The NCAA tournament is officially underway and it is now crunch time for the Memphis Tigers. Ranked atop the college basketball world for much of the campaign (until their only loss to Tennessee) the pressure is now on John Calipari’s ballclub to bring home a national title. Their first game of The Big Dance was only a two hour bus ride from their campus in Little Rock, Arkansas against Texas-Arlington. Hardly a tough test for the Tigers but the road to San Antonio and the Final Four in a few weeks will grow increasingly more treacherous as the tourney picks up speed.

The loss to Tennessee may have been the obligatory loss- according to some pundits - for an unbeaten titan to ease the pressure of an unblemished record heading into March Madness. It was a classic battle that went down to the wire. Two teams ranked 1-2 from the same state. The free throw shooting question associated with Memphis all season reared its’ ugly head once again as the Tigers missed four of five attempts from the charity stripe in the waning moments of that affair. More on that later.

New Kid on the Block
Freshman phenom Derrick Rose has put his signature on the ballclub in this his first year running the Tigers offense. The 6’3” Chicago native has transitioned beautifully from high school basketball to being the floor general of a national powerhouse with a veteran nucleus.

Rose was recently selected Conference USA Freshman of the Year and also first team all-conference. He has put up some solid numbers that merely scratch the surface of his worth to this squad. He has been averaging 13.9 points per game with 4.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds per outing. Defensively, he has been a presence making just under two steals per ballgame. His shooting has been streaky but effective with marks of 47 % from the floor, 69% from the foul line and 33% from behind the arc.

Rose has great size to man the point guard position at 6”4”. This guy can sky above the rim and also be difficult to guard due to his speed. He has the innate ability to make his teammates better which is a paramount skill for point guards. The pro scouts love the intensity he brings especially on the defensive end. He has a reputation for being “very coachable” a sometimes lost art among today’s up and coming superstars.

In some scouting reports he is compared to Jason Kidd for his unselfish play and his knack for rebounding. As previously mentioned his shooting can be streaky but will most likely improve due to his work ethic. He also draws similarities with Dwyane Wade due to his ability to post up and to the way he leads by example for the other players on his team. As the youngest player on Memphis he has gained the complete confidence of all his teammates.

Ol’ Reliable
Chris Douglas-Roberts has flourished in this his junior campaign. The 6’7” swingman has stepped up his game with his new found running mate Derrick Rose. His numbers have been huge as he has put together an All-American caliber season. “CDR” as he is known leads the Tigers in many offensive categories. He averaged 17.2 points per contest on 55% shooting from the floor and 45% shooting from beyond the three point arc.

Roberts has a game suited for the NBA. He is fast and a high flyer on the break-also his shooting stats reveal he can make shots. As a big guard he grabbed 4.0 rebounds per outing while dishing out just under two assists per effort. He can be a defensive presence as well making 42 steals this season for the Tigers. Like the rest of the Tigers, he needs to improve from the free throw line but as his other shooting stats show he can shoot the basketball.

The Maestro
John Calipari is one of those guys who was born to be a college basketball coach. He got his start under Larry Brown at the University of Kansas. He brought U Mass to the Final Four in 1996 with a 35-2 record after resurrecting that program over an eight year span winning five consecutive Atlantic Ten Conference titles. His record at U MASS was 193-71.

He jumped to the professional ranks in the winter of 1996. He coached two seasons and a part of a third without success with the New Jersey Nets and found himself yearning for the college game. Unlike some other guys in the coaching profession who have jumped back and forth between the pro and the collegiate ranks Calipari seems to know where he belongs and where he does his best work.

He has been at the helm of The Memphis Tigers for eight seasons now. He has averaged almost 27 wins per season with his current ball club. Every year at Memphis his team has won at least 20 contests and the past three years his squad has won over 30 with Kentucky legend Adolph Rupp being the only other coach in the history of the game to hold that distinction. The past two seasons Memphis has gotten all the way to the Elite Eight that’s one of the reasons why expectations are so high this season.

Calipari has a record of 18-9 in NCAA tournament action. That’s a .667 winning percentage. That won’t be good enough this season.

The Rest of the Crew
There’s way more to the Tigers than their Rose, Douglas-Roberts and their master motivator coach. Actually if you look at Memphis’ stat line you see ten players playing ten minutes per night. Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier are a pair of 6’9” bookends that give the Tigers defense and rebounding on a nightly basis. The senior Dorsey grabs just under ten rebounds per contest and gets 1.9 blocks per outing. He’s a cinch around the hoop, shooting 65% from the floor. He is however another liability at the line making only 39% from the charity stripe. Dozier, a junior makes 1.8 blocks per game and snares 6.8 boards per outing.

Antonio Anderson, Doneal Mack and Willie Kemp are all interchangeable parts that give Calipari offense and energy. The senior Anderson at 6”6” dishes out 3.4 assists per effort while chipping in 8.3 points per contest. Mack is a 6’5”sophomore who scores 7.7 points per game. Willie Kemp a 6’2” sophomore provides a long distance threat with his 44 three point baskets.

