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was at the game Saturday night, in the upper deck. There were at least 1500 to 1600 Tennessee fans there. Most of them in the upper deck. What a great victory. Pearl did outcoach Calipari, but Memphis was out of timeouts at the end of the game, as was Tennessee. It's great to be #1, but I sure hope we are ready to play Tuesday night. The Vandy game is big.
Posted by blhvols on February 25, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fire Adams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by EDis4UT on February 25, 2008 at 5:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes memphis you keep focusing on the big picture and so will we.
Go luck getting through the rest of the season. Of course, you want be challenged until, MAYBE the 2nd round of the big dance. I'm sure Tulsa (RPI 157) will give you all you can handle.(Must be nice)
In the meantime, we got @VANDY, @FLA, and a challenging conference tournament to play.
Posted by murrayvol on February 25, 2008 at 9:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
pauln500: Actually he did call his last timeout before Lofton shot the free throws. Just wanted to prolong the agony I suppose.
johnlg: Man, you need to be a little more forgiving of tight defense. LOL
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