It's a fair question. He/she (?) is not the first to ask that. I ask myself that all the time.

The short answer is "because I feel like it."

That's what an old tennis partner used to say, just loud enough for his doubles partner and opponents to hear, after hitting a winner.

Athletes know the feeling by other names — runner's high, in the zone, out of your head, grooved, unconscious — but I like "better than sex" for those rare moments of perfection for us amateurs more familiar with failures that are "worse than dental surgery."

When the annual series was discontinued after the 1960-61 season, each team had won 24 games. Memphis has won the only two meetings since, in January 1993 and in the third round of the 2002 NIT.

• November 20th has been good to the Tigers of late, with wins each of the last three seasons. The U of M beat Oklahoma in 2006 (in Maui), Arkansas State in 2007, and Chattanooga last year (in Puerto Rico).

A choice excerpt:

On if he thinks AI’s unwillingness to play a supporting role is hurting his chances of finding a team that will be a good fit for him:

“I think so, but he doesn’t think he needs to. Here’s what happened - when he thought about coming with me he said coach I don’t care if I start, you just give me an opportunity to start. And I said that’s fair. I hope I do that with all my players. But I told him that if he came with me, I have two guards sitting there and they would be unhappy, and I didn’t think that was fair. So when the Memphis situation came up, I looked at their roster. One, he made more money with them which I thought was a factor. And two, they just had Conley and Mayo and he was under the opinion that he would get a chance to start. Well, he missed all of training camp and I think that hurt. And then he was a little impatient. But the real factor was his family wasn’t with him. His family’s in Atlanta and I think they didn’t want to move to Memphis. And I think that was the major reason he wanted to leave.”

Five regulars for the 2009 world champion New York Yankees (counting DH Hideki Matsui) are older than Coach Pastner.

1. Bench Play: I wrote in my pre-game post that I would be interested to see how the team's three rookies faired tonight, and that getting solid contributions from DeMarre Carroll and/or Sam Young would be a key to victory. Well, all three rookies gave the team good minutes tonight.

Carroll had 10 points (4-6 shooting) and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes and made some of the energy plays that are key to his game: Stepping up to take a charge from a rumbling Craig Smith, following his own miss for an offensive rebound, finishing plays around the rim off setups from teammates.

Young played 12 minutes and was an efficient scorer with 6 points on 3-6 shooting. He missed a dunk off a terrific Marc Gasol feed, but made a Tim Duncan-esqe mid-range bank shot that I'm almost certain was intentional. After shooting an abysmal 5-24 over the previous four games, Young has gone 10-17 in this two-game win "streak." And I think that's far from an accidental correlation.

As for Thabeet, he came back from injury to give the team respectable back-up center minutes: 4 points (2-4 shooting) and 4 rebounds in 11 minutes with a nice weakside block on an Al Thornton drive. Thabeet's complete lack of fluidity on the offensive end is discouraging — he scored his first basket on an alleged baseline jump hook that was more like a flukish jump "push" and one offensive rebound that should have been a putback dunk came up dry as he was unable to gather himself to get back off the floor in time. But we all know now that we aren't judging Thabeet by typically #2 pick standards: He needs to become the next Joel Pryzbilla before he can start thinking about being a poor man's Mutombo. Thabeet's rookie season is about baby steps, and he took one tonight.

Overall, the Grizzlies got 31 points from a group of bench players who had averaged a collective 17.2 coming into tonight.

Check back later tonight (or in the morning) for a full post-game report.

Let's do this.

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• Grizzlies-Clippers: Two storied franchises face off in a bitter grudge match.

The Clippers have lost four of five games since beating the Grizzlies 113-110 in Los Angeles November 7th and are now playing not only without top pick Blake Griffin but second-year emerging star Eric Gordon, who is out with a groin injury. The Clippers come into FedExForum — much like the Wolves did — on the second night of a back-to-back set, having lost 110-102 to the New Orleans Hornets last night. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies have had three days rest and have had a chance to start putting the Allen Iverson distraction behind them.

The Grizzlies played the Clippers well in Los Angeles — the team's first game following Iverson's butt-soreness-prompting departure — building a slim lead midway through the fourth quarter but executing poorly down the stretch (a previously hot Rudy Gay forcing too many shots). Gay had a three-point look to tie at the buzzer, but missed (and foot was on the line anyway). Tonight the Grizzlies get to make up for one that got away.

