Memphis Recap

'Our team has a lot of toughness' is a quote Sean Miller used after a 63-58 win over a tough Memphis Tiger squad coming off a national championship game appearance last year. The three wins in four days in Puerto Rico were huge for this team no doubt. Not only did we win the championship but we picked up signature wins for March and RPI strength. We will be top 25 with a bullet. We didn't play pretty but we played strong enough to win. The games against VA Tech and Memphis had an NCAA feel to them and we stepped up. Holloway was big with the free throws down the stretch again. He is 27/28 for the season. That is what a point guard is supposed to do. Jamel McLean was big in the first half when DBrown was saddled with foul trouble. CJ Anderson is his best in the big games and he took it right to the Memphis bigs. Ultimately poor free throw shooting led to their demise. In fact it was so upsetting to Tyreke Evans (the latest in a long line of one and dones for Memphis) that he was crying after the game. Ha ha.

Up next we face rival Miami (OH) Saturday at 4:30 in the 'Tas. I am sure Jason Love has been looking forward to this one. I enjoy and admire Charlie Coles and hope his team has great success this season just not on Saturday. The Redhawks have already played UCLA and Pitt so they are battle tested.

And to my buddy Dave I had to educate some fans in the Enquirer forum. The passionate fan base of the Bearcat basketball program like to tout the Big East and slam the A10. My point to them is so what? St Bonnies beat Rutgers on their own floor this past weekend and the Bonas are crap right? The Big East has done nothing for the UC program other than add to the loss column. The A10 has prepared us enough to make deep runs in March and show up in March on a regular basis. Does Memphis, Gonzaga, Butler, Creighton, and Southern Illinois play in a BCS conference? No but they do enjoy quite a bit of success in spite of it. Mick did inherit a very solid 'mid major' program in Murray State but he didn't leave them in a situation for lasting success. My point to the ass clown I was sparring with is just compare overall winning percentages, salaries, playing career, ect of Mick and Sean. Who comes out on top? Sean helped build this program to the level it is. Xavier is a program and not a coach; please remember that. Mick has some nice pieces in place let's see what he does with them.