It was quite a wild ride to the 2008 National Championship tonight. Here, in pictures, is a quick chronological look at the pomp and circumstance that surrounded the Kansas-Memphis title bout here in San Antonio...

(Four hours before Armageddon hits. The quiet tranquillity of the stadium you see here won't last for long as the crowd, the teams, the bands, the cheerleaders and the energy start to fill the building.)

(Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are prepping for their first on-camera appearance of the night. Doesn't it look like Nantz is looking straight at the camera as if to ask, "Who the hell is this freak taking a picture of me?")

("Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." ESPN's Shelley Smith is about to give a court-side pre-game report.)

(Ya' gotta love CBS hoop dude Gregg Doyel. Not only does he know his roundball stuff, but he also sported the coolest haircut among the Final Four media throng. Dig the Mohawk Gregg. Although he did tell me it was only temporary because his slight bald spot is exposed more with this cut.)

(The Memphis dancers and Pouncer the Tiger are keyed up for tip-off.)

(Who's more fired up, the Kansas dancers or the dudes in the lower sections that are leering at the Kansas dancers?)

(Of course, no Final Four would be complete without Jesse Jackson, right? Here, he and Houston Phi Slamma Jamma alum Clyde Drexler are chatting it up with a mutual friend.)

(Soon after, Hall-of-Famer Bill Russell happened to pass by and made this a trio of famous people all within the frame of my camera lens.)

(For the injured Roderick Stewart, this was the only way to get around the Alamodome before the game.)

(This is the Memphis Tigers walking out of the locker room on their way to the court. As you can see from some of the players that are laughing, they were loose and even quite jovial at this moment, seemingly at ease with the big game ahead of them.)

(KU, on the other hand, walked out a few minutes later and were very quiet and serious in demeanor. I didn't think this was a good sign for the Jayhawks.)

(ESPN roundball guru Andy Katz is caught courtside looking for another story to break.)

(KU seemed a step slow in the early going, although Mario Chalmers is providing some in-your-face D here.)

(At halftime, both teams walked amongst each other on their way to the locker rooms and to my surprise there was no trash talking at each other. Unlike on the way to the court to start the game where the two teams stood in the tunnel one behind the other and a couple of F-bombs were tossed back and forth - there's a picture of that in one of the earlier entries.)

(The dreadfully shy Dick Vitale gives Patrick Ewing a hug after being introduced at halftime of the game as part of the Hall of Fame class of 2008.)

(As the game went on, you could see John Calipari's body language and expressions change as the score tightened.)

(Ya' nervous there? I bet so. This Memphis dance girl had to catch her breath as she saw Kansas start making its move in the waning minutes of the game.)

(Check out this look that Calipari was shooting at Joey Dorsey. Ouch. Coach Cal was not particularly happy with his enforcer after he fouled out of the game in regulation.)

(As was their bugaboo all season long, the Tigers couldn't hit their free throws - even though Calipari swore up and down that the poor charity stripe percentage was not a big worry of his. Here Derrick Rose tosses up another late-game brick.)

(This was my view of Mario Chalmers' game-tying shot at the buzzer. Sorry for the slight blur to the picture. Then again, this whole final sequence seemed to go as fast as a blur anyway.)

(The scoreboard and the confetti didn't lie. Kansas wins the game and the national title. The jumbotron camera is fixed on MU's Joey Dorsey as he leaves the court.)

("Did this really just happen?" Chris Douglas-Roberts can barely look up as he makes the long walk back to the locker room.)

(The Jayhawk radio crew wrangles Chalmers up for a post-game interview. Doesn't that guy look like a slightly heavier version of James Carville?)

(Coach Self gets his post-game query from Jim Nantz. This is the one media interview every college coach dreams of doing.)

(Jim Gray, manning the mic for CBS Radio, gets second dibs on Self after the TV crew is done with him.)

(Funny thing I found out about the post-game celebration... See the KU player holding up the "Champions" newspaper - something that is very common for teams that win the football national championship. Now, notice the player behind him taking the paper out of his hands...)

(This is J.D. Hamilton of the NCAA, he has a wad of those faux "Champions" papers in his hands. J.D. would later tell me that those newspapers aren't allowed to be shown because only those advertisers that are "corporate champions" to the NCAA are allowed to have a post-game presence at the Final Four. So this fake Lawrence paper printed out well beforehand proclaiming Kansas as the national champs had to be confiscated.)

(To the victors go the nylon spoils. Mario Chalmers is relishing his turn up on the ladder after the game.)

(... and one last shot of the Kansas Jayhawks holding up the rather blandly-styled NCAA basketball trophy. Ever wonder what happens to the shirts and hats that were pre-printed with "Memphis - National Champions" on them? They are set in a locked room in the bowels of the stadium and later set ablaze by the NCAA, never to be seen again.)

Continue reading "Final Four: The National Championship Game In Pictures" »

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

SAN ANTONIO -- You have to feel bad for Memphis coach John Calipari, who had a great team and a great season, but must be pained by the missed opportunities in tonight's championship game.

Even the hot UofM dancers had a hard time handling the stress...

Billy says, "Damn. I screwed the pooch on my bracket!"...

But Mr. Dunk-the-ball-then-grab-it-so-they-can't-inbound-it deserves a long walk tonight...

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- Kansas has scoreboard...

Kansas has cutting nets...

Kansas also has its Self...

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- Kansas out 6-0 to start OT. Memphis has the ball with 2:29 left in OT and Kansas up, 69-63.

. . . Memphis 10-of-17 at the free throw line in regulation.

. . . How huge is that negated three-pointer from Rose? It was the right call of course.

. . . And Memphis is really missing Dorsey in the post.

. . . A bad three-point attempt by Anderson, too.

Posted by David Scott at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- OK, Coach Cal ... guess what? We're not going to believe you from now on when you say free throws won't be a problem.

Here's a shot of Derrick Rose's choke job (following CDR's choke job) that helped KU send the game into OT:

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Forty-four second left in the game, Memphis up 2 with the ball and 19 seconds on the shot clock.

CDR missed the front end of a one and one and Arthur answered with a nice shot on the baseline. 62-60.

Give the ball to Rose.

Posted by David Scott at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Joey Dorsey fouls out with six points and two rebounds, but every point was big and he was 3 of 3 from the field. Tigers up six, 62-56 with 1:23 left.

It's never easy.

Posted by David Scott at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Kansas has now begun to foul and Robert Dozier is the first victim and he makes his two shots. Kansas answers with an Arthur jumper. With 1:54 left in the game, Memphis is up 60-53.

. . . Attendance 43,257.

. . . Taggart who had been awful most of the game gets a huge bank shot to go with 2:45 left in the gamne to keep the Memphis lead at 58-51.

Posted by David Scott at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Yes he did. Final Four MOP-in-waiting Derrick Rose banked in a two-pointer from deep with the shot clock at zero and 4 minutes left in the game to put tthe Tigers up 56-49. His left foot was just inside the line and the officials reviewed the play during the under-4:00 timeout to make the proper call. The shot came on a broken in-bounds play.

Good biut of officiating.

Posted by David Scott at 11:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Kansas's box and one experiment is over but they might want to bring it back and use it on Derrick Rose who has taken over this title game in every way imaginable. Rose now has 15 points (12 in the second half) and the Tigers lead 54-47 with just over 5 minutes left in the game.

. . . Tony Barbee and Bruiser Flint are sitting next to each other and in what looks to be excuciating pain on each play.

. . . CDR picked up a foolish foul with 6:20 left. It was his third and sent Willie Kemp into the game. He got a steal right away and then made a sloppy pass in transition on an alley-oop attempt to Dozier.

. . Bill Russell looks thoroughly disinterest. He's in a red sweater, gray pants and has white NBA socks on with black casual shoes. He's still the meanest looking dude in the building.

Posted by David Scott at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- The longer the game goes, the more animated Memphis coach John Calipari seems to get. He has been gyrating, screaming and fist-pumping like a whirling dervish this second half. Here he is in one of his "calmer" moments:

And this was the KU fans reaction to the Alamodome jumbotron showing former KU coach Roy Williams in the crowd.

(See? Kansas fans still love Roy. So can we all just move on now?)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis has picked up its defensive intensity considerably and is up slightly in rebounding, holding a 10-8 edge in the second half. The Tigers lead 49-47 with 8:08 left in the game.

Derrick Rose now has 10 points, seven in the second half.

. . . On Robert Dozier shot and foul in the lane with 8:49 left Calipari got as animated in reacting as I've ever seen him.

. . . Kansas is Box and oneing CDR now (he has a game-high 15 points) and it looks like Chalmers has drawn the CDR assignment.

Posted by David Scott at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- Strange as it sounds, Kansas and Memphis walked intermingled with each other to the locker rooms and not a single word was said to anybody from either team. In this day and age, that's an upset in itself. I'll see if anything is said when they come out for the second half.

Oh, also, they announced the college basketball Hall of Fame class of 2008. Here's a picture of them. (Special thanks to ESPN's Shelley Smith, who allowed me to stand in the spot where her seat was.)

(I didn't hear the entire class, but second to left is Adrian Dantley, followed by Patrick Ewing, Akeem Alojuwon, Pat Riley, some lady and Dickie V.)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SAN ANTONIO-- When Shawn Taggart drove toward the goal, trying to get a foul call but instead just forced up a wild shot that flew out of bounds, Calipari took him out immediately. He sat him down on the Tiger bench and said, "You've got two fouls! You're not going to get that call. If you're not going to get the call, don't just throw it away!"

(Taggart after getting called for his second foul earlier in the game)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - A little bit ragged to start and some poor shot seletcion by Memphis but the Tigers lead 9-5 with 15:36 left in the half. Memphis is 4 of 8 from the field.

. . . Dorsey scored the game's first bucket 2-0, a good sign for Tiger fans.

. . . Antonio Anderson turnover leads to breakaway and then a hard foul by Anderson on Rush.

. . . CDR on Rush, Antonio Anderson on Collins, Dorsey on Kaun, Rose on Robinson and Taggart on Arthur.

. . . Tigers very loose during introductions boucning all around and creating a circle. Chants of "JOEY, JOEY" for the first time tonight.

. . . The scoreboard is in proper order tonight, something that wasn't true for the start of Saturday's first game.

. . . Willie Kemp was very loose in warm-ups, bouncing and dancing and bumping teammates. If he and Mack can give a lift off the bench, Memphis will be in very good shape.

. . . Pouncer the Tiger mascot in my favorite blue Elvis jumpsuit with glitter.

Posted by David Scott at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- As the two teams were standing in the darkened tunnel you see below, some Memphis players turned around and started yackin' back at the Jayhawks who were standing behind them.

Pierre Niles and Robert Dozier (who you can sort of see in the background of the picture) of Memphis were the biggest trashers, even going so far as to throw out a few "f___ y__!" yells back at the Kansas players. The KU players were yelling stuff back as well, but I couldn't hear them as well from where I was standing.

Boys. Boys.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SAN ANTONIO - All that's left is prediction time, keeping in mind that Memphis is a 1.5 point favorite with an over/under of 146.

Jerry Palm predicts Memphis, 82-76
David Scott predicts Memphis, 85-75

Let's get it on!

. . . Bill Russell is seated over my left shoulder wearing a black Celtics cap.

Posted by David Scott at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - The Memphis celebfans are pouring in and so far we have Mrs. Fields (Debbi Fields), who lives in Memphis with her husband, Mike Rose. Mmmmmm, cookies.

Also here are in the Memphis section are the Governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen, creator of the dribble drive offense, Vance Walberg, Calipari coaching pal and Manhattan head coach Barry Rohrssen and former Elvis running mate, Jerry Schilling.

Some ex-Memphis athletes include Larry Keenon, Hank McDowell, Isaac Bruce, DeAngelo Williams and Cedric Henderson.

. . . National Anthem is complete and we're inching closer to game time.

Posted by David Scott at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - We're less than an hour from tip and both teams are warming up on the court. Kansas in their red shooting jerseys and blue uniforms is shooting at the basket in front of the Posting Up Perch. Memphis players have a combination of white and blue shooting shirts over their white uniforms.

. . . Jesse Jackson, who a week ago spoke to the Tigers at practice, is right behind the Posting Up perch, two rows behind the Calipari family.

. . . Officials have not yet been announced but we did see Ed HIghtower near the River Walk today, so unless he's a back-up official, it's likely he will be one of the three.

. . . The Calipari family is directly behind our perch in their usual seating order of, from left to right, Ellen, Megan, Erin and Bradley.

. . . Penny Hardaway is here again, of course, and was scheduled to be a guest on the CBS College Sports Network pre-game show.

Posted by David Scott at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- Here in San Antonio, the Alamo is the center point of town and a national landmark.

But in 1982, Ozzy Osbourne visited.

On a cool February night, the Ozzman, drunk in his hotel room, decided to don one of his wife's dresses and go out and about to take pictures of the city. At one point, while allegedly changing film, he decided to lift up his dress and urinate on a crumbling part of a wall. Turns out it was a wall on the side of the Alamo.

So when the police spotted him, he got busted. He was then banned from performing in San Antonio. Soon after, Ozzy did a benefit concert raising $10,000 for the Alamo. The ban was lifted in 1992.

- Turns out that Jon Feinstein doesn't like Robert Earl Keen.
Keen's twangy music and performance was being televised on the big screens around the AlamoDome and the sound was - I admit - a tad on the loud side. But Jon got up from the table he was sitting at near me and said, "Now if we could just get the staff to turn this sh#@t down."

- Just thought I'd say it here... Palm is better.
Jerry Palm nailed all 65 teams in the NCAA tournament in his projections he does right before the field is announced. He also got all the seedings correct too, just missing out on a few teams going to different venues. How did Bracketologist Joe Lunardi do? According to an XM basketball radio host, also at my table, Lunardi missed 11 of the teams in the 2-through-5 seeds. "He would've done a better job flipping a coin to get those picks."

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - There are two signs that have caught our attention more than most at this year's Final Four. The first is the NCAA's catchy, "The Road Ends Here." Problem is, Robert Earl Keen (still on the big screens live from HemisFair) has a song (that we hope he does soon) titled "The Road Goes on Forever." The rest of the lyrics include the line, ". . .and the party never ends."

So which is it? Does the road end here or does the dance never end? For one team it will be the end, but for the other the party will never end.

Our other favorite sign was posted coincidentally at our favorite drinking establishment of the fortnight here, The Sirius Club on Losoya. It read, "Stay Thirsty, My Friend."

That's exactly what these teams have done to get here. They stayed hungry, thirsty and composed.

Okay, we're getting all clichey on you now, but you get the point. Big night, big game. Enjoy it.

. . . And yes, we've stayed reasonably thirsty despite our frequent visit to Richard the Barkeep at Sirius.

. . . In between songs of REK, the Big Board is showing each of tonight's teams' Road to San Antonio.

. . . Our Posting Up Perch is located two rows behind the Memphis bench, a much better seat than Saturday.