There are bad losses, good losses now and then, and — most rare — losses on which a season can be built. Taking the top-ranked team in the country to the buzzer before Thanksgiving may be a season-builder.

Three lessons we should take from the Tigers’ narrow loss:

1. This collection of stepchildren won’t be intimidated. The program’s star power took a beating over the offseason (part of that beating was wearing number 1 for Kansas). The team has a coach too young to run for president. “Just wait till next year,” when the country’s top recruiting class arrives.

But the 2009-10 Tigers have a season to play. And try telling seniors Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack, and Pierre Henderson-Niles about the 2010 class. Last night would have been an easy early-season throwaway game. Come out fighting, but then fall back on damage control when things get ugly (like a 10-point Jayhawk lead). Instead, the Tigers came up with big defensive stops, hit clutch shots as the clock wound down, and gave themselves a shot to win at the buzzer. The Tigers will have some duds this year, but they won’t play on a bigger stage until March.

Remarkable first half. Despite converting only two field goals over the last nine minutes of the half and missing 12 of 14 three-point attempts, the U of M was down only six points against the consensus number-one team in the country. (Consider: had the Tigers made merely 25 percent of their three point attempts in the half, the score would have been tied.)

Just as eye-opening was the way seven Memphis players were able to trade punches against a Kansas team that went 10 deep, with two All-Americans (Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins) and a freshman phenom (Xavier Henry) in its starting lineup. A strength to this year’s collection of underdogs may well be its team defense (witness the six Kansas turnovers over the game’s first six minutes). Josh Pastner has an undersized team, but it’s not lacking for quickness or athleticism. Kansas players not named Aldrich made but 13 of 33 shots.

• Jamaal Tinsley: Not the veteran free agent guard Griz fans were expecting to see.

Let's take a look at Tinsley, past, present, and future:

Glory Days: Jamaal Tinsley's been a non-entity for so long that it's easy to forget how good he was not so long ago. Here's an excerpt from John Hollinger's last Pro Basketball Forecast book previewing the 2005-2006 season:

With Indiana's three best scorers suspended, Tinsley shifted his energies from setting up others to scoring himself. He raised his 40-minute scoring average by six points and more than tripled his rate of free-throw attempts… Also, Tinsley has improved as a shooter, making 37 percent on three-pointers for the second straight season after struggling with the jumper early in his career.

Defensively, Tinsley is one of the best guards in basketball. He has good quickness and fast hands that plucked two steals a game. Moreover, he's a good rebounder for a guard and is big enough to defend shooting guards if the situation requires.

Overall, he's on the cusp of becoming an all-star point guard if he can ever stay healthy. Tinsley has played only 92 games the past two seasons and has limped through Indiana's playoff defeats in two straight postseasons. While much of the attention will be on Ron Artest, Tinsley is arguably a bigger key to Indiana's championship hopes. If he's in one piece in June, the Pacers will be tough to beat.

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins comes clean — at least from his perspective — with the Philadelphia Inquirer's Phil Jasner:

Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, a onetime Sixers guard who won a championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, views the situation as "strange."

"He got hurt in training camp, so I hadn't even had a chance to fit him in," Hollins said. "But I do know that every issue was addressed before we ever started. Our owner told him he was being brought in to mentor the young guards, to come off the bench. He didn't blink.

"I said he could compete [with Mike Conley and O.J. Mayo] for a starting spot, see whether it works. I asked him if he could handle it if it turned out he would be coming off the bench. He didn't blink.

"I told him I wasn't out to prove I was the boss; I wasn't out to break him. I told him, 'You're stubborn, and I'm stubborn, but if we react to each other like that nobody wins.' He laughed."

These comments from Hollins echo some off-the-record info that began to drift around FedExForum in the past week, push back against the idea that the team hadn't fully discussed potential roles — including coming off the bench — with Iverson. But as long as Iverson was under contract, team officials were always vague about their meeting with Iverson. That has clearly changed now.

1. Work the Clock.
It’s wisdom as old as Dr. Naismith’s peach baskets. When facing a superior opponent, limit the opponent’s possessions. Well, the shot clock killed Dean Smith’s four-corners for good, but it doesn’t mean this strategy can’t hold, at least to some degree. Seldom in their opener last Friday did the Tigers see 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Playing with a shortened — by two standards — roster that requires “small ball,” the U of M pushed their offense against Jackson State, with everyone from Willie Kemp to Wesley Witherspoon applying pedal to metal.