Throw in Shawn Taggart a talented 6”10” sophomore who shoots 52% from the floor with 32 blocks and takes down 4.1 rebounds per game. This team has depth and a variety of seasoned vets and young players.

Over the course of the season the Tigers have had six different leading scorers. As good as Douglas-Roberts has played he only averages 17 points per game and is the only Memphis player among the nation’s top 100 scorers.

The Tigers have averaged 80 points per game with a margin of victory of 18.9 points per contest. Their defense can be stifling at 61 points per game which ranks them 23rd in the country. They hold their opponents to 38.4% shooting from the field which ranks them 10th nationally.

They led their conference in steals, blocks and assists and were lowest in turnovers. That’s domination.

Their Schedule
A two sided sword here when you discuss how they got be 33-1 on the season. Conference USA is simply not the best league in the country- not the worst either. Houston and UAB were solid teams and border-line NCAA teams. Houston’s Robert McIver and UAB’s Robert McIver would be in most people’s top 50 players nationally.

Outside the conference the Tigers had quite a schedule. They played eight teams that were invited to the Big Dance and won seven of them. The wins were against Oklahoma, U Conn, USC, Georgetown, Arizona, Siena and Gonzaga. Their only defeat was at the hands of, at the time, second ranked Tennessee in a monumental battle in the Volunteer state

The Siena game was a blowout victory but in the other six wins they were able to hold an average margin of ten points. (If you think Siena was an easy one just look at what Siena did to number four seed Vanderbilt in the opening round- They beat them by more than twenty points).The USC victory was their narrowest escape at four points. They lost to Tennessee by four points and did miss four free throws in the final minutes.

If you have been paying attention I told you that I would mention free throw shooting woes again. That may be the reason a CBS Sports poll has them picked as the number one seed most likely to lose first in the tournament.

Let’s Dance
As a top region seed the Tigers drew University Texas- Arlington in their first round game. The Mavericks come out of the Southland Conference and are balanced team with some pretty decent size inside. Their front line averages about 240 pounds. They finished with a record of 21-11 and were bit of a surprise even getting this far. Look for them to throw their weight around in the early goings.

The Tigers were tested early but did go on a 15-2 run midway first half. The final score was Memphis 87 Texas Arlington 63. The Mavericks were indeed a physical team and did seem to wake up the inside duo of Dozier and Dorsey who have been cited for erratic play for much of the season.

It was a typical game for the Tigers with Douglas Roberts and Rose leading the way. “CDR” put up 23 points with 7 rebounds and 4 assists while his running mate Rose chipped in 17 points with 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Antonio Anderson had a solid game scoring 17 points, snaring 6 boards and dishing out 5 assists. Dozier and Dorsey did step up in the second half. Dozier finished with 12 points and Dorsey took down 9 rebounds. Doneal Mack was key off the Tiger bench with 10 points.

Their second round was to be a step up in class as either Oregon (18-13) or Mississippi State (22-10) awaited the Tigers. The Oregon Ducks are not as good as last year but are dangerous coming out of the PAC 10. They have good guard play. The Bulldogs of Mississippi State are strong inside and were a hot team down the stretch winning 17 of their last 22 ballgame.

Mississippi State beat Oregon 76-69 and now will face Memphis. This will be a tough test for the Tigers. The Bulldogs outscored the Ducks 48-31 in the second half after being down ten at the half. Charles Rhodes a 6’8, 245 pound senior had a monster game in this one tallying 34 points. He was aided by 6”2” sophomore Barry Stewart who made four three pointers on his way to a 16 point performance. The Bulldogs top player ,Jamont Jordan, a 6’4’ swing man, was held in line shooting wise- only 8 points on 2-14 shooting- but he did rack up 9 assists and snare 11 rebounds.

Mississippi State is coached by Rick Stansbury. Stansbury has flown under the radar nationally as far as top coaches are concerned. He has been at the helm of the Bulldogs for 10 seasons now and has a record of 206 -113 with seven 20 win seasons.

The Sweet Sixteen will be bring any of the following teams; Michigan State, Pitt, Stanford or Texas. If Memphis does advance all of these potential opponents are dangerous. Michigan State has guard Drew Neitzel who has been inconsistent this year but loves playing in the big game Pitt has been re-energized with point guard Levance Fields back in the lineup. They have only lost one game when he has played. Stanford has the seven-foot twin brother Lopez boys and have been battle tested all year in the PAC 10.Texas has beaten a lot of good teams and has arguably the nation’s best point guard in DJ Augustin.

A South Region final four of Memphis, Michigan State, Stanford and Texas is simply awesome.

The Final Four
Memphis may face among other possibilities UCLA, North Carolina and Kansas. All of these teams are the number one seeds. Whether that happens remains to be seen teams like Georgetown, Louisville and Tennessee may offer differing opinions on on this matter.