. . . REK just did "Merry Christmas from the Family," one of his classic. We're guessing he either closes or encores with "Road Goes on Forever."

. . . Fans have been allowed in and slowly they are filling seats throughout the Alamodome.

. . . We've got to go get some nourishment so we'll leave you with a link to our feature from last year's Monday night game on the talented writer (and best singer) of "One Shining Moment."

Posted by David Scott at 07:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Welcome back to the Alamodome for tonight's national championship game between 38-1 Memphis and 36-3 Kansas. About 20 minutes ago the 2008 Selection Committtee gathered at midcourt around the Final Four logo for a "team picture."

The big boards in the arena are currently simulcasting the concert from HemsiFair Park and The Big Dance featuring Robert Earl Keen, which we consider vert fortuitous. We were torn between coming here early and going to see REK, a long-time favorite, and decided it was better to actually do the work we are paid for.

. . . In a first for the Final Four, the newly announced Hall of Fame class will be introduced at halftime of the game. Dick Vitale has been floating on air all weekend.

Posted by David Scott at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - It's another sunny, warm day in Spurstown and we took a leisurely stroll over to the Memphis team hotel at the Crowne Plaza to get a feel for the gameday temperature of Tiger Tooters.

But first, an update on Memphis freshman Derrick Rose who had a stomach ache yesterday that kept him out of media interviews. Rose's brother, Reggie, said the freshman phenom is feeling better and will, as expected, be ready to go tonight. Reggie also said that Derrick is curtailing his gummy bear intake.

. . . Outside the team hotel, a band - complete with three gyrating ladies - entertained a throng of probably a thousand or more blue-clad Memphis fans in a raucous event sponsored by the Memphis Alumni Association. Tables of Tex-Mex food were spread out on the street and cash bars dotted the perimeter of the stage. One of the dancing ladies shook a blue and white pom-pom and used her Tiger tail as a microphone for the band's rendition of "It's All Right Now."

. . . For JD Moorehead of Wichita, Kansas things are more than just all right now. A native Memphian, Moorehead and his 9-year-old son Luke made an 11 hour car ride to San Antonio in order to root on the Tigers. "I grew up going to games in the old Coliseum and watching Larry Finch," said Moorehead who held a hand painted sign that read: "Kansans for Memphis. "I've yet to meet another Memphis fan in the six years I've lived in Kansa and I have one neighbor who is just a huge KU fan."

As for third-grader Luke, who was feeling the effects of his historic road trip, the youngster actually prefers another blue team, the Duke Blue Devils. "When Duke's not playing," his dad said, "he roots for Memphis."

Tonight, young Luke will be a Tiger backer all the way.

. . . We're in the final hours before the 9:21 ET tip and we're going to get into full pre-game mode with a poolside nap and pre-game stretching exercises. Jerry Palm and myself will begin blogging live from the Alamodome in the 6 p.m. ET hour and then be with you (technology permitting) throughout the National Championship Game.

Tell your friends, bring your family and sit back as CSTV.com caps off the season in style.

Posted by David Scott at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- I have to admit, my fellow colleague, and RPI guru, Jerry Palm put it best after the final buzzer's echo was still ringing throughout the arena, "UCLA just never did stop their guards. Their three starting guards score almost all of their points."

Sorry to plagiarize Jerry, but that's pretty succinct.

(Unfortunately, Coach Howland and his two star players sit through another painful post-game press conference at the Final Four)

Continue reading "Final Four- Bruins Lay in Final Four Ruins Again" »

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Leading 73-60 with 1:03left in the game, Memphis appears ready to advance to the Championship game on Monday night as UCLA is now in full-on foul mode and the Tigers are, as Calipari foretold, hitting the free throws that matter.

Just another very impressive performance from Memphis and one that will likely make the Tigers a small favorite on Monday evening.

We'll be turning things over to Jerry Palm and Josh Herwitt for our second game so please stay tuned and keep on Posting Up with CSTV.com.

Posted by David Scott at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This cat knows his team has won. 78-63.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- These Memphis band members might as well be playing "Taps" for UCLA.

Once again, it doesn't seem to be the Bruins turn to win it all. Memphis is now up 65-52. Barring a hah-yuuuuuge comeback that makes me eat crow by the pound, I'm thinking it's Memphis moving on to play on Monday.

Just one athlete too many for the Tigers.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- UCLA is shooting itself in the foot.

A pair of unforced turnovers and a blocking call on Lorenzo Mata-Real have really put the Bruins behind the eight-ball, down 10 with 7:53 remaining.

(Ben Howland knows it may be "Love-time" in the late stages here)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis continues to withstand rallies by UCLA and now leads 59-48 with 7:53 left in the game.

. . . Collison with four fouls for UCLA, likewise for Dorsey of Memphis. Collison's 4th came on a offensive foul just before this media timeout.

. . . Dorsey with a dozen boards and zero points, a stat line that will look just fine for the big fella if the score holds up.

. . . Westbrook with 17 to lead UCLA.

. . . Memphis shooting 43 percent for the game; UCLA at 40 percent.

. . . By the way, the "smidge" of an edge that I gave the UCLA cheer squad in the first half became a full blown monster advantage after the ladies' halftime performance in denim mini-skirts and cowboy boots. Oh my, as Dick Enberg might say.

. . . An alley oop miss by Dorsey from Rose with 10:23 left would have brought the Tiger faithful into full eruption. Dorsey just couldn't handle the pass.

Posted by David Scott at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis leads 54-47with 11:41left and CDR now has a game-high 21 points as UCLA can't find a way to contain the plastic and elastic Tiger.

UCLA trimmed the Tiger lead to 50-45 with 13:32 left in the game prompting a John Calipari timeout. Out of that timeout, CDR was re-inserted and scored to move it back to 7.

. . . Joey Dorsey has 10 rebounds to lead all boarders and his performance throughout the NCAA Tournament could very well move him into the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. He has shown what a force he can be especially when he's focused and consistent.

Posted by David Scott at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- The Bruins cut the Tiger lead to five at just under the 14 minute mark, but MU quickly came back with a steal and dunk and a pair of free throws by Chris Douglas-Roberts to put the Tigers back up by eight with 12:20 left.

Key stat to keep in mind: The foul was called on Bruin guard Russell Westbrook, which was his third of the game. However, he is the only UCLAn in foul trouble. For now.

(former voice of the Bruins, Dick Enberg is on hand to take in the action of his old team)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis now leads 48-41 with 14:55 left in the game. The Tigers had built it out to 11 but once again UCLA has crept back in and not allowed the game to get out of control.

. . . Memphis got out to a seven point lead with 1:15 gone in the half after a 4-0 mini-run and ben Howland called a time out.

. . . Joey Dorsey whistled for his third foul with :52 gone in the half. Looked like a questionable call, but from our vantage everything does.

. . . Memphis used 9 players in the first half, UCLA used 7. But Niles for Memphis played just one minute.

. . . Penny Hardaway is over our right shoulder behind us and eating nachos. We'd like some nachos right about now. And a cerveza, por favor.

. . . Sean Miller, Bruiser Flint and Tony Barbee, three Calipari confidants are all seated together behind the Tiger bench. Miller also is eating nachos. It's a conspiracy I tell ya.

. . . Keep forgetting to mention the unbelievable work that CSTV's Danielle Santoro and her two-man Memphis 24/7 crew have done over the past three weeks. They've been embedded with the Tigers.

. . . Hashim Bailey evidently had to remove his tribute headband to Andre Allen and just wore it for it pre-game. I believe the NCAA has a ban on written messages on gear.

. . . UCLA was 3 of 5 from 3-point land in the first half; UCLA was 3 of 9.

Posted by David Scott at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- UCLA needs to come out with a new purpose in the second half.

Despite appearances here, the Bruins haven't looked very good so far in this game. It's Memphis 38-35 at the half, but the story is that Memphis has "sped" the Bruins up so far in this game and are keeping the Bruins in an uncomfortable position so far.

At the half the Bruins have shot just 12-for-27 (44%) and have been boxed out well, getting only four offensive rebounds so far in the game. If not for an 8-3 free throw advantage, it would be a much bigger Tiger lead.

As expected, Love leads the scoring with 11 points and has added six rebounds.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 07:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Stat check:

FG % - M, 16 of 40, 40 percent; UCLA, 12 of 27 44 percent
(Memphis got 13 more shots up thanks to nine offensive rebounds.

Rebounds, Memphis 20-19

FTs - UCLA, 8 of 10, M, 3 of 4

Leading scorers: Love with 10 and Westbrook with 11
CDR with 13 and Rose with 11

Love has 6 rebounds to lead UCLA; Memphis led by Dorsey's 8 (he laso has two assists)

Turnovers - Memphis, 3 and UCLA 8

Darren Collison leads all with 3 dimes.

Fast break points, Memphis 10-0
Paint points, Memphis 18-14

Largest lead, seven by Memphis.

. . . Chatted with new Indiana coach Tom Crean for a minute and he said, "I think he'll get it," referring to good friend Calipari. "They just couldn't bury them. The first seven, eight minutes will be key."

Posted by David Scott at 07:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis had some poor clock management down the stretch and what could have been a seven or eight point lead at the break is just 3 as Memphis leads 38-35.

A very competitive first half and great action at both ends of the floor. Some late big man foul trouble for Memphis allowed UCLA to score inside more easily in the final two minutes of the half.

We'll have halftime stats shortly.

. . . As Eric Sorenson pointed out, big John Thompson sports the black Crocs with his back suit. As a fellow Croc lover, we give big ups to Big John for that fashion statement.

Posted by David Scott at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- Ben Howland just took point guard Darren Collison aside and told him that he "needs to control things more out there." The pace is still in Memphis' favor, at 38-33 with 37 seconds left in the half.

(Howland giving some pointers to Collison during a timeout.)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 06:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Memphis leads 28-23 with 12:43 gone in the half.

Derrick Rose has several highlight reel moves already and there's still 7:17 left in the half. He has eight points and two rebounds.

Memphis shooting 46 percent and UCLA at 45 percent from the field.

. . . CDR with a super block in transition.

Posted by David Scott at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - A technical note: we seem to back with regular service so we abandoned the Cover It Live option. Sorry for any confusion. Snafus happen.

We're 8:14 into this one and both teams are scoring with relative ease and relative proficiency. UCLA is 8 of 14 from the field and Memphis is 9 of 15. Those first game of the semifinals jitters that sometimes plague the early game are a non factor so far.

Memphis is liking the pace and if the game continues this way, it favors the Tigers we'd think.

. . . CDR with double digits in scoring (10 points) less than eight minutes into the game.

. . . Russell Westbrook has seven points for UCLA, CDR leads Memphis.

. . . Scoreboard issues have been resolved. You'd think the NCAA might check things like that, right? Or is that another thing you can't blame the NCAA for?

Posted by David Scott at 06:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- At just under the 11 minute mark of the first half, the Bruins usual grind-it-out-and-defend style is taking a back seat to the track meet Tigers.

It's 24-21 Memphis, and you can see it's frustrating Ben Howland... or maybe he always looks salty out there.

(Whatever Coach Calipari is drawing up, it's working for the Tigers.)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 06:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - I don't want to say that John Calipari doesn't miss a beat, but the guy sure does multi-task well. Good friend and new Indiana coach Tom Crean and his wife are sitting in the corner behind the Memphis bench and Calipari spotted him just as line-ups were being announced and sent a team manager over to try and upgarde Crean's seats. Didn't seem to work, but it does go to show that Calipari probably is fairly loose.

. . . Unreal start to this one as Memphis now leads 17-12 with 14:22 left in the half. To think, the over/under was 130!

. . . Memphis in man-to-man as usual. UCLA also going man but may be throwing in some junk as well.

CDR with Tigers' first four points.

. . . Backstage celebs included Bill Russell and Tim Robbins, a regular Final Four attendee.

. . . Players point totals are reversed under the big board's scoring with Memphis players listed under UCLA and vice versa.

Posted by David Scott at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO-- Josh Shipp is bombs away in the firrst four minutes of this one. John Calipari keeps looking up to see the replays of his team getting out-hustled so far. Calipari was just in the grill of Robert Dozier, saying, "Don't let that ball get behind you. C'MON!"

It's now UCLA 10-8 at the 16 minute mark

(Meanwhile new Indian coach Tom Crean can't see over the media seats, Memphis cheerleaders or Tiger bench. He's looking to get re-assigned seats.)

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Due to some technical difficulties within the Alamodome and on the wireless network, we are reverting to using the Cover It Live software for the remainder of our blog for the first game. We will do our best to stay within the paramaters of the NCAA Blogging guidelines but can not risk being shut down in the midst of posting or slow connections. Our apologies in advance should we consider to encounter such issues.

Posted by David Scott at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- Here are the starters for tonight's Memphis-UCLA game:

UCLA:
G- Russell Westbrook
G- Darren Collison
F- Josh Shipp
F- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
C- Kevin Love

Memphis:
G- Antonio Anderson
G- Chris Douglas-Roberts
G- Derrick Rose
F- Robert Dozier
F- Joey Dorsey

Game Officials:
Karl Hess
Curtis Shaw
JD Collins

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO -- That's right, you read correctly. The seats from where this picture was taken were $450 for two seats for all three games. So if any of you out there are thinking of trying to get seats for the 2009 Final Four through that lottery system, THIS IS (approximately) WHERE THEY WILL BE.

Okay, maybe they'll have a few rows better than this. But it's your money.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Both teams were allowed to begin shooting around at 4:06 local time and both began simultaneously. Memphis is in home white uniforms with dark blue shooting jerseys and the Bruins are in light blue road uniforms with matching shooting jerseys.

Posted by David Scott at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Fans were allowed in at 4:15 and a smattering of them have settled into their seats. Lots of a similar color blue with the Memhis and Kansas fans and then lighter blue with the UCLA and UNC fans.

Members of the Selection Committee gathered at mid-court for what appeared to be a photo op and both Dick Enberg and Lesley Visser did live stand-ups from opposite baselines for the CBS cameras.

. . . Just spent some time with the Memphis Tigers coaching staff and they once again did everything but say, "The hay's in the barn." But it is.

. . . The Tigers tookt the court at 3:56 local time to loud cheers from their faithful.

. . . Reserve Hashim Bailey has a white adidas headband on and on the back he has written "#15" in black Scripto on the back of it to honor suspended teammate Andre Allen. Robert Dozier is the only other Tiger that wears a headband regularly but there is no writing on his.

. . . Our first game will feature live-blogging from myself and cohort Eric Sorenson who has been following UCLA through its tournament run. Sorenson is currently taking photos in the arena, including his annual shot from the worst, farthest seat in the house. He'll be back with that soon.

. . . Don't forget ASAP Sports if you're looking for transcripts from this weekend (now featuring yesterday's press conferences).

Posted by David Scott at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SAN ANTONIO - Good afternoon and welcome to balmy, sunny San Antonio where there's not a cloud in the sky nor a fan in the arena. Every paid seat in the Alamodome contains a Final Four seat cushion on it and red-jacketed ushers are beginning to man their assigned sections.