Won’t work against Kansas. In fact, it will backfire. Holding on to the ball 20 seconds instead of 10, over the course of 40 minutes of play can mean 20 to 30 fewer shots for the Jayhawks. The Tigers would do well tonight to make an extra pass. No way will they enjoy a 48-13 advantage in free-throw attempts as they did against JSU.

As one of the PGA's attorneys said in court last week, professional athletes are held to high standards for the integrity of the game.

"When you become a professional athlete you don't always get to do everything the man on the street gets to do," said Rich Young, a lawyer in Colorado Springs who has worked on the Floyd Landis case and other major doping suspensions.

If, as a weekend warrior, you could take drugs to boost your strength, speed your recovery, improve your time, or calm your nerves, would you do it? I'm not so sure.

I’ve tried to remember the last time the Memphis Tiger basketball team had “nothing to lose,” that age-old brand that pronounces a team not just an underdog, but a three-legged, one-eyed underdog with a crooked tail. (I’ve been cranking up the great KISS song — from their first album — to inspire.)

One possibility is the 2005 C-USA Championship game at FedExForum (the Darius Washington game), but with an NCAA tournament berth on the line, there was MUCH to lose that day against the heavily favored Louisville Cardinals.

An unranked Tiger team led by Antonio Burks and Sean Banks faced 6th-ranked Louisville on February 4, 2004 . . . and won. But that was a home game, and the 6th consecutive win for the Tigers in a streak that would reach 11.

The last time the U of M went on the road in what might be called a hopeless situation was March 3, 2002. The Tigers were an underwhelming 22-7, their offense running almost entirely through freshman Dajuan Wagner. They managed to take the 4th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats to overtime before losing, 80-75. Four weeks later, Memphis won the NIT championship.

• Larry Kuzniewski
• Byeverson: We hardly knew ye, A.I., but we sure felt your impact.

The Memphis Grizzlies today released the following statement from General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace.

“The Grizzlies and Allen Iverson have come to a mutual agreement that because of personal matters that forced him to leave the team on November 7, Allen will step away from the game at this time, allowing him to focus on those matters.

“As a result, we will be ending our contractual agreement with Allen, which will allow both parties to move forward. We wish Allen the best.”

The initial read around the country was that no other team would have interest in Iverson, but it looks like there may be one exception: The New York Daily News' Frank Isola is reporting that the New York Knicks management will look to meet with Iverson to explore a potential signing.

• Doneal Mack

“You gotta let them know, it takes hard work,” he says. “You take that court, put that Memphis jersey on. We went through a lot to get the program where it is. I’m just showing the team and the fans who support us that history’s in the making.”

Mack trails only Rodney Carney and Anthony Rice on the Tigers’ alltime three-point chart. If he stays healthy, Mack should be the only Tiger this season to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. (He needs 155 entering Tuesday’s game against Kansas.)

As tends to happen with greetings and sendoffs, one was positive (Pastner is undefeated as a head coach), the other not so much (West remains a victory shy of 50 with the Tigers). Sports are transient, particularly the college variety. Last weekend will stick, though, for Pastner and West.

“After the game, Mr. R.C. Johnson came and gave me the game ball,” said Pastner to a contingent of media after the Tigers beat Jackson State, 82-53. As if the coaching wonder-boy needed to further enhance his innocent-as-a-choir-boy image, he actually referred to the U of M athletic director as “Mr. R.C. Johnson.” [image-1]

“I took the ball and I told him — and I mean it — this has nothing to do with me. It’s about the players. The players win the games. This will never be me. Credit goes to the guys. They stepped up, gutted it out, and found a way.”

He may be new to the gig, but Pastner has his victory cliches polished and packaged. And what he’s missing, to this point, is that the 2009-10 basketball season is very much about him. The first legitimate roar in FedExForum this season came during the pregame video intro, when a gleaming face above a sparkling white shirt — that would be Pastner’s — appeared behind the rotating basketball-as-globe, the theme from “2001 a Space Odyssey” filling the arena’s sound system. He will not score a point this winter, nor dish out an assist or grab a rebound. But don’t doubt that Josh Pastner is the star of his team. (The news Saturday that yet another recruiting gem — Atlanta’s Jelan Kendrick – is on his way to Memphis only cements this region’s devotion to The Pastner Way.)

The atmosphere was considerably more subdued when West met the Memphis media one last time Saturday afternoon, after his Tigers fell to UAB, 31-21. (On the list of things West will not miss about his career as Memphis coach, press conferences in the back of what was once the visitors’ locker room at the Liberty Bowl must be near the top.) Unlike his emotional statement on November 9th, though, West had a firm grip on his comments, and sense of humor.

“I’ve got strong emotions,” he said. “But I’m not going to go into a tirade today. If that’s what you’re waiting for, I’m not going to do it. I took four Xanax before I came in here.

“Nine years is a long time. I’m going to miss being here, I really will. This is a good place, and there are good people here. This happens, it’s our business. You hate it for the seniors that you’re having this kind of year. A sour year. I’m not worried about myself. But most of those players won’t play again. I’m gonna coach some more, so it’s not about me. I hate it for them. I’d like to have seen them go out at home the right way.”

West described the calls he’s received from his peers in Conference USA, and managed a chuckle in recollecting the chats. “Everybody likes you this year, because they beat you,” he said.

On an idyllic, 70-degree afternoon for football, I counted a solitary sign in the Liberty Bowl that acknowledged West’s pending departure. Not exactly poetic, it read “W the Coach.” The letter will always stand for “West.” Sadly this year, it can’t be said to stand for “win.”]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

• Kansas coach Bill Self

• January 22, 1953: Seton Hall 103, Memphis 85
• March 26, 1973: UCLA 87, #12 Memphis 66. (NCAA championship)
• March 25, 1983: Houston 70, #17 Memphis 63 (NCAA Sweet 16)
• December 8, 1993: Arkansas 96, Memphis 78
• January 4, 1996: Massachusetts 64, #3 Memphis 61 (Memphis is introduced to John Calipari)
• January 19, 2000: Cincinnati 75, Memphis 55
• November 25, 2005: Duke 70, #11 Memphis 67 (Madison Square Garden, New York)
• March 24, 2007: Ohio State 92, #5 Memphis 76 (NCAA Regional Final)

1. Finally, a Win: Okay, so it wasn't an impressive win: The Timberwolves are one of only three teams with a worse record than the Grizzlies (also: Knicks, Nets) and heading into tonight were the only team with a worse point differential. The Wolves, already missing their second best player, Kevin Love, all season, were playing tonight without their best, Al Jefferson. They were also coming into Memphis on the second night of a back-to-back set against a Grizzlies team coming off two days rest. And the Wolves threw out potentially one of the worst starting lineups you will ever see in a regulation NBA game: Jonny Flynn, Corey Brewer, Ryan Gomes, Nathan Jawai, and Ryan Hollins.

Despite all this, the Grizzlies had trouble shaking the Wolves, going into halftime with a 45-45 tie before turning up the defensive intensity and pulling away. But, hey, with all the losses and upheaval the Grizzlies have been dealing with lately, they'll take it: "It's a big win for us from that perspective," coach Lionel Hollins said of breaking the seven-game losing streak. "You have to get some wins so [the players] will believe in the system and believe in themselves."

• Jelan Kendrick

What's Young Josh putting in his cupcakes? And will there be any playing time for Chris Crawford? Elliot Williams?

First, there's a new Griz player in town in the form of former Indiana Pacers point guard Jamal Tinsley, who the team signed today. Tinsley is on the roster but will not be with the team for tonight's game. He's expected to rejoin the team for the next practice and, potentially, make his debut Wednesday against the Clippers.

I've been doing family stuff all day until just now so I haven't had time to talk to many people about the Tinsley signing, but I have been told — for whatever it's worth — that the signing is unrelated to Allen Iverson's status with the team. There's been some scuttle that Iverson could be back with the team before Thanksgiving, but team officials would not put a timetable on his potential return.

I'll have more to say on the Tinsley signing in the post-game report.

As for tonight, the Grizzlies are facing a team that's been even worse (in terms of both record and point differential) and is missing its two best players in post tandem Al Jefferson and Kevin Love. Further, the Wolves come to FedExForum on the second night of a back-to-back with the Grizzlies coming off two das of rest. No excuse not to win this one.

As will be the norm this season, no live-blogging tonight. I will throw out the occasional tweet as seems warranted but will focus on the game and working on my post-game "three-pointer." Look for that later tonight.

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• Brett Toney

Had the script held, West would have walked off Rex Dockery Field as a winner, the third Memphis coach to reach the 50-win plateau. Instead, a visