Yeah we (memphis) shoot 33.3% from 3, but have you seen what we hold opponents to? Apparently not.

Have you looked at our SOS (10)so far? Apparently not. Yes, it takes into account home games being easier.

Have you looked what we hold out opponents to in field goal percentage? Apparently not.

Did you not see how we demolished Georgetown in the 2nd have mainly cause of our defense? Apparently not.

Did you not look to see how we played Oklahoma (who has an rpi in the 20's) and UConn on a neutral court? Apparently not.

Did you look to see how we beat all of our opponents by double digits except for one (USC) with the 10th hardest schedule of the year so far? Apparently not.

Why in the hell would it matter that a team we play shoots a better three point percentage when we hold opponents to a lower percentage than we shoot from three point land? I'm sorry, but that is a ridiculous statement to make that if you are looking for a team to beat us.

Josh, not even the best team (whoever that may be) has won a national championship without at least playing a close game. I bring that up because of your USC statement.

You say we are not the #1 team based on what we have done. Who has had a more impressive run up to this point?

Ok Josh tell me someone who has played a better schedule away from home with the same caliber of competition as Memphis? That list is very small. You see all these home games on the schedule and little did you know most of these games are return games from last year that were all on the road. How about look at Duke's schedule. They dont play any road games out of conference. Dont single out Memphis when they have played some of the best teams in the country. Next year they will return all of them ON THE ROAD!

You need to do some more homework because factually you're a tad bit off. The Tigers have had wins over UConn, Oklahoma and the aforementioned USC in Madison square Garden. They also have a road win over Cincinnati. Can you name another top 10 team who has played 4 quality opponents on neutral or road floors?
To question Memphis' schedule is silly at best. The Tigers are #1 in RPI. And a team the Tigers beat is 2nd in Arizona. USC has played a tough one as well and took Kansas to the buzzer on the road. UC and Memphis is an old fashioned rivalry that goes back decades so that game is always tough.
The Tigers defense is what makes them a cut above the rest. Sure they can have off nights on the offensive end but they very rarely have a bad night defensively. And that's what wins championships.
Calipari's teams have always gotten better as the season progressed while he's been at Memphis. If they make any sort of progress (which they will) then you should see a team that is 40& better around tournament time.
The Tigers are a tournament tested and hungry team which will be lethal for opponents come March. So just stand back and enjoy. Oh, and keep writing the overrated columns, they always make for good motivation.

ummm....uconn and oklahoma were in new york as well on a neutral site. the lack of marquee games on the road has not affected the tigers much the last two years, and with more talent and experience this year, they have a golden opportunity to make it all the way.

Your comments about USC having Memphis on the edge are correct but every team is going to have a few games where you say,"whoa,that was close",after your 2 or 3 point victory.Those games can be the very ones that give you confidence when you make the NCAA's.In fact the first "whoa" game Kansas had this year was against USC a few days prior to the USC-Memphis game.Does that diminish anyone's perception about the Jayhawks?I would also say that anyone who considers the Memphis-Connecticut game to have been played on a neutral court should try it sometime.A team from another part of the country plays a Big East team in New York gets a neutral court?Please.

What amazes me is no matter what Memphis does there will always be some voice out there coming up with reason after reason why it isn't good enough. Before it was they didn't have the players or wins, then it was they didn't win against anyone who mattered, now it is they aren't winning against anyone away from home??? Come on, UCLA lost at home, N. Carolina hasn't played one game against a tournament team come March, and Kansas (which has played USC and Arizona on both home and non-home courts like Memphis) is still behind Memphis in both the RPI and SOS. Does Memphis have to play the entire top 25 starting at 25 and working to number 1 all on the opponents courts, or play away games against the top 5 teams every week to get some respect??? The media always questions Memphis's players and coaches when they say they get no respect, well until they get everyone to respect them (not love them but just respect that they have played the best schedule and done so undefeated) then yes everyone affiliated with the program, and that means every fan such as myself, can stick their chest out proudly and laugh at silly and obviously very not thought-out articles.

I guess you forgot about oklahoma and kansas? You guys keep picking against us. It just fuels our fire. Which big 6 conference team are you a fan off?

IDIOT!!

Who is this Josh Herwitt character and isn't it past his bed time ? "Should have lost it's game ..." - that is the dumbest as$ thing I have ever heard anyone say. "Should have lost" - let's go back through the whole game and evaluate every play to see what "might" have happened ultimately too. That's how games are won and lost - players make or miss. The Tigers have had every junk defense known to man thrown at them, including cheap-shot fouls from Arizona, and they still keep winning in double figures (except for the USC game, which KANSAS barely beat AT HOME IN OT). Davidson almost beat NC for goodness sake and other teams have been VERY CLOSE to NC at halftime before even the mighty, awesome always #1 Tarheels could pull away. Why don't you write about all the positive things the Tigers are accomplishing against an absolute brutal schedule rather than taking the time to author an entire article about how you think "they should've lost". This article makes you look like an inexperienced high-schooler.

Ummm.. Please tell me Josh, up to this point who exactly has UNC or KS beaten compared to Memphis' opponents? Home, away or neutral court incuded?

By writing this article using the points you do trying to substantiate your obviously ignorant oinion, just goes to prove there is hope for high school drop outs...

But maybe you just haven't peaked yet....

Will someone at CSTV please fire this idiot when the Tigers make the Final Four or win the National Championship? He looks like he should be attending his junior prom or mixing it up in the chess club. Memphis beat a Cincinnati team at their place by double digits. The same team that beat Louisville (at full strength) in Freedom Hall. Why don't Oklahoma, UConn, and USC on neutral courts count? Who has North Carolina beat anywhere??? I can't believe I'm wasting time on this article, my 3 year old daughter knows more about college basketball (and could write a better article)!

Why don't you use that same analysis for UNC and Kansas? Did you forget that Kansas won by only 4 to the same USC team? Who has UNC beaten that makes UofM so decidely not first place? Are you saying the crowds won the games for the Tigers and they deserve no credit for winning those games? You say UofM should have lost to USC, but maybe you should say USC should have won. The better team walked off the court a winner. It is no surprise to me you work for the power house CSTV network, arguably the worst national network in the country. I understand you may be trying to make a name for yourself, but maybe you should get a degree in journalism or perhaps study some basketball numbers before making yourself look like a clown. Memphis has 3 top 25 wins (1 top 5 win) and 6 top 50 wins, with the #1 RPI. No one else can say that. Oh, you must have forgot about Uconn and UO at MSG. Maybe if you keep working on it you could get a promotion up to Yahoo sports. You obviously have it all figured out. Clown.

Memphis is the #1 team in the country in my opinion. I'm an Arizona fan and we have played a lot of tough road games: @ Kansas, @ Illinois, @ UNLV and @ Memphis (not to mention home to Texas A&M, Virginia, San Diego State and others).. but Memphis was by far the best team we have faced. I think that Brandon Rush of Kansas needs to get back to what he was and then Kansas will be the best team in the nation followed closely by Memphis. I pick Memphis, UNC, Kansas and Washington State to go to the final 4.

Isn't Memphis #1 in the RPI in the country and Arizona #2? Memphis ain't backing down from teams (partly because they have to play a tough non-conference to get a high seed) but ... they do have to play on the road next year or did play on the road last year at all of these team's places too.

By the way to the earlier commenter, Chris, the 2nd intentional foul call on Kirk Walters was one of the worst calls this entire season. CDR jumped into a 7 foot guy trying to take a charge... lol do people not expect that he will probably fall down and maybe hurt himself? Arizona didn't and doesn't play dirty. The first one was a flagrant foul, because it was over-aggressive, but not an intentional. Kirk tried to block him and missed.

This column is awful and CSTV should be ashamed.

The factual errors alone make it round file material - for example: location of games, whether the Tigers have faced the triangle and two since USC and how they did, whether the Tigers have faced other zones or junk defenses and how they did.

I could understand a "homer" fan of another school or conference wallowing in uneducated slop like this, but a "college basketball editor" who does not know or research those items before basing a column on them has absolutely no credibility.

this guys a complete idiot, he really gets paid to write about college basketball.. I love it when he says "Memphis should have lost...." and then goes n to tell us how we would be in trouble if we ever saw a triangle and two again, well we saw it the following week and destroyed MTSU by 24 points. We also beat OU and UConn on neutral courts- I was there for all 3 games in the garden as well-

If a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its ass every time it hopped. Listen little man, you can find "warts" on any top ten team in the country. Elite teams find ways to win, period. North Carolina is a great team but compare their schedule home and away to the Tigers and the Tigers have the toughest schedule confirmed by those who obviously know more than you. Have a nice day.

Hey, Joshie - I'm assuming from the one million factual errors in this "article" that you also operate one of the four cameras that CSTV owns for game coverage. I would recommend you stick with that camera gig. There is so much wrong with this article that my 5th grader started listing them when he read it. Does anyone get a job @ CSTV for writing a "weekly national column" ? When can it be my 5th grader's turn ? You guys just let me know. Thanks !

There is a reason Memphis is picking up more first place votes.....it comes from careful review of ALL the teams and how they are playing. Memphis has the deepest bench in college basketball and can just tire teams out. Calipari does not like to call time outs because he is busy running a full court press and wearing out the opponents. Tired players make mistakes...so, why give them a breather? Why not do an article on the depth of the Tigers and how it will take them to a NCAA Championship? One of the reasons Memphis foul shooting is bad is because Joey Dorsey is being fouled and he is not a good free throw shooter and brings the average down. Of course, fouling Dorsey means some other teams big men are getting into foul trouble. The other Memphis players have decent free throw shooting percentages. Opposing teams PLAN on fouling Dorsey. But Dorsey more than makes up for this with his inside dominance. He is many times...a man among boys. Here is a great rule I learned in News Writing classes...You gotta do your research before writing an article or you are going to look foolish...in front of the whole world.

You're a f-ing idiot.

Start out with one of your dad's old electric razors and when you get use to that give blades a try...Oh and lay off the dope!

Josh Herwitt is actually the Evan character from the movie Super Bad. Here's to college at Dartmouth next semester bud! chicka chicka cha fake id fake id

The schedule that Memphis has played so far is a strong schedule. Many expected Memphis to lose 2 games by now and so far no team really has come close except for USC. That game feels like months ago now. You concentrate on Memphis weak spots while not mentioning any of their positives.

As for shooting the 3. As well as Memphis is destroying defenses right now you don't need the 3 when your team is shooting over 40% from he field...now do you? Dozier and Taggart have been shredding Zones which is why everyone is throwing whatever gimmick defenses they can think of to stop the Tigers.

47.5% vs Arizona
46% vs Georgetown

Memphis is shooting around 47% against back to back ranked teams. I guess that makes Memphis a 2nd rate team. Just so you know the only game where Memphis didn't shoot at least 45% on the field for the month of December was the USC. What a horrible offensive team. Obviously, you picked the wrong game to watch and solely judge this team on.

What a tool.

What a brillant young writer!!!

I've read much of your work that is written in the bathroom stalls and it tickles me to know you now have a real job.

Keep up the good work.

Personally, I think Josh Herwitt, albeit young in facial feature, is one of the up and coming sports writers of our time. Kudos to Josh Herwitt.

Josh, you are soooooo correct in your assessment of our team. We are clearly not worthy of being # 1, b/c too many of our top opponents have to play us at our place. UNC is sooooo much better than us, b/c they play Valparaiso, Old Dominion, Kent State and Nevada. And did you miss their game against Davidson, one they won by 4 points (same as our USC game)and should have lost. But I guess with their extremely tough schedule up to this point, they have proven sooooo much that we shouldn't dare think of being #1. Get a clue and stay tuned as we beat the HELL out of everyone else we play. GO TIGERS!!!!

You're an IDIOT looking for recognition!

You don't have to be a tiger fan to recognize such a horrible p.o.s article when you read one.

Oh yeah...happy new year.