The River Walk area is absolutely jammed with lunchtime waits reaching an hour or more at several locations. Fans are swarming the River Walk and surrounding area, including the outdoor block party where Kid Rock is scheduled to perform.

The Posting Up Perch is located behind the Memphis bench which is to the left of the scorer's table (as you face it), about 15 feet beyond the baseline. Clearly CBS's relationship with the NCAA carries no weight for the CSTV.commers, nor would we expect it to beyond the fact that we have more readership and site visits than a good portion of those outlets seated in more advantageous positions. Clearly that doesn't go in to the thinking when assigning seats and it's probably the least of the NCAA's worries, not to mention something you the valued reader could cared less about. However, it will affect our vision on some plays at the other end of the floor so forgive us if we get a call wrong or mis-identify a player.

. . . We'll be back throughout the pre-game with sights and scene from the National Semifinals.

Posted by David Scott at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Fans started chanting "One More Year" upon the news that Derrick Rose was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player.

Joining him on the all-regional team are Brook Lopez, DJ Augustin, CDR and Joey Dorsey.

. . . Calipari to the crowd: "Thank you to all the Memphis fans. How about this basketball team? What a great day for our univeristy and our city."

Posted by David Scott at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Memphis played its basketball of the season in this two games of the regional and because of it they now advance to San Antonio next week where they will meet UCLA in the national semifinal. The Tigers won this one, 85-67, and, much to the dismay of many, were able to hit free throws down the stretch. CDR was 12 of 15 from the line, Rose was 7 of 8 and the Tigers were 30 of 36 from the stripe.

Memphis shot 26 of 52 from the field . Texas began the Hack-a-Tiger assault with about four minutes and left and Memphis leading by 20 to no avail.

It was another never-ending Gobstopper for the Tigers as Texas stretched the game with 3-pointers and fouls in the final four minutes.

. . . Calipari pointed to his family as time wore down which started Erin crying on Ellen's shoulder. Derrick rose waved goodbye to the Texas fans with a huge smile on his face.

. . . Abrams and Augustin both helped their numbers with some 3-balls down the stretch, but the job the Memphis guards did on them, coupled with the big man scoring in the paint for Memphis (40-24) was the real story of the game. Abrams finished with 17 points on 6 of 16 form the field (5 of 10 from 3-point land). Augustin had 16 points (4 of 18 and 2 of 6).

. . . Dozier fouled out with 3:36 left in the game. He had two points and seven rebounds and was 1 of 6 from the field.

. . . Mason fouled out for Texas with 2:47 left in the game. He had 7 points, 7 rebounds and three assists. James fouled out with 46.2 seconds remaining. he had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

. . . We'll stick around for the awards presentation and then work the post-game interviews and have a regional wrap-up for you in our final Hang Time Office Hours of the year later tonight. be sure to check it out and we'll be back with you from San Antonio on Thursday afternoon sometime.

Posted by David Scott at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Appearing in its third straight Elite Eight, the Memphis Tigers are on their way to the school's third-ever Final Four and the first since 1985. Memphis leads 67-48 with 3:56 left and the Memphis fans are on the verge of total celebration amidst the burnt orange, and some of that burnt orange is heading to the exits.

Abrams and Augustin are now a combined 5 of 25 from the field and have 16 points between them (11 for Augustin).

Joey Dorsey has a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

. . . Not looking like I get an all-regional ballot but my team would be CDR, Rose, Dorsey, Augustin and Justin Mason. Rose will be my regional MVP.

. . . Today's attendance is announced at 32,798. Friday was 32,931.

Posted by David Scott at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - With 8:07 left in the game, Memphis is up 59-43 and Texas is going to need to really turn things around to get back in this one.

Memphis remains at 50 percent shooting from the field (24 of 48) while Texas has dropped slightly since halftime to 17 of 47. Both teams have hit just one 3-pointer this half.

Paint points are now 38-20 in favor of Memphis while rebounding remains close at 30-27 for Memphis.

. .. DJ Augustin is 3 of 14 from the field and AJ Abrams is 2 of 8.

. . . Taggart has had a very solid game off teh bench for the Tigers with 12 points on 5 of 7 from the field. he had four points in the first half.

. . . Dozier picked up his fourth foul with 8:32 left in the game, he was replaced by Dorsey. Pittman missed the free throw that would have given him the 3-point play on the foul.

Posted by David Scott at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Memphis has weathered an early second half run by Texas to extend its halftime lead by one point, 50-38 with 12:53 left in the game. Joey Dorsey will go to the line to shoot one after being fouled on a basket to put the lead at 12.

The Texas run got to 12-0 as they scored the first six points of the half to trim the lead to 39-34. Taggart ended it with a jumper in the paint over Atchley. Memphis quickly got it back to nine on a Rose dunk.

Damion James scored four of first six points of the half for Texas. He now has eight points and Augustin has 11 to lead Texas.

. . . Rose defedning Augustin, Anderson on Abrams.

. . . Anderson banked in a 3-pointer just under 15 minutes left to put memphis back up by 12.

Posted by David Scott at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - With the the exception of Texas's 6-0 run to end the half, Memphis has to be v ery happy with the way things played out in the first half.

Calipari was able to use eight players for five or more minutes and despite having been outscored 8-4 by the Texas bench, the Longhorns trio of guards had to play all but four minutes of the half (20 for Augustin, 18 each for Abrams and Mason). That wearing down of the gaurds is definitely part of teh Memphis strategy as they have been able to shuttle in Andre Allen, Doneal Mack and Willie Kemp.

No one is any real foul trouble and only 15 total fouls were whistled in the first half, something that definitely favors the Tigers.

. . . Rose was 5 of 6 form the field in the first half, his only miss coming from 3-point land on a shot that rimmed out.

Mack and Kemp are 0 of 4 from 3-point land.

. . . The Tigers met in a circle at halfcourt after watching Dorsey hit a free throw attempt and raised arms and fists in unison.

. . . Texas cheerleaders are in chaps, as is the halftime custom, and we are once again happy for such rituals.

. . . Well, there is a Bish in the house, but it's former President Bush not the sitting one.

Posted by David Scott at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Texas re-gained a bit of composure toward the end of the half with a couple of sloppy plays by Memphis and now trail 39-28 at the break.

Some quickie stats:

Tigers led in scoring by CDR with 11 and Rose with 10.
Longhorns led by Mason and Augustin with seven each.

Joey Dorsey leads all rebounders with seven.
Mason has six for Texas

Memphis shot 15 of 31 from the field (48 percent) and 2 of 9 from 3-point land.
Texas shot 10 of 27 form the field (37 percent) and 2 of 8 from 3-point land.

Paint points are in favor of Memphis 24-12.
Rebounds are Memphis 18-17.

Turnovers are 8 for Texas, 3 for Memphis.

Rose has four assists to lead all dishers.

Dorsey dunked with 2:40 left on an alley-oop from CDR, then pointed to the Memphis rooters who responded with a chant of "Joey, Joey, Joey."

Posted by David Scott at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - With each attempt to get back in it by Texas and their fans, Memphis seems to have an answer. It got especially loud after Texas trimmed the lead to 12 with just over 4:00 left on a dunk by Pittman, but Memphis answered with a Shawn Taggart bucket off the galss. The score is now 34-20 Memphis with 3:45 left in the half.

. . . Rebounding battles is going to Memphis, 17-15.

. . . Texas has eight turnovers to three for Memphis.

. . . Paint points are 22-8 in the Tigers favor.

. . . A DJ Augustin trey off a block from Clint Chapman trimmed the Memphis lead to 29-18 with 6:26 left in the half, prompting a Calipari timeout.

. . . The daily Dorsey dunk-o-rama came on a leak-out after some great Tiger defense in transition and led to Dorsey two handing a monster flush all alone. It brought the Memphis lead to 13.

Posted by David Scott at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - It's not quite Friday night when Memphis stormed out to a 30-point lead, but with 7:40 left in the half, the Tigers are up 29-13 and have been on a 11-2 run over the last seven minutes.

CDR now has 11 points for Memphis and Rose has 10 points. Mason continues to lead Texas with 7.

The length of Memphis is certainly affecting the shot selection of the Longhorns who are now 5 of 19 from the field (26 percent). Memphis is 11 of 24 (46 percent). Both squads are 1 of 7 from beyond the arc.

. . . It went to 24-13 on Rose steal and dunk at 10:00 mark, then 26-13 8:56 on alley-oop in transition from Rose to Dorsey and finally 29-13 with 8:10 left, CDR lay-up in transition and foul.

. . . Memphis switching up with man-to-man and then zone.

Posted by David Scott at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - With 11:56 left in the half, Memphis is up 20-13 and Texas will have the ball coming out of the timeout.

Memphis is being led by CDR's eight points and Rose's eight. Texas is led by Mason's seven points.

The Tigers are shooting 47 percent from the field (7 of 15) and Texas is at 36 percent (5 of 14).

Paint points are 10-6 in favor of Memphis.

Texas has three turnovers to two for Memphis.

. . . Rose started off 4 of 4 from the field. Not sure he had hit anything but net until his first trey attempt rimmed out in the 12:30-area.

. . . Biggest lead so far is 18-8, Memphis.

. . . Texas has switched to a 2-3 zone.

. . . Barnes inserted Dexter Pittman and Calipari countered with Pierre Niles. That, friends, is some texas-sized beef in the paint. First battle goes to Niles who deflected a rebound off Pittman. Niles stayed for just a miunute.

Posted by David Scott at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - A wonderful start with great intensity at both ends as Memphis leads 13-8 with 15:49 left in the half. CDR has seven early points, Derrick Rose has four, including a rebound and coast-to-coast lay-in that was breathtaking in its speed and control.

Justin Mason has four for Texas. Memphis is 5 of 8 from the field, Texas 4 of 9.

. . . A 5-0 start by Memphis. Ended by Connor Atchley dunk.

. . . A preponderance of burnt orange engulfs the Stadium, but a strong showing by the Tiger faithful as well. But when Texas made a run, it got very loud for the 'Horns.

. . . Calipari and Barnes exchanged a hug pre-game during lay-up lines and then another after line-ups were announced. Looked like Cal made a funny. Nice moments, both of them.

. . . Derrick Rose has a bandage over his right here where he was cut on Friday night. He checked out at 18:37 favoring the eye and was tended to immediately by Memphis medical staff. Andre Allen replaced him. Rose was re-inserted 1:03 later

. . . Texas starts out in man-to-man defense. Memphis also man-to-man but showing some match-up zone it appears.

. . . Calipari using the coacing stool, Barnes not.

Posted by David Scott at 02:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Some familiar names and faces on the officiating crew this afternoon with veterans Mike Kitts, Bob Donato and Patrick Driscoll. Kitts was in Little Rock last week and had Texas but not Memphis. Donato was in Birmingham last week and Driscoll was in D.C.

. . . Analysis:
This is one of those games that won't be about the Xs and Os as much as it will be the Jimmys and the Joes (cliches work, whaddya want from me?). Both teams are going to run, both have exceptional talent level and both are capable of scoring bursts.

Our two deciding factors in our pick of Memphis (by five or less) are this:

1. The Tigers are likely going to start out in their usual man-to-man defense and will force Texas to make outside shots. The hope being that DJ Augustin had his one breakout game on Friday and they can contain AJ Abrams enough to keep things managable.

2. The depth factor: Memphis has it, Texas doesn't and especially at the guard spot. If Memphis's bulky guards acan wear down the 'Horns, it will be the end of Texas.

. . . Memphis mascot Pouncer has broken out the ref jersey. Nice.

. . . Our CSTV.com Road Trippers are in the house. They're tired but feisty and it brings all new levels of excitement to have them courtside. We love those guys.

Posted by David Scott at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - One of the many interesting tales that came out of John Calipari's extended press conference yesterday was one about a text message he received form former UMass guard Edgar Padilla, who was part of Calipari's Final Four team at UMass.

"It's funny, Edgar Sent a text and said, 'I hope you live that experience all over again, that was one of the greatest experiences of my life,'" said Calipari. "I hope these young men get to experience it , because one of the things I've told them is that they are a Dream Team. I handed out alist to them a couple of weeks ago about what a 'Dream Team' is and there were 15 things on it and I read to my players, and they meet every one of those statements.
And I said, basically, you're a Dream Team. You may never play on a team that gets along this way ever again in your life. You're a Dream Team. And what I'm saying to them now is, let's keep playing just so we can stay around each other for another two weeks, and let's just do it. The experience of going one more step, they will talk about it the rest of their lives."

. . . Probable starters as listed on the stats monitor to our right:

Memphis
Robert Dozier
Joey Dorsey
Anotnio Anderson
Chris Douglas-Roberts
Derrick Rose

Texas
AJ Abrams
Damion James
DJ Augustin
Justin Mason
Connor Atchley

. . .Memphis assistant John Robic just stopped by for some pre-game talk. He appeared relaxed and did everything but say, "The hay's in the barn." But it is and the Memphis coaching staff is comfortable with its gameplan.

Robic said the court configuration wasn't a big issue on Friday night aside form the fact that from the opposing bench, it is near impossible to see the other bench. That becomes a factor when coaches try and see what calls are being made by the opponent but doesn't have that big of an effect on the game itself. Especially in this contest where both teams are mostly about running and not running a whole lot of set plays.

. . . Memphis has taken teh court for pre-game stretching at 12:17 local time. They are in blue shooting jerseys with white uniforms underneath. Antonio Anderson is shwoing some dance moves as he slides onto the court. JOey Dorsey is in all black warm-ups and wearing long pants as has become his custom. He is the lone Tiger in long pants.

. . . Calipari children, Bradley and Megan are already in their seats and have just been joined by Erin. They are in Row 2 behind press row a bit off center-court.

Posted by David Scott at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Welcome back to Reliant Stadium for today's Regional Final between No. 1-seed Memphis and No. 2 seed Texas. A smattering of fans has begun to filter into the seats and Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are working on some pre-recorded voice-overs just in front of the Posting Up perch (we've been upgraded to the 2nd row today, indicating we behaved well on Friday in the third row).

There had been rumors that President Bush was going to be in the house today, but judging from the way our bags were lightly inspected coming in, we're guessing G-Dub will be watching this one on the White House's flat screen.

. . . The NCAA's Greg Shaheen has been spotted in the building, as he and Committee Chair Tom O'Connor are scheduled to complete their four sites in four days tour of the Sweet 16/Elite 8.

. . . The Tigers have been installed as slight 3 1/2 point favorite by the wiseguys.

. . . Two great columns on today's game that we'll leve you with for now:

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe.

Geoff Calkins of the Commercial Appeal.

Posted by David Scott at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - We have just concluded the day-before interviews here at Reliant Stadium and we can't say we heard any ourageous comments or taunting from either the Memphis or Texas side.

No real feel for how each team will perform tomorrow, but it is pretty safe to bet that this game will be quite an up and down battle. John Calipari joked that the score could be in the 100s for each side. Or maybe he wasn't joking.

Responded Rick Barnes: "Who did he say was going to win? (Laughter) Did he say? Well, I don't know. We're going to play the way we've played. I think that at this point in time, I think teams are who they are, and both teams -- Stanford, they ran (Friday) night. We knew they were going to run. I think every team that we've played all year has had the attitude that you have to get out and try to get easy baskets; I think so much depends on how you take care of the ball. What you don't want to do is to allow teams to get out from your turnovers, but we are going to run. There's no doubt they are going to run and they are not going to change what they do and we are not going to change what we do. In terms of a score, I don't know. But like our guys were saying, we've got to this point playing a certain way, and we are going to continue to do that."

Said DJ Augustin: "Like Coach said, we are not going to change anything we have been doing all year, we are going to push the ball up and down and we have to do the same thing in defense. It's going to be an up-and-down game but we are just going to play our game."

. . . The cut above Derrick Rose's right eye showed no signs of swelling and despite an early morning headache, Rose said he is fine and the cut won't affect him tomorrow.

. . . A big part of the Texas presser was dedicated to the unsung hero-ness of "glue guy" Justin Mason. Several questions were asked about Mason - who was sitting there sort of bemused by all the attention. You can expect the Mason storyline to be a big one for tomorrow's game. As will the DJ Augustin-Rose storyline. The two played against each other over the summer at an adidas camp and Rose said Augustin got the better of him.

. . . We're working on a column about the two coaches in tomorrow's game and it will be posted at Hang Time in a couple of hours. Please be sure to check it out.

In the meantime, you can venture over to our good friends at ASAP Sports for transcripts of the day's pressers.

Posted by David Scott at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Memphis wins it 92-74 and will meet Texas on Sunday at 1:20 local time.

Rose finishes with 27 for Memphis, CDR has 25. Suton with 23 and Allen with 20 for State.

We'll be back with you from interview day, tomorrow (Saturday) in the early afternoon.

Posted by David Scott at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Despite missing much of the second half with an eye injury, Derrick Rose leads all scorers with 25 points and Memphis is up 83-66 with 1:56 left.

We're being assured by the NCAA that this game will actually end at some point.

. . . Tip for Sunday's South region championship game was just announced as 1:20 CT (2:20 ET). That's slightly odd because we thought with Billy Packer and Jim Nantz at this site, they would have had the natural lead-in to "60 Minutes" and be able to set the complete Final Four field. Instead, it will be Cinderella Davidson and Kansas that get the fill the final spot.

. . . Neitzle hit his first field goal of the game with 1:45 left. He is 1 of 7 from the field., with all but one attempt a 3-pointer.

Posted by David Scott at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - If this game were a candy, it'd be a Gobstopper.

Michigan State has, much to Tom Izzo's credit, been able to extend this one and wring out every last second. With 3:58 left in the game, Memphis leads 78-62 and the parade to the free-throw line is going to continue.

Neitzel has still not scored for State.

. . . There's no way you can blame Memphis for its second half lapse. It's too hard to keep up the kind of intensity they brought in the first half and with a 30 point lead at halftime, there's a certain expectation that the game is over, even though 20 minutes still needed to be ticked away.

That said, Calipari will gladly use the second half as further motivation for his Tigers as he tries to convince them that the world is against them on Sunday. And few do such motivtaional games better than the Tiger mentor.

Posted by David Scott at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - With 6 minutes left, it appears that Tom Izzo will foul on every Memphis possession.

Calipari has said he will have his players try and run away and hide, but so far the technique has led to two trips to the line for Rose and Kemp. Rose missed one, Kemp made two.

Posted by David Scott at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - It's not a game, but State has done it's best to make it one after Memphis dozed off for the past ten minutes of game time.

Memphis leads 69-48with 7:39 left in the game.

. . . Drew Neitzel still has not scored in the game. He is 0 of 5 from the field and 0 of 4 from 3-point land.

. . . Rose returned for Memphis with 8:45 left in the game. He is sporting a bandage over his right eye. He score four straight points. Guess they missed him a bit.

Posted by David Scott at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Memphis is having a hard time creating a flow in this latter portion of the game, understandably so. But Calipari is not happy despite a 61-39 lead with 11:55 left in the game.

Derrick Rose is nowhere to be found and has definitely left the bench area.

. . . Text Message of the night, received at 10:23 CT with Memphis up 61-36, from a weisenheimer friend of Posting Up (FOPU): "Geez, I hope Memphis's free throw shooting doesn't hurt them down the strecth of this one."

Why can't I come up with gold like that?

. . .Memphis Media Moron is now eating my media room-procured Snickers and M&Ms. The chewing seems to keep him quiet, which is nice. Wish they had Laffy Taffy.

. . . Every game tonight has the potential to be double-digit blow-outs. Not exactly what the mothership of CBS was looking for to boost sagging ratings.

Posted by David Scott at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

HOUSTON - We're not going to insult your intelligence by continuing to post at every media timeout. If the game gets below 20, we'll check in. Otherwise just assume the Tigers are maintaining a helathy double-digit lead. It's now 61-29 with 15:56 left in the game.

. ..Derrick Rose got poked in the eye and was taken out of the game when the official stopped play. He doesn't appear to be on the bench - not sure where he is currently.

. . . Tigers went up 34 within first minute of half.

. . . Attendance for this session was 32,931. There were approximately 43,000 seats available, but thhe bulk of those remaining 10,000 are way up in the eaves.

. . . Dozier picked up his third foul of the game a minute into the half, but remained in the game.

. . . A moron media member from Memphis is trying to get his wife to see where he's sitting by waving his hand in the air each time the camera comes down this end of the court. He may need to be beaten. By Joey Dorsey. And Pierre Niles.

. . . Calipari is going to use the rest of the half to get some rest for his starters in preparation for Sunday against Texas.

Posted by David Scott at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Michigan State could not get anything going in the first half and the stats don't lie in this one:

Memphis won the board battle, 22-6.

Memphis shot 20 of 32 from the field (63 percent).
State shot 9 of 23 (39 percent).

Memphis hit 4 of 10 from 3-point land.
State hit 1 of 6 from beyond the arc.

Suton led State with 11 points.
Rose led Memphis with 12 and four assists (Neitzel led State with four assists).

Just four State players scored (two with 2 points each).
Eight Tigers scored.

Memphis had 3 turnovers.
State had 9.

Memphis had 6steals.
State had 1.

Memphis scored 24 points in the paint to 12 for State.
Memphis netted 16 points off turnovers to 2 for State.
Memphis has 13 second-chance points (10 offensive boards), State has zero.

. . . Tough night for the Big Ten with Wisconsin falling to team from a mid-major conference and State looking at a 30-point deficit to a team from a Mid.

. . . State's last field goal of the half came with 6:17 left in half.

Posted by David Scott at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MEMPHIS - Memphis beat writers are already finished with their game stories. Columnists will have no trouble meeting deadline. This one is a joke. Memphis leads 50-20 at half, a score that was punctuated by a breakaway, between the knees dunk by Derrick Rose.

Michigan State may be boarding the bus right now for all we know.

. . .Big fella Pierre Niles checked in for Memphis with a little over two minute sleft in the half and proceeded to take an alley-oop and lay it in for two. if this thing goes this way and Memphis meets texas, we're proposing a sumo match at halftime on Sunday between Niles and Texas's Dexter Pittman.

. . . Back with stats when they get to us.

Posted by David Scott at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Playing their best half of basketball in the NCAA Tournament, Memphis has taken a commanding 41-20 lead with 3:46 left in the half.

Drew Neitzel looks especially frsutrated and has yet to score for the Spartans. Memphis is lead by CDR's eight points.

. . . Incredibly, Memphis is shooting 67 percent (16 of 24) and State is shooting 9 of 19 (47 percent). But the difference has been on the boards, where Memphis has 14 rebounds to just 4 for State.

. . . A Joey Dorsey steal and tomahawak slam with 5:41 left in the half put Memphis up 37-20. It also started chants of "Joey, Joey, Joey" from the Tiger faithful.

. . . Raymar Morgan picked up his second foul with 7:05 left in the half.

Posted by David Scott at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Memphis has built up a 13 point lead with 7:32 left in the half and now lead 31-18.

Goran Suton has half of State's points with nine, while Memphis has seven players with at least two points, led by Dozier and Rose with seven each.

. . . Willie Kemp with two early 3-pointers for Memphis. The Tigers are 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

. . . The Tigers have so many student managers that five of them have been relegated to auxiliary seating in the abandoned Stanford band section.

. . . The Memphis mascot is in its Elvis costume, a personal favorite of ours.

. . . With Anderson out, Rose picked up Neitzel on defense for Memphis.

. . . The video board that had been distracting Memphis players during yesterday's shoot around gets turned off during free throws.

. . . Robert Dozier picked up his second foul with 7:32 left in the half.

Posted by David Scott at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - The Tigers lead 19-13 with 11:42 left in the half. Both teams are shooting well with Memphis at 7 of 10 and State at 6 of 12. Memphis holds a slight 5-2 rebounding edge. Rose has 7 points to lead Memphis and Chris Allen has 5 to pace the Spartans.

. . . State is in a 2-3 zone to start.

. . . A trey by Rose gave Memphis a 10 point lead right around the 15-minute mark. Biggest of the game.

. . . Idong Ibok picked up his second foul with 13:58 left in the half.

. . . Texas players have just entered the arenadium and are sitting down to scout their next opponent. Big cheers all around.

Posted by David Scott at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - On our way back to the media room, we passed by Tom Izzo's good friend, Steve Mariucci, the ex-NFL head coach of the San Franccisco 49ers and Detroit Lions. Nice support for his pal.

. . . The officials for the second game will be Karl Hess, Bert Smith, Tom O'Neill.

. . . Probable starters look like this:
Michigan State
Kalin Lucas
Drew Neitzel
Goran Suton
Raymar Morgan
Drew Naymick

Memphis
Antonio Anderson
Chris Douglas-Roberts
Derrick Rose
Robert Dozier
Jey Dorsey

. . . Slightly more blue in the crowd than green, but we're guessing all those burnt orange fans are going to be Green Teamers.

. . . Okay, we'll give you a prediction in this one - close throughout and Memphis wins by five or less.

Posted by David Scott at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - A big dunk from Joey Dorsey but nothing from Derrick Rose who electrified the open session crowd in Little Rock last week.

The Tigers are winding things down and so will we. We'll be back with you tomorrow night before the first game tips at 6:27 CT and you can also chekc the Hang Time blog on Friday morning for a column on Texas's DJ Augustin.

Thanks for joining us and be sure to stick around Posting Up for all the game action tonight.

Posted by David Scott at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Calipari has the bigs at one end and the littles at the other and has switched ends to allow for both sets of players to adjust to the shooting background. All players are going through several minutes of shooting drills in rotation.

. . . Andre Allen, who suffered a shoulder injury in the Mississippi State game appears to be fine and Calipari said earlier today that he is expected to play. He's draining 3's from the corner.

. . . Worldwide Wes has been spotted in the bowels of the stadium. Memphis AD RC Johnson is also hovering along press row. Tough to say who's more important to Memphis hoops. We kid, we jest.

. . . Joey Dorsey was complaining about the video screens behind the basket as he shot some free throws. But Dorsey made three shots and Packer - who had the Tigers in a game for CSTV - applauded the big fella. Packer had told Calipari that his team had good form and that the free throw shooting wouldn't be a problem for the Tigers.

. . . All of the Tigers are taking free throws.

Posted by David Scott at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - The No. 1 seed Memphis Tigers have taken the floor for their open practice session. John Calipari was the first man out and a handful of Tiger fans cheered for their team. Robert Dozier was the first player on the court.

The Tigers will have a real practice at the Rockets practice facility immiediately after this open session, so they will just have a light workout for the crowd.

Calipari's son, Bradley, 11, has already adjusted to the backdrop and is draining some deep shots.

. . . There is one stool on the carpeted fringe of the court in front of each bench where, we presume, the head coach will be able to sit if he chooses. Calipari looked at the stool and shook his head.

We looked at the stool and got thirsty for a beer.

Posted by David Scott at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON - Welcome to Reliant Stadium for the South Regional games, being hosted by Rice University and the Univeristy of Houston. This is one mammoth stadium and it sits next to the building that used to be called the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Houston Astrodome. Reliant, by that logic, is the Ninth Wonder.

The set-up for this regional is a first-time experiment by the NCAA (also being used at Ford Field in Detroit, where Jerry Palm will describe the action for Posting Up and CSTV.com). The court is elevated and placed in the middle of the football field with seating brought down close to the court. The endzones have been draped off with black curtains, but the rest of the seating under the retractable roof (which is closed, wiseguy) is available for fans and tickets still remain for the three games on Friday and Sunday.

Interviews start shortly with Stanford going at 1 p.m. CT, followed by Texas, Michigan State and Memphis. Stanford has just finished its open practice in front of a small crowd and they are being followed by Michigan State, Texas and Memphis (3:10-4 p.m.)

We'll try and liveblog the latter two open practices after we work some of the interviews.

. . . In the official regional media guide, there is a reference to Memphis as "Memphis State University," a moniker they have not used in some time. Very old school.

Continue reading "Houston: Interviews and Open Practice Day" »

Posted by David Scott at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Welcome to the South Regional, an experiment in both seating and seeding.

Reliant Stadium (in addition to Ford Field) will be guinea pig sites in the NCAA's latest plan to get more fannies into the game. That seating issue - no matter how the experiment in "Hoops in the Round" goes over - is quite secondary to the seeding issue.

No. 1-seed Memphis is suddenly the least liked 1-seed in the history of 1-seeds - taking slings and arrows from all sides. No. 2-seed Texas finds itself with a decided homecourt advantage. Even if Texas coach Rick Barnes doesn't it see that way.

"The bottom line is that in the two games we played in San Antonio (en route to the 2003 Final Four), we had to fight for our lives," said Barnes of his team's wins over UConn and Michigan State. "At this point and time in the season, (playing in Houston) is probably going to be made a bigger deal that it really is."

Still, there is evidence that Everything's Bigger and Better in Texas for the Longhorns. They are 9-4 in NCAA Tournament play in the state of Texas and are undefeated in such games under Barnes(6-0, twice in Dallas and once in S.A.). In fact, Barnes is .500 (9-9) in NCAA games outside the friendly borders, as the Texas head man.

In other Houston seeding intrigue the site also gives us the slightly under-seeded duo of Michigan State (5) and Stanford (3). The Spartans are more of a "4" and Stanford feels like a "2.5." Both - at the very least - are playing their best ball at the most opportune time and quite deserving of playing on the next-to-the-last weekend of the season.

After the jump, some South Regional tidbits that will help you pass the time between now and Friday night's tip from the Texans' home.

Be sure to join us for live-blogging from Media Day on Thursday afternoon from Houston (as well some open practice live-blogging) here at Posting Up.

Continue reading "South Regional: The Day Before the Day Before Preview" »

Posted by David Scott at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Well, the server gremlins thwarted our attempts to summarize the final couple of minutes of this battle but we'll try and give you the same splendid in-game commentary that we had been executing before the snafus occurred.

Memphis won, by the way, 77-74, depsite missing 17 of 32 free throws and despite having several opportunities at the line to avoid having to hold their breath as Jamont Gordon launched what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired.

Joey Dorsey - The Bear - did indeed awaken from his slumber with a yeoman's effort of 13 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks for Memphis. It was the senior's 25th career double-double. Chris Douglas-Roberts led the Tigers with 17 points, five rebounds and four assists while Derrick Rose had 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

"Joey was just a monster today," said Calipari.

"When he plays like that, our team is so much better. He was everywhere. He was helping everybody. He was great today," said CDR.

Jamont Gordon led State with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

. . . Calipari was flat-out exhausted after the game. He coached much of the final portion of the contest with all three of his big men saddled with four fouls each. He would eventually lose Robert Dozier and Dorsey to disqualification but was able to deftly rotate his four-foul trio in and out to allow for presence in the paint.

It's pretty clear that Calipari won't be receiving the National Coach of the Year honors that will likely go to Keno Davis, but the arguments that Calipari is all recruiter and no bench coach need to stop and they need to stop now. You don't have three consecutive 30-win seasons, including a 35-1 record this year, without being able to handle the X's and the O's.

Continue reading "Little Rock: Late Wrap-up" »

Posted by David Scott at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - It took six contests here in Le Petite Roche to get it right, but this one has had all the elements. It's been a battle of epic proportions and we're going back and forth now with Memphis leading 66-59 with 4:35 left.

This one feels like an Elite 8 game and every Tiger basket is being answered with a Bulldog bucket. Just tremendous competition and an electric environment.

. . . Dorsey picked up his fourth foul with 8:33 left on a made basket by Varnado. The free throw tied the game at 52-52. The Tigers now has three players with four fouls (Dorsey, Dozier and Taggart). State has two players with three each (Hansbrough and Bailey). Varnado has four.

. . . Hansbrough dove out of bounds and rolled up the NCAA banners on the scorer's table. He almost got wrapped like a pig in a blanket. Great hustle by 'lil Psycho T.

. . . Memphis's missed free throws have been costly, but they have grabbed at least three offensive boards off those misses.

. . . Dorsey has 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Posted by David Scott at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - It took six contests here in Le Petite Roche to get it right, but this one has had all the elements. It's been a battle of epic proportions and we're going back and forth now with Memphis leading 68-59 with 3:35 left.

This one feels like an Elite 8 game and every Tiger basket is being answered with a Bulldog bucket. Just tremendous competition and an electric environment.

. . . Dozier has now fouled out.

. . . Dorsey picked up his fourth foul with 8:33 left on a made basket by Varnado. The free throw tied the game at 52-52. The Tigers now has three players with four fouls (Dorsey, Dozier and Taggart). State has two players with three each (Hansbrough and Bailey). Varnado has four.

. . . Hansbrough dove out of bounds and rolled up the NCAA banners on the scorer's table. He almost got wrapped like a pig in a blanket. Great hustle by 'lil Psycho T.

. . . Memphis's missed free throws have been costly, but they have grabbed at least three offensive boards off those misses.

. . . Dorsey has 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Posted by David Scott at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Charles Rhodes is jujst abusing Robert Dozier inside. With four fouls on him and Taggart, the Bulldogs are just going to continue to go inside with each possession and dare Memphis to stop Rhodes. It's 50-49, Memphis with 9:29 left.

Buckle your seatbelts, folks.

Posted by David Scott at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Getting down tot he nitty gritty here at the Alltel as State has made a nice comeback to trail by just three, 48-45, with 11:04 left in regulation.

Jamont Gordon is starting to carry the Bulldogs back into this one. He drove the length of the floor for a lay-up then on the next possession hit a trey to cut the Memphis lead to five. A Charles Rhodes dunk cut the Tiger lead to three, where we now stand.

Taggart has been awful for Memphis on its past two possessions with two straight turnovers and the "Mr. Fumbles" hands that Calipari abhors.

. . . Free throw shooting is hurting Memphis. They have connected on 5 of 14 and 0 of 4 in the second half.

. . . Foul trouble is plaguing the Tigers as Robert Dozier picked up his third foul of the game when he fell into Barry Stewart on a 3-point attempt just under 15:00. Stewart converted two of three from the stripe. Dozier then picked up his fourth with 14:14 left. He was replaced by foul-plagued Taggart.

. . . Varnado picked up his third foul a few seconds later when he got Dorsey who hit the lay-in.

Posted by David Scott at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Memphis had extended to 13 points early in the half, but State was able to climb back in and now trails 42-36 with 15:31 left in the game.

. . . Dorsey picked up his second and third fouls in the span of a minute and had to go to the becnh with 17:12 left in the game. He was replaced by Shawn Taggart. Taggart then picked up his fourth a minute later and Dorsey was re-inserted into the game with 16:38 left. Dicey times for the Memphis big men.

. . . Memphis has been called for four personal fouls in the first four minutes of the half. State has one. In the first half, both teams were whistled for seven fouls each.

. . .Rose to Dorsey on the back door lob dunk on Tigers' first possession of half put them up 38-27.

Posted by David Scott at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - As expected, Memphis was able to use a lot of bodies with the hope of wearing down the fairly shallow Bulldogs. Seven Tigers scored and had 12 bench points. State had five players score and got only 5 points from its bench.

. . . Report from the locke room is that Andre Allen has a slightly sprained right shoulder but will play in the second half. There was nothing physically wrong with Doneal Mack, Calipari probably thought the game was too rough for the lithe guard.

. . . Rebounding edge, Memphis - 27-17 (12 of Memphis's rebounds were on the offensive glass)

Tigers shot 36 percent (13 of 36, 5 of 13)
Bulldogs shot 33 percent (9 of 27, 5 of 11)

Jamont Gordon led State in scoring with 11 points (3 of 8, 2 of 4)
Rose and Kemp led Memphis with nine each (Rose, 3 of 8 and 1 of 3; Kemp 3 of 4, 3 of 4)

Turnovers were State with 4 and Memphis with just 1.

Memphis missed 5 of 10 free throws, State hit 4 of 6.

. . . Taggart is the lone player with 3 fouls.

Posted by David Scott at 06:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - The Tigers used an 11-0 run to close out the half and lead 36-27 at the break.

Andre Allen returned to the bench but did not re-enter the game before half.

Memphis's Doneal Mack didn't see action until 1:12 remained in the half. he replaced Shawn Taggart who has three fouls. Mack hit his first show, a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Posted by David Scott at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Some very intense action as Memphis holds a 27-25 edge with 3:07 left in the first half.

Willie Kemp and Derrick Rose each have nine points for Memphis. Gordon has nine for State.

Rebounding is still in favor of the Tigers, 22-16. Varnado has been credited with five blocks and Dorsey with four.

. . . Andre Allen took a hard foul driving to the hoop from Charles Rhodes and went back to the locker room with a trainer. he was replaced by Chris Douglas-Roberts who made on of two free throws.

. . . Dorsey dunk with 6:20 left, another of the monster variety.

. . . Willie Kemp with back-to-back 3-pointers and State looks like they were allowing him to take both. Kemp can storke it, so that strategy could be quite faulty. he hit his third with 4:27 to go and Hansbrough contesting late.

. . . Calipari yanked Antonio Anderson after Jamont Gordon stuck a 3-pointer in his face. Rose then picked up the Gordon assignment.

. . . Derrick Rose is taking it to the hole on almost every catch. he picked up the second foul on Varnado with 4:56 left in the half. Varnado remained in the game.

. . . Taggrt picked up his second foul with 5:35 left in the half and Calipari will have to stcik with him.

. . . State has a staffer on the bench who is wearing pink pants and a sky blue shirt. Think the dude wanted to be easy to pick out on TV? "Hi Mom, it's me your vibrant son."

Posted by David Scott at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Mississippi State has taken the lead 18-12 on the strength of an 10-3 run. Gordon, hansbrough and Brian Johnson each have 5 points for State. Derrick Rose leads Memphis with six points. The rebounding gap has closed and Memphis now holds just a 15-12 edge.

. . . Memphis is shooting 20 percent from the field (4 of 20) and State is at 41 percent (7 of 17).

. . .Dozier picks up his second personal foul with 8:24 left in the half. He's replaced by Shawn Taggart.

. . . Dorsey has four blocks in the first 12 minutes of the game

Posted by David Scott at 05:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - We're knotted at 11-11 with 11:16 left in the half. State's Ben Hansbrough just picked up his second personal foul of the game, but it apears Stansbury will keep his sophomore guard in the game.

Memphis has 14 rebounds already (8 on the offensive glass) to 6 for State.

. . .Dozier with a nice block in the lane on Rhodes.

. . . Gordon's first three of the game made it 9-8 Memphis with just under 13:00 left. A three by Hansbrough with 11:45 left tied the game at 11-11.

. . . State in a 2-3 zone, Memphis going man-to-man.

. . . Great win for Davidson and a near-miss for Butler.

Posted by David Scott at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Memphis leads 6-5 with 15:43 left in the half.

Encouraging signs for the Tigers that both Robert Dozier and Joey Dorsey appear focused and ready to play.

The Tigers have opened with some full court pressure and trapped the sideline at halfcourt to force an early State timeout with a minute and a half gone by.

. . . Ben Hansbrough and Jarvis Varnado each have one foul each for the Bulldogs. Keep an eye on Varnado's situation, if he gets in foul trouble that would be a bad thing for State fans.

. . . World Wide Wes is in the house, sitting about 20 rows behind the Tiger bench.

. . . It's an all-adidas sneaker battle in this one.

. . . Good energy in the building and we're sensing a slight edge in blue-clad fans.

. . . Found some egg shaped candies in the media buffet room and they're tasty little treats and likely to amp me up for another 12 hours. They are from Judson-Atkinson Candies and have a hard outer shell and a soft, sugary inside.

Posted by David Scott at 05:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - We got all caught up in the press room watching the fantastic finishes but our responsibility is to you the valued Posting Up reader, so we're back for the tip of this one.

We expect a tight game but ultimately we think the depth of Memphis will wear down the Bulldogs.

Great sign for the Tigers on State's first possession as Joey Dorsey rose above the fray and swatted a shot to set up a Memphis fast break that led to a free throw by Derrick Rose.

Posted by David Scott at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - A look at some of the pertinent final stats from Game 1:

Texas won the board battle, 41-30

Texas shot 43 percent for the game (25 of 58 and 8 of 24 in the second half)
Miami shot 40 percent for the game (22 of 55 and 11 of 24 in the second half)

AJ Abrams finsihed with a game-high 26 points. Damion James had 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Jack McClinton had 18 points to lead Miami, Hurdle had 11 and Raymond Hicks had 10 points including 2 of 3 from 3-point land, with both makes coming in the final seconds. McClinton was 5 of 14 from the field and 4 of 10 from 3-point land.

DJ Augustin had 12 points and 8 assists and 3 steals.

Texas shot 12 of 21 from the free throw line and Miami was 19 of 22.

. . . Officials for the next game are Reginald Greenwood, Ted Hillary and Frank Scagliotta. Our tip will be at 4 p.m. local team.

We're going to (Austin) Peay (can't get enough of the sub-regional-themed joke) and we'll be back for the nightcap.

Posted by David Scott at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - We're on our in-between day here in Le Petite Roche and Miami players and coach Frank Haith are starting their press room/locker room interviews. They will be followed by Texas at 2:15 local time; then Mississippi State at 3:10 and finally Memphis at 3:50.

All practices are closed today at the arena.

We'll plan on filing a column over at the Hang Time blog late this afternoon. if any news breaks here, we'll also be on top of that. In the meantime, enjoy the live-blogging here as half the Sweet 16 is filled out today. We'd also encourage you to check out Jerry Palm's Hang Time re-cap of his off-day game watching. The Palmist captured a wild day form the perspective a bar-sitter and he did it quite well.

Enjoy the action.

Posted by David Scott at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Memphis wins 87-63 and I get to go take some sleepy time cold medicine. All's well that ends well.

We'll check in from interview day on Saturday, but it will be pretty light. Be sure to join in with all the live-blogging form the nation's other sites with the able-bodied posse of CSTV.com live-bloggers.

. . . Pouncer, the Tiger mascot, has whipped out his blue Elvis jumpsuit costume. We get a big kick out of that outift for some reason. There's a special hole in the rear for the tail to protrude through. We wonder if Elvis had a similar trap door.

. . . Amazing sub-regional in Tampa. Two 12-13 games on tap for Sunday. Incredible.

Posted by David Scott at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - It has not been pretty and it is definitely the kind of game that John Calipari will use to motivate his troops, but Memphis continues to lead comfortably, 73-55 with 7:45 left in the game.

. .. To go with his monster dunk, Dorsey now has a monster rejection on one of the UTA guards that led to tiger free throws at the other end.

. . . Sitting very close to the same seat that the Austin Peay iron lung band member sat, is now a UTA female band member with lungs of steel. Even the dude next her on clarinet had to shake his head at the latest screech from the basketball-face-painted co-ed.

. . . Rod Epps has fouled out for UTA. he had zero points

Posted by David Scott at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - The Mavericks are still hanging around and trail 65-50 with 11:56 left in the game. Again, Memphis isn't in danger of losing this one, but they also aren't putting it out of reach the way their fans would like.

The Tigers continue to get beat on fast breaks and hustle plays, not to mention put backs. The Tigers also have 5 turnovers this half in 8 minutes. they had five all of the first half.

. . . There are rim rattlers and then there are rim rattlers. What Joey Dorsey threw down with just over 14 minutes left in the game was one for the books. How the basket withstood the trauma, I'll never know.

. . . Taggart picks up his third foul with 11:56 left as Vereen gets after it inside the lane and scores a hard-earned bucket.

Posted by David Scott at 11:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - A rather ho-hum continuance of this onw and Memphis is now up 55-40 with 15:52 left in the game.

It's clear Memphis is going to win, but they are not doing it in the fashion the other No. 1 seeds have and it will ikely give rise to more talk of the Tigers being a soft 1-seed.

. . . The Tigers are getting beat on long outlet passes and back door cuts, two things that don't sit well with the coaching staff. Memphis also isn't finishing well around the bucket. Lots of missed bunnies and lay-ups and put-backs.

. . . Dorsey picked up his third foul with 16:25 left and was taken out for Dozier.

Posted by David Scott at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Some pretty remarkable numbers form the first half, to wit:

Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field.
Both teams shot 50 percent from 3-point land.
Memphis held just a 16-13 edge in rebounding despite a noticeable size advantage.
Both teams had 10 or more assists (10 for UTA, 12 for Memphis)

UTA had 10 turnovers, while Memphis had just five. Memphis converted the ten turns for 12 points and has 11 second-chance points as well.

. . . Memphis just didn't play with the intensity that Calipari expects from his team, but the numbers are pretty impressive and they executed well when they had to. UTA probably can't play much better and they're still down 14. There's been too much "Mr. Fumbles" from the Tigers - especially Dorsey and Dozier - and that drives Calipari bonkers.

Posted by David Scott at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Give UTA some credit, they kept this thing from getting out of hand despite a 57 percent shooting half for the Tigers. UTA shot 54 percent (13 of 24) from the field. Both teams were also 50 percent form 3-point land as Memphis hit 5 of 10 and UTA hit 3 of 6.

. . . CDR leads all scorers with 14 and Moffitt and and Vereen each have seven for UTA.

. . . UTA cut the lead to single digits with 2:20 left in the half, 38-29.

Posted by David Scott at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Memphis leads 36-21 with 3:52 left in the half. The Tigers aren't playing great, but CDR has 13 points and UTA continues to turn the ball over (10 so far this half).

. . . The five for five thing appears to be over as Shawn Taggart replaced Robert Dozier after the under-8:00 media timeout. More regular one-for-one and two-for-two substitution patterns have ensued.

. . . No mention of whether Anthony Vereen of UTA is related to Ben Vereen, the entertainer. No idea why I would care, either. he reminds me of a former Calipari player at UMass, Will Herndon. But Herndon could jump out of the gym, not to mention over cars.

Posted by David Scott at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - Memphis is out ot a 12-point lead but UTA is certainly kepeing it within reason. Memphis leads 27-15 with 7:41 left in the half.

Memphis has forced six UTA turnovers and only holds a slim 10-9 lead in rebounding.

. . . As we indicated pre-game, Calipari is using the hockey line change approach once again. The second-teamers came in with 13:29 left in the half and was made up of Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack, Jeff Robinson, Andre Allen and Shawn Taggart. The players said they like the pattern of subbing because they are used to playing with each other that way in practice.

The First Five checked back in with 11:38 left in the half and look like they'll remain in.

. . . There's got to be a "Top Gun" joke in here somewhere with the 'Mavericks' involved, but I'm a little weak on that movie. How about: UTA has lost that lovin' feelin after starting out hot.

Yeah, I know. But you try live-blogging for 12 straight hours, you haters.

Posted by David Scott at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - The Tigers have been back on their heels a bit to start out but lead 10-6 with 15:19 left in the half.

UTA won the game-opening tip a true moral victory. They even took a 4-0 lead on two buckets from Jermaine Griffin.

But a 3-pointer by Antonio Anderson gave Memphis an 8-6 lead and probably ended the Mavericks' hopes of staying in this one.

. . . Rebounding is even at 4-4. Let's see how long that lasts.

. . . UTA lists on ten players on its roster. Most teams have 14.

. . .UTA is clearly loose and easy for this one. Widebody Larry Posey has been bouncing and smiling since well before the game started.

. . . Two strong sections of UTA fans directly behind the Posting Up Perch, including a string of shirtless dudes spelling out UTAMAVS. The "M" is quite a specimen, as is the "V."

. . . Our sneaker battle is between adidad (Memphis) and Nike (UTA).

. . . With a No. 16 seed basketball team comes a No. 16 seed cheer and dance squad. That's just how it is. The dance portion of the Mavericks' rooters is especially, shall we say, "M" and "V"-like.

Posted by David Scott at 10:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LITTLE ROCK - We're about 15 minutes from tip of the nightcap her at Alltel.

Probable starters look like this:

No. 1 seed Memphis (33-1)
Robert Dozier
Joey Dorsey
Antonio Anderson
Chris Douglas-Roberts (leading scorer with 17.2 ppg)
Derrick Rose

No. 16 seed UTA (21-11)
Rog'er Guignard (leading scorer with 13.0 ppg)
Rod Epps
Tommy Moffit
Larry Posey
Jermaine Griffin

. . . Officials for the game are Reginald Greenwood, John Hampton and Wallace Rutecki.

. . . UTA started shooting around at the wrong end of the floor and had to be shuffled off to the other end when Memphis took the court. rookie mistake.

. . . Look for Memphis to revive its platoon system of five in-five out that worked so well in the C-USA Title game against UAB.

Posted by David Scott at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- No. 1 Memphis wrapped up its 39th consecutive regular season win and improved to 20-0 on the season with an 89-77 win at Hofheinz Pavilion.

After Memphis took the lead with a 13-0 burst midway through the first half, it was never much of a game. Memphis led by as much as 19 in the second half en route to the win.

Not surprisingly, in a game featuring the two highest scoring teams in Conference USA, there were plenty of players who reached double digits in points.

Chris Douglas-Roberts was the best player on the court and finished with 30 points. He was aided by Robert Dozier, whose second half we already talked about, who finished with 21 points. Antonio Anderson added 12 and Derrick Rose 10 for the Tigers.

On the UH side, Dion Dowell netted 23 points, and Robert McKiver dropped in 20. DaShaun Williams added 15 points, and reserve guard Brockeith Pane had 11 points.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Good news all around here with Memphis well ahead in the final minute.

The good news for me is that fans have been filing out throughout the game's final four minutes, so I may not have such a bad time with the traffic.

The good news for Memphis is that No. 2 Kansas, the other unbeaten team in the country, trails by 10 late on the road at Kansas State. The Tigers will also tie the best start in school history, which was 20-0 back in 1986.

The good news for UH is that the crowd of 8,918 is the largest at Hofheinz Pavilion since its 1998 renovation. For a building listed with a capacity of 8,500, they've certainly crammed the place.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Memphis has its lead back up to 15 points, thanks to 6-foot-9 Robert Dozier, who is having a huge second half for Memphis. Dozier has scored 15 points this half to complement CDR, who has 12 in the half and 26 for the game.

Houston got to within eight but has not gotten closer, and with only 3:59 remaining and a 78-63 deficit, I think this one's curtains. But you never know. UH is 5-for-21 from beyond the arc. That's not going to lead to many Cougar wins.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Well, it's gotten a little closer here at Hofheinz Pavilion.

Houston got to within eight points on a home-run pass to Brockeith Pane with about 10 minutes remaining, and this place was as keyed-up as I've seen it. Robert McKiver and DaShaun Williams did most of the damage for UH, which trails 70-60 with 8:42 to play in the game.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- The Houston crowd is doing a good job of staying involved in the game and making it feel like it's close. But it's really not.

Memphis is up, 59-46, with 14:49 to go in the game, and UH needed a 9-3 burst just to get to that point. Dion Dowell has scored eight points in the first five minutes of the half for UH, but Chris Douglas-Roberts (he already has 20 points) and Memphis are just light years ahead.

But on the other hand, it's a great atmosphere here, and I don't throw that around lightly at UH, which usually struggles to earn this kind of interest from students and community alike. I don't think they're going to get the upset tonight, though.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 09:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Memphis leads, 46-35, at halftime. It's been moderately easy for the Tigers late in the first half, with 6-foot-7 guard Chris Douglas-Roberts (or CDR, as we like to call him), netting 14 points in the first half and Antonio Anderson chipping in with nine. Freshman point guard Derrick Rose has had moments of brilliance scattered throughout solid play.

On the Houston side, I've been very impressed with freshman guard Brockeith Pane out of Dallas Carter -- he had seven points in the first half and looked good defensively.

STATS TO WATCH:
Houston's three-point shooting: 3-of-14 in the first half. The only way UH can win this game is if the Cougars can launch a barrage of successful treys in the second half.

Memphis free-throw shooting: 9-of-15 at halftime. Not as awful as normal, but not good. It's really pretty embarrassing that a team that good can't shoot free throws.

Fast-break points: Memphis has outscored UH 11-4 on the break, and the gulf in class between the teams has been evident from fast-break execution.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Okay, enough with the play-by-play. Let's talk about the coaches. Watching Tom Penders and John Calipari try to work the referees tonight has been hilarious. When you watch on TV, you only get to see them occasionally. But from courtside, you can see (and hear) them constantly berating the officials.

Penders just bugged out wanting an intentional foul call on a basic jersey pull. The Gene Wilder-lookalike (to me, at least) sports a red jacket during games (it's still on, despite a close call, in case you were wondering) and really gets livid. Calipari is a little less demonstrative but no less tiresome in trying to get calls for his team.

As for the game itself, Memphis has started to pull away, mostly because UH has almost no offense except for Robert McKiver and the occasional fast break. Chris Douglas-Roberts has really stepped up for Memphis, going 4-for-4 from the field and 5-for-5 (!) from the line. For a Memphis player, especially, that free-throw shooting is huge. Memphis is up, 41-31, with 3:32 to play in the first half.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Memphis just broke off an 11-0 run in a span of 2:38, including three three-pointers in a minute span, to take a 22-18 lead. Sophomore guard Willie Kemp nailed the second and third three-pointers.

And if you're waiting to hear about inside play, don't count on it any time soon. Neither team has made it a priority to get the ball into the post. Memphis up with 9:18 to play in the first half.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 08:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Houston continues to lead, now 17-11, with 11:56 to play in the first half. Robert McKiver has stepped up for UH with a crucial three-pointer (after UH started 1-for-7 from long distance) and, just now, a driving layup to draw a foul and put Houston in the bonus before we've even reached the 10-minute mark.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Houston leads Memphis, 9-4, at the first media timeout. The Cougars have already forced four Memphis turnovers and been whistled for three fouls, sending Memphis to the line. That's a good strategy, considering Memphis' woeful free-throw percentage of 58.6 percent. UH started 0-for-4 from three-point range, but a Dion Dowell trey gave Houston a 9-4 lead.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- Houston jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a jumper from Tafari Toney and an alley-oop pass from DaShaun Williams to Dion Dowell, forcing Memphis to call a timeout less than a minute and a half into the game. Very aggressive defense from UH so far, already producing three turnovers.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HOUSTON -- I'm settling in at Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston to check out the No. 1 team in the country, with tip-off on CSTV scheduled for 7 p.m. CT.

Memphis, you may have heard, is one of two unbeaten teams in the country at 19-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time since 1983. The Tigers are pretty decent.

Houston is having quite a year by its current-day standards, standing at 15-3 and 4-0 in Conference-USA play, just half a game behind 5-0 Memphis. The Cougars' losses have been to VCU in November, UMass Jan. 2 and against Arizona Jan. 12.

But this game is a rare one for Houston in that the Cougars should have a sizable crowd cheering them on. Hofheinz Pavilion is sold out for the game, and five sections are already filled with red-clad students. I have been to a lot of UH sporting events in the last six years, and I have never seen so many UH students in one place. In fact, the first "Whose house? Coogs' house!" cheer of the night came a full 50 minutes before tip-off.

That crowd, however, could play into Memphis' hands. The Tigers are much more experienced in front of noisy crowds and are a much more accomplished team. One friend of mine said Memphis will beat UH by more than it beat Rice (77-50) simply because Memphis won't be able to sleep-walk through this game. We'll see.

Anyway, you can watch the game on CSTV and hear from Carter Blackburn and co. about all the individual storylines in this game. But my limited knowledge of both teams says it will be Memphis' transition game against Houston's three-point shooting. UH has lived and died with the three-pointer in recent years, so we'll see if they can get hot tonight.

Posted by Jonathan Yardley at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MEMPHIS -- Welcome to the FedEx Forum for today's match-up between No. 1 Memphis and Gonzaga. The 60:00 until game clock has yet to start ticking but four Memphis Tigers are shooting around on the Forum floor (Robert Dozier, Doneal Mack, Derrick Rose, Antonio Anderson and Andre Allen). Rose is being stretched out at half court and a few other Tigers are currently taking the floor.

The student section to our left, in the endzone, is filled in. We're ready to roll.

Memphis game notes

Gonzaga game notes

Posted by David Scott at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MEMPHIS -- Once again CSTV.com is live and exclusive at the Larry Finch Center on the Elliott Perry Observation Deck as the No. 1 team in the nation prepares for tomorrow's Nonn EST tip with Gonzaga.

Practice starts in about 50 minutes, but we're here early to answer questions and get some discussion going on the No. 1 Tigers. We'll be back Saturday as well, just before 11 a.m. EST for the game from FedEx Forum. Be sure to join in for all the live-blogging fun.

Posted by David Scott at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by David Scott at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- In what turned out to be a 45-minute back-and-forth struggle Tuesday night, No. 2 Memphis managed to avoid being the second top five team to lose in the last three days after holding off a feisty USC team for a 62-58 overtime win in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.

And despite shooting a dismal 37.3 percent from the field and an even more atrocious 38.9 percent from the free throw line, the Tigers are happily headed back to Memphis with a 7-0 record.

But if there's anyone that you feel for right now, it's Daniel Hackett.

You feel for him because no one had a better chance to be a hero than the sophomore guard.

You feel for him because his free throw with five seconds remaining could have stopped all the talk that's surrounded Memphis this season and put it squarely on the Trojans as a bonafide national contender.

Yet even more, you feel for him because in a matter of two days, USC has had its heart broken not once but twice.

The Trojans made their way to the Big Apple Monday hoping to forget about a tough loss to No. 3 Kansas Sunday but instead ended up leaving the world's most famous arena with another agonizing loss and a long flight back to Southern California.

"It wasn't Hackett's free throw [that cost us the game]," USC coach Tim Floyd said during his post-game press conference. "We played foolish at the start of the second half. We had so many opportunities with such great stops. We were in the open floor [and] couldn't play on the open floor [and] turned it over."

Hackett finished with 10 points on just 3-of-11 shooting, and freshman phenom O.J. Mayo paced the Trojans with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists. Davon Jefferson, who despite not receiving a lot of preseason hype has shown over the last three games that he could just be one of the best freshman in the country, was the third USC player to score in double figures, tallying 12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in 40-plus minutes of action.

Memphis, meanwhile, had two players that scored in double figures, as Robert Dozier led the way with 13 points and Chris Douglas-Roberts recorded 10 on 4-of-13 shooting. Freshman sensation Derrick Rose struggled most of the night in going up against Mayo and a stingy USC defense that mixed between a triangle and two, one-three-one zone and man-to-man set, but the Chicago native still managed to finish with a team-high 10 rebounds in addition to his nine points.

Afterward, Memphis coach John Calipari was nearly speechless about his team's performance, giving credit to USC for its ability to slow the tempo down and keep the score in the 60s as they had done against Oklahoma and Kansas last week.

"I got thoroughly out-coached this game," Calipari admitted. "We ran our offense four or five times the whole game. We never got into it, and I give them credit.

"We prepared for the triangle and two, [and] whatever that preparation was, we better not try that again."

So as Professor Scott, Mr. Palm and I wrap things up from 33rd and 7th, look for more on USC and Kansas State in my weekly Thursday column, while Professor Scott handles the Memphis reporting as our regular Tiger insider. And if you're looking for something from Palm, well, you might have to wait until college football season is finally over, as our BCS expert is still busy trying to make sense of all those numbers that those infamous computers like to spit out.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- If USC ends up losing this game to No. 2 Memphis tonight, Daniel Hackett will sure be kicking himself all the way back to sunny Southern California.

After getting fouled following a Chris Douglas-Roberts' miss from the free throw, the sophomore guard got fouled and made of the first free throw but couldn't connect the second, clanking his next attempt off the back of the rim and leaving the score knotted at 54-54.

Memphis managed to grab the rebound off Hackett's miss, but a Robert Dozier three-point attempt from the left corner hit off the front of the rim as time expired.

So for all of you still up and watching this one, we've got five more minutes of basketball to play. But what's really sad is the fact that fans here at the Garden are already leaving as we await the overtime session.

And if we could only see Mr. Dolan's facial expression now...

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Even though we can practically touch the ceiling here at Madison Square Garden, you could almost hear the groan from USC coach Tim Floyd after that last shot by O.J. Mayo.

Little Kobe as I've often referred to him over the last week just chucked up another three from behind the NBA line, and USC is looking out of sync after taking its final timeout with two minutes remaining.

Tim Floyd should be pleased with the way his team has rebounded the ball tonight, but he certainly won't like the shot selection that the Trojans have resorted to over the last minute and a half of this game.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Memphis can not get back into this one as USC continues to answer every time the Tigers get close. USC leads, 45-41, with 7:53 left. DaVon Jefferson had a dunk put back that brought oohs and ahhs from the heretofore dead crowd.

Joey Dorsey has four fouls for the Tigers, who now have nine team fouls for the half to just three for USC.

This one will be decided late, methinks.

Posted by David Scott at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- After staying with No. 3 Kansas throughout Sunday's contest at the Galen Center, USC has been impressive here at Madison Square Garden against another top-rated team in No. 2 Memphis.

Davon Jefferson has been one of the main reasons for that, as the Trojans hold a 46-41 lead with a little less than eight minutes remaining after Daniel Hackett's three-point play on a drive to the basket.

O.J. Mayo, in the meantime, has wowed the New York City crowd with his shake-and-bake moves but has found three and four Memphis Tigers collapsing on him every time he goes to the rim. Right now the 6-foot-5 freshman is leading USC with 14 points, but Jefferson has also tallied double figures for Coach Tim Floyd.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Controlling tempo and the game, USC continues to grind this one out, leading 32-29 with 15:43 left in the game.

. . . Rose's first field goal came in the 17:00 mark of the second half, a foul line jumper. His next shot, after a nice spin move on Mayo was a bad miss in the lane.

. . .Mayo delivered a beautiful alley-oop pass that Davon Jefferson jammed backwards over his head.

. . . Antonio Anderson started out the half guarding OJ Mayo, perhaps in an effort to free up CDR's offensive game.

. . . An abbreviated version of the Tiger cheerleaders made the trip - looks like three gals and three dudes.

Posted by David Scott at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- O.J. Mayo drained a tear drop foul line jumper, nothing but net, to finish up with a game-high 10 points as USC leads, 29-24, at the half.

Neither team shot better than 35 percent from the floor and Memphis missed all six of its free throws (USC was 4 of 4 form the line). The Tigers shot 4-of-10 from three-point land and USC tried only two treys (made one by Mayo).

. . . Overall, the edge in the marquee match-up goes to Mayo in a landslide for the first half and Memphis has not been able to get out and run the way they would like. On pace for a 60 point game, the pace favors USC's 68.5 points per game over Memphis's 85.7 ppg.

. . . USC won the board battle in the first half, 26-19, but Memphis had seven blocks (three by Dorsey). The Tigers also had 11 turnovers (for 11 points) to eight for the Trojans (converted into 5 points). The Memphis bench is outscoring the USC bench, 12-2.

. . . Surprisingly, only 12 total fouls were called in the first half. The K-State and Notre Dame game also had very few fouls called (25 total).

. . . Career 43 percent free throw shooter Joey Dorsey, not known for his stripe prowess, shot an air ball from the line with 1:29 left and then overcompensated on his second to brick it off the backboard.

. . . A pre-recorded message form Dick Vitale is being shown in the arena during halftime as he makes a plea for donations to the Jimmy V Foundation (1-800-JIMMYV or log onto jimmyv.org). A painting of Jimmy V hangs over the right shoulder of Vitale as he speaks.

Posted by David Scott at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- My apologies to Professor Scott for making him blog away the first half of this second game between No. 3 Memphis and USC, but after trying to listen to my recorder over Dick Vitale's halftime speech on the Garden's jumbotron about the Jimmy V Foundation, I'm here to offer some second-half commentary about the Trojans and Tigers.

And after seeing USC play three games in the last six days, it's quite possible that Tim Floyd might think I'm quietly following the team when he sees my face tonight in the post-game press conference.

One interesting point to note in looking at the halftime statistics was the way the Trojans really got after it on the glass. Floyd made it a point of emphasis after seeing his team lose to No. 3 Kansas on Sunday at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, and he has to be proud of the way Davon Jefferson and his guards have crashed the boards during the first 20 minutes of play.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Memphis has taken a 24-21 lead in front of a very flat, unenthusiastic crowd as we inch closer to halftime of this one. CDR has done a nice job of containing Mayo and even though it appears to be affecting CDR on the offensive end (just two points), the trade-off is one that John Calipari will take.

It's even easier to accept as Robert Dozier, who missed the last two Tiger games with a foot injury, continues his steady play with a team-high eight points and great activity on the boards. Joey Dorsey has also come to play for the Tigers with a couple of blocks and some aggresive defense especially on the mid-court trap the Tigers are utilizing.

Posted by David Scott at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- O.J. Mayo has outshone Derrick Rose in the early going with eight points to lead all scorers. Rose has yet to score and the Trojans lead 16-12 at the under-12:00 timeout. Memphis is struggling from the field early, shooting just 5 of 17. USC is 7 of 14 from the field.

. . . Mayo has drawn both Chris Douglas-Roberts and Antonio Anderson on defense, Rose has been defended by Mayo. Mayo drained a three over the outstretched arms of Anderson, the kind of shot he was missing badly against Kansas on Sunday.

. . . "TV" Teddy Valentine is, of course, one of the three officials tonight.

Posted by David Scott at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- USC is out to a 7-2 lead and OJ Mayo has five points for the Trojans, including a swish jumper in transition over Derrick Rose.

. . . Waving Guy stopped by to see his buddy Josh Herwitt and since we won't remember to tell Josh, consider this an electornic memo.

. . . Also spotted in our second walk around the Garden was Memphis GM Chris Wallace and ex-USA Today sports media critic Rudy Martzke. (There is a big college football gala in the city tonight, so some of the stragglers from that event have made their way over for this game.)

Posted by David Scott at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- The Irish wind up winning the first game 68-59 behind 19 from Luke Harangody and 18 from Kyle McAlarney. Michael Beasley led K-State with 19, but the Wildcats played flat all night and have a long way to go if they are going to be considered challengers in the Big 12.

We ventured down courtside (a tram ride, s shuttle and a $10 cab) to get a feel for the buzz surrounding the marquee freshman match-up of teh early season between OJ Mayo and Derrick Rose. Suffice to say there are a lot of "basketball people" here, including, of course, Worldwide Wes, the man who helped bring Rose to Memphis and John Calipari.

We also ran into the Celtics' assistant executive director of basketball operations, Leo Papile and the immortal New York basketball maven, Pat Plunkett.

Back for tip in a few.

Posted by David Scott at 09:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Post-game press conferences were rather lengthy tonight, as they often are whenever UConn coach Jim Calhoun takes the podium, so I'm going to finish up in Hang Time, where I'll have a column posted in a short while.

Before I part from the world famous Madison Square Garden, though, I'll leave you all with a few quick nuggets to peruse over:

-Memphis coach John Calipari was extremely pleased with the way Robert Dozier played tonight. The junior forward was active at both ends of the court throughout the night, making four of his five shots from the floor to finish as Memphis' third highest scorer with eight points. But Dozier seemed to be even better on the defensive end, tallying eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal in the title win.

-Despite finishing with only four points, Memphis center Joey Dorsey was clearly the difference between the Tigers winning and losing tonight's ball game. The senior, who recorded a team-high 12 rebounds and three blocks in going against 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet, is simply a game-changer, and better yet, a defensive monster, when he's on the floor. Not bad for a guy that's currently playing hurt after reaggravating that right shoulder in the semifinals Thursday night against Oklahoma.

-Since we're speaking of Memphis big men, Shawn Taggart was one of the few Tigers that actually struggled tonight. The sophomore Iowa State transfer never seemed to get bearings against the Huskies, earning a technical foul in the first half before fouling out in 19 minutes of action. He finished with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and five rebounds.

-Jim Calhoun liked the aggressiveness that Thabeet showed tonight for the Huskies. After struggling for most of his rookie campaign last season, the sophomore has started to find his game this season, holding down the middle for UConn with 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds against a tough Memphis front line.

-After playing well in Storrs, Conn., for the first two rounds of the tournament, Jeff Adrien proved to be a major disappointment in New York City. The junior forward managed to notch only nine points and two rebounds against Gardner-Webb in the semifinals and struggled even more against a top five defensive team tonight, scoring a meager six points to go along with one rebound and six turnovers.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 12:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - It took John Calipari almost 20 years to get his first coaching victory against Jim Calhoun and you can bet the 16th year head man (8th at Memphis) will savor this one for a while.

Calipari's Tigers used a strong start to the game, a steady second half and the combination of senior Joey Dorsey (33 points) and freshman Derrick Rose (24) to get past the pesky Huskies, 81-70, and move to 4-0 on the season. UConn goes to 3-1.

UConn was led by AJ Price's 23.

. . . All Tournament Team: Blake Griffin, Grasyon Flittner, AJ Price, Derrick Rose and Tournament MVP Chris Douglas-Roberts. He received the award to chants of "CDR, CDR" form the Memphis faithful.

And in the cliche of all cliches, "We Are the Champions" was played to honor the Tigers.

. . . We'll work the post-game pressers and then plan on having something over the weekend for you at the Hang Time blog.

Thanks, as always, for joining the Posting Up posters. For Ronnie, Josh and the entire CSTV.com gang, this is DScott (and Ronnie) signing off.

Posted by David Scott at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Chris Douglas-Roberts is playing like an All-American right now. The junior guard just hit a three-point play to set a new career-high with 30 points, and there's still nearly five minutes to play in this one.

C-DR, as Memphis fans refer to him as, has been doing it with some great drives to the basket, while Joey Dorsey has been a monster on the boards for the Tigers despite grabbing just three in the first half.

Dorsey, who many thought got posterized by Jerome Dyson early in the second half, made a smart move in retrospect by backing off the sophomore guard and letting him have the wide-open dunk to avoid his third foul just after halftime.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Ask anyone on the inside of the Memphis program who the most valuable Tiger is and the answer will most certainly be Chris Douglas Roberts. He is proving it tonight with an efficient - and vital - career-high, 30 points on 13 of 18 from the field.

The Tigers have now pulled away with a 73-63 lead with 4:53 left in the game.

. . .A Derrick Rose dipsy-do in the lane with 7:37 left in the game, and the ensuing free throw, put Memphis up 65-60. He then converted on the next trip as well for his 21st point of the game.

. . . Robert Dozier has stepped up in the second half for Memphis as well.

. . .Tonight's officials, who have been too involved in the outcome for our liking, are Bryan Kersey, Sean Hull and Roger Ayers. Not a great night for the men in stripes.

. . . We keep getting distratced by the bozos in the section next to us, who have been grappling with ushers all night long. They should have been thrown out ten minutes ago when the first incident occurred, and instead have been tossed now. Morons.

Posted by David Scott at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - This one has all the makings of fantastic finish as Memphis clings to a 58-56 lead with 10:57 left in the game. Jerome Dyson has 10 points in the second half for UConn and 13 for the game. CDR leads all scorers with 22 points.

The UConn crowd is getting quite into it with loud chants of "Let's Go Huskies" ringing through the arena.

. . . Great one-handed dunk through the lane by Jerome Dyson to cut the Memphis lead to one with 14:00 left as Dorsey backed off to avoid picking up his third foul.

. . . At breaks in the action, Ronnie leaves the "listeners" with a courteous, "We'll be right back." The consummate professional. He returns from breaks in the action with a "We're back here now."

Ronnie says: "This is like a championship fight. The best game of the whole year." Who's more on the side of truth than Ronnie?

Posted by David Scott at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Memphis is out to an 11-5 run to start the second half and leads 51-46. Derrick Rose has started to assume some control for the Tigers and CDR is up to 20 points for Memphis.

The officials appear to be letting things go a bit more to start the half, a development that would seem to favor Memphis.

. . . Dozier picked up his fourth foul of the game with barely 20 seconds gone in the half and was sent to the bench immediately.

. . . UConn is just a completely different team after its slow start, abandoning their tentativeness and attacking the rim (especially Stanley Robinson).

. . . Ronnie is very fired up as the head coach of the Manhattan College Jaspers, Barry Rohrssen is in the house. Rohrssen is a long-time friend of Calipari, going back to their Five-Star camp days.

Posted by David Scott at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- For as bad as UConn has looked early on this season, the Huskies are staying right with the No. 3 team in the country at the moment.

Maybe it's the large contingent of UConn fans here at the Garden. Maybe it's the fact that Memphis has garnered much of the preseason hype across the country this season.

Whatever the case, sophomore center Hasheem Thabeet has really stepped up his play tonight, tallying eight points, six from the free throw line, and grabbing four rebounds in the first half as the Huskies led by one at the break, 41-40.

And A.J. Price, for the most part, has been even better, leading the way at halftime with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting and committing just two turnovers in 16-plus minutes.

On the other side, Chris Douglas-Roberts has been Mr. Consistency for the Tigers, dropping in 16 in less than 15 minutes of action to go along with three rebounds.

But it's still neck and neck here with about 10 minutes to play, and we'll see if either side can start to take control with both teams getting anxious.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - An emotionally charged first half ended with UConn taking an improbable 41-40 lead into the locker room. CDR and AJ Price each have 16 points to lead their respective sides.

Technical fouls to Calipari (a bench decorum T) and Shawn Taggart (for slamming the ball to the floor) contributed to the Huskies run, as did the 15 team fouls assessed to Memphis (to just five for UConn). UConn shot 18 of 23 form the free throw line while Memphis attempted only three, hitting one.

Once Joey Dorsey was forced to the bench with two fouls, UConn was able to make its run as the Tigers went cold form the field.

. . . It's a fairly cold building, but that can't be the explanation for the stone hands of hasheem Thabeet, who has fumbled away at least two point-blank passes in the paint.

. . . Ronnie has some terrific insight all throughout the first half. His breadth and depth of knowledge is truly stunning - especially on all things Manhattan College. He claims the Jaspers are the third best defensive team in the country to this point. Ronnie would know.

One of the great attributes of Ronnie is that he constantly give time and score updates with his running commentary. Too often play-by-play men forget this important element. But not our Ronnie.

. . . Nice work by Tiger assistant Derek Kellogg and geting between Calipari and the ref who T'ed him up.

. . . The UConn partisans really got back into the game and were loudest just before the break when UConn took the lead.

. . . The Huskies attempted just two 3-pointers after averaging over ten tries at treys in its first three outings. Stanley Robinson tried both, making one. Memphis is 3 of 9 from beyond the arc. Memphis shot 43 percent from the field for the half, UConn was at 38 percent.

Posted by David Scott at 09:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Memphis leads 31-20 at the under-8:00 media timeout and Chris Douglas-Roberts has 14 to lead all scorers.

. . . AJ Price continues his impressive start to the season, leading UConn with nine points on 4 of 4 shooting from the field.

. . . With about 8:30 left, Derrick Rose drove the length of the floor and was rejected cleanly (and very nicely - by Stanley Robinson, leading to a bucket at the other end for UConn which cut the Tigers lead to 29-18. Calipari called an immediate timeout and had some choice words for his freshman point guard.

. . . UConn's first team foul of the game came with 7:14 left in the half. Memphis had six by that point.

Posted by David Scott at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Memphis continues to outshine the Huskies at every turn and leads 22-10 at the under-12:00 media timeout.

. . .Willie Kemp had an errant shot - or a pass - that Dorsey threw down nastily, one-handed for a 16-3 lead.

. . . We were under the impression that the Harlem Globetrotters weren't scheduled to be in the building until January, but the way Memphis (and especially Derrick Rose) is playing, this is looking like the Globies.

. . . Ronnie is very impressed with Memphis and is claiming UConn has 10 turnovers through ten minutes. I think it only seems that way, but to argue with Ronnie would be a big mistake.

. . . If UConn can't stay in the game on its own, the refs will help as the Huskies have been whistled zero times for fouls and the Tigers have five team fouls, including 2 for Joey Dorsey who goes to the bench with 9:37 left in the half. Calhoun counters by inserting Thabeet.

Posted by David Scott at 09:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Memphis shot out to a 7-0 lead with 1:23 gone, causing Jim Calhoun to call a quick timeout to try and stem the tide. UConn promptly turned the ball over after the break and now trail 14-3 at the first media timeout.

Memphis is swarming and pressing and has UConn made all sorts of poor decisions. Chris Douglas-Roberts already has eight points for Memphis, including two of two from 3-point land.

. .. AJ Price scored UConn's first hoop of the game with 17:30 to go and converted the 3-point play with a free throw for UConn's only scoring thus far.

. . . Dorsey had two rebounds with less than two minutes gone. By our calculations, he's on pace for 40 boards if he plays the whole game.

. . . Pre-tip music was "Welcome to the Jungle" - a decided advantage for the Tigers.

. . . Six-foot-nine Robert Dozier won the opening tip cleanly over 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet.

. . .Calipari got booed rather loudly in his pre-game introduction - likely a combination of UConn fans hating on him and probably some residual new Jersey Nets fans still angry with the ex-Nets coach - despite the fact he brought the franchise back to the playoffs in his second year after a long absence. How quickly they forget.

Posted by David Scott at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Much to our glee, Radio Ronnie the Ranter is back in the house tonight and has re-assumed his position in our eardrums, er, one row behind us. He seems to be doing a pre-game show, previewing not only the UConn-Memphis game, but also looking ahead to next week's NIT Season Tip-off semis and finals.

. . . The building has filled up a bit and the lower bowl's purple seats are about 65 percent filled. The middle and upper bowls turquoise seats are about 40 percent filled. Needless to say, attendance for the two nights has been weak at best, a direct result of Kentucky not making the final four.

This will be a mostly pro-UConn crowd, but Memphis has travelled extremely well and fills an entire section behind the Tigers bench.

. . . Should be a good one and we're going to go with a pre-game prediction of a Memphis win where the Tigers pull away late for a double-digit victory.

Posted by David Scott at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - The Championship game tips in about an hour and we thought we'd give you a little glimpse into what to expect from the contest between UConn and Memphis.

Both teams have played three games thus far in the young season and both have been stingy on defense as Memphis has allowed 62.3 points per game and UConn has given up 62.7 ppg. The teams each have shot 44 percent from the field with Memphis at 33 percent from 3-point land and UConn at 34 percent.

The Tigers average almost 5.5 more points per game on offense (81.7 to 76.3), while UConn has boarded better with nearly 50 per game to Memphis's 45. Both teams struggle from the free throw line, but for Memphis it's a much bigger issue as the Tigers are 58 percent from the stripe with UConn at 66 percent.

The Huskies have had 35 blocks in three games and Memphis has had 28. UConn is the first school in NCAA history to lead the country in blocked shots for six straight seasons, including last year. Nine different Huskies have had blocks this year and nine different Tigers have been swatters. Jeff Adrien leads the Huskies with eight and Robert Dozier paces Memphis with seven.

. . . Calipari and Calhoun have met twice before with the UConn mentor having won both contests when Calipari was in his first two seasons at UMass in 1989 and 1990. The wins were by 29 and 19 points repsectively.

. . . Calipari is 55-31 all time vs the current members of the Big East conference. Calhoun is 7-1 against current C-USA members, with the only loss coming against UAB on March 22, 1989.

Continue reading "Memphis-UConn Preview" »

Posted by David Scott at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- No. 3 Memphis stands just one win away now from bringing home the trophy at the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic, but Thursday night's 63-53 semifinal win over Oklahoma wasn't the way that John Calipari has been used to getting it done over the past seven years.

After all, the Tigers, with their talented guard play, had averaged more than 90 points in its first two games at the FedEx Forum, something that Oklahoma made a concerted effort to counter by employing a 3-2 zone for much of the second half.

"Coming into it we knew we had tough match-ups going man," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel explained after the game. "You look at the size of their guards and look at the sizes of our guards."

While Capel was hoping to slow down Memphis' talented backcourt and its imposing inside presence with twin towers Joey Dorsey and Shawn Taggart, the first-year coach was just as mindful of the fact that the Tigers don't feature a true three-point threat now that Jeremy Hunt has graduated.

Continue reading "Memphis Outlasts Oklahoma For 63-53 Victory" »

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Things are starting to get interesting here with 2:17 left, as Oklahoma has cut the lead to six on a three-pointer after looking like it was surrending the game to the Tigers.

But from the looks of the scoreboard reading 59-53 right now, you would have thought this was the kind of game that Jeff Capel and Oklahoma wanted to play coming into tonight's semifinals. Memphis, after all, would have had this one in the 80s, and better yet, the 90s, if Calipari would have had it his way.

The Tigers left Oklahoma with a chance to cut the lead to four with 1:46 left in the game, but the Sooners never got a look at the basket with Omar Leary throwing the ball away on a drive at the one-minute mark. That play sparked more enthusiasm from Ronnie as the Tigers are now headed to the championship game tomorrow night with UConn waiting in the wings.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Our guy, Ronnie has switched into a bit of BCS talk with a dissection of the Ohio State-Michigan contest on tap for this weekend. He smoothly segued back into a discussion of the ongoing game and his assessment that Derrick Rose does not play like a freshman.

He seems to be calling this game "over" and is looking ahead to tomorrow night's championship tilt.

Yeah, I'm at the point where I may record Ronnie on my Sony digital recorder and submit a demo reel to WFAN 660 AM, New York's premiere sports talk radio station. "Ronnie Up All Night" would do some serious numbers. And he certainly wouldn't need callers to add to the show. Heck, he's done this whole game without a color guy. Or a microphone. Or a drink of water.

I will be Ronnie's agent by the end of this Tournament, trust me.

. . . Herwitt thinks I'm insane because I've been blogging about Ronnie. He could be onto something.

. . . Fantastic coconut/walnut cookies have been put out in the press room. I rewarded Herwitt for his hard night of blogging with a whole cookie and a chocolate chunk brownie, which he either needs to eat soon, or I'm giving it to Ronnie.

. . .On a more serious note, Derrick Rose has some of the most tantalizingly terrific MISSES that you will ever see. He simply attacks the basket and contorts his body into incredible positions. he would help the Knicks today, without a single practice for Team Turmoil.

Posted by David Scott at 11:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- For as much as Memphis has controlled this game for the first 32 minutes, Oklahoma is still right there, trailing by just five now with 11:38 remaining in the game.

But out of a timeout, Derrick Rose came up big again, swishing a three from the corner to put Memphis back up at eight.

Back behind us, Ronnie has seemed to take his attention away from the game at hand, as he's moved on to football analysis in concentrating on this weekend's big Michigan-Ohio State matchup along with UConn's surprising Cinderella run this season.

Anyway, back to the game, where Rose has now pushed the Tigers' lead to 11 with a spectacular drive and finish for a three-point play.

At the other end, the Sooners are looking a little lost right now, as David Goldbold just clanked one off the side of the backboard. From the way things are looking here, the Sooners will probably be playing Gardner-Webb in the consolation game tomorrow night, while Jim Calhoun and John Calipari look to face off against each other in the tournament finals.

And as I watch Memphis continue to expand on its lead with less than eight minutes to go, tomorrow night's finals will sure be a fun one for Mr. Scott and I to witness.

After all, it's a known fact that the two Cals aren't exactly fond of one another after Calipari's days at UMass, and that should make it all the more fun to see the two go head to head right here at Madison Square Garden.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Joey Dorsey is slowly taking over this game after almost getting ejected in the first half for grabbing Blake Griffin's neck during a play down low.

The senior center has powered his way to the basket to keep Memphis up by seven, 37-30 , with 17 minutes left in the second half, while Derrick Rose is starting to find his range from outside, knocking down a three-pointer to put the Tigers back up by 10.

Dorsey, meanwhile, looks to be clutching his right shoulder, the same one that forced him to miss the Tigers' first two games of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic last week against UT-Martin and Richmond.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Derrick Rose just missed an opportunity to throw down a huge dunk before halftime, as the freshman point guard was fouled with .02 seconds remaining before halftime.

Rose hit both free throws to give the Tigers a 35-25 advantage at halftime, and good things just seem to happen with the Chicago native on the court.

That's because Rose sure doesn't play, nor look, like a freshman. With the fluidity and grace that he's been demonstrating on each play down the floor, it will be a surprise to see him play more than one year at Memphis.

We've been slow on getting out stats due to some technological difficulties here at the Garden, but Shawn Taggart is leading both teams at the break with seven points. Meanwhile, the Tigers have shown some balance on the offensive end with six other players tallying three points or more.

Oklahoma, on the other hand, has struggled from the perimeter, canning just 1-of-7 three-point attempts in the first half after coming into the game with a 42-percent average from beyond the arc.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Sorry to barge in on the Herwitticisms and insight into the Tiger-Sooner contest, but we wouldn't be doing justice to the live-blogging if we didn't mention the presence of long-time Manhattan College staple, Ronnie the Jasper Fan.

Somehow, despite the absence of the Jaspers, Ronnie has procured a press pass and is positioned behind the Posting Up Perch. Now, we definitely shouldn't mock Ronnie, because he's a special man with nothing but good intentions. Unfortunately he is also fond of doing out-loud play-by-play of the action.

In addition to being on a six second delay, he also keeps repeating what a great match-up it would be if UConn were to meet Memphis tomorrow night in the title game. As a play-by-play guy, Ronnie makes a great fan.

The saddest part of all? I'm actually starting to enjoy the banter he has with himself.

. . . Ronnie's going to the little boy's room, but promises he'll "be right back." Sadly, there's no way to change the station - or our seats.

Posted by David Scott at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Joey Dorsey just threw down a huge jam off an alley-oop and that got a lot of people sitting in the Memphis section off their seats.

The Tigers have extended their lead to 33-25 with less than one minute to play before halftime, and John Calipari is hoping to push this one into double digits before the break.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- Oklahoma is hanging around right now, in large part because of senior guard David Godbold. The 6-foot-5 Oklahoma City native has been able to penetrate the lane and get to the rim. That will certainly need to continue for Jeff Capel if his team hopes to pull off the big stunner here tonight in The City That Never Sleeps.

Joey Dorsey, however, has picked it up at both ends of the floor, tipping in a Derrick Rose layup to put the Tigers up by four and then coming back down the court and swatting a shot into the stands.

Antonio Anderson, in the meantime, is also starting to heat up from outside, knocking down a three in the corner to put Memphis up, 26-20, with six minutes left to play.

While UConn seemed to have control of the tempo early in the first game of the night, it still seems to be anyone's ball game at the moment.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK -- No. 3 Memphis and Oklahoma have kicked off here in Game #2 at Madison Square Garden, and the Tigers are up early on the Sooners, 11-6.

The stands have also seemed to fill in a little more for this second game, but there's still a lot of purple and turquoise showing around the building.

On the court, Memphis is certainly using its athleticism to its advantage right now, as the Tigers continue to control the tempo and push the ball against the Sooners.

Longar Longar has been the one bright spot for Oklahoma so far, as the senior center is trying to keep the Sooners close with more than 10 minutes to spare in the first half.

And as my sidekick Mr. Scott tells me, with the same first and last name, it's only natural that Longar would be the one carrying Oklahoma in the early going.

Posted by Josh Herwitt at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NEW YORK - Good evening and welcome to the World's Most Famous Arena for tonight's semifinals fo the Coaches vs. Cancer College Hoops Classic. Our first game tonight, tipping in about 30 minutes, will feature early-season Cinderella Gardner-Webb and the Univeristy of Connecticut. The nightcap will feature No. 3 Memphis and Oklahoma.

Both UConn and Gardner-Webb are warming up with G-W going through lay-up lines, while the Huskies work on some free-throw shooting (good move, UConn has hit just 53 of 80 free throws in its first two games, both wins).

The most noticable thing about the Runnin' Bulldogs early on is the bleach-blonde hair of 6-7 reserve Matt French from Melbourne Australia. We're guessing he uses those Aussie hair products with the annoying kangaroo mascot. But we won't hold it against him.

. . . We always like to check what the Vegas wiseguys even though we don't encourage gambling (unless it's done in casinos). UConn is hovering as an eight point favorite while the Tigers are a low double-digit pick, between 11 and 12 points. Tough to go against the chalk in either contest.

. . . CSTV.com is double-staffing tonight's contests so you won;t have to deal with my live-blogging antics all evening long. College Hoops editor Josh Herwitt will live-blog the second game, at which time I will probably retire to the concesion area in search of cold, adult beverages. No, I kid. It's the Garden - they won't be cold.

. . . Gotta get some energy food for the evening of hoops, so we'll be back with you for tip.

. .. Please forgive our time-stamps - they're a bit screwed up. This entry was posted at 6:30 p.m. EST - the rest foolow sequentially with a seven hour time discrepancy.

Posted by David Scott at 06:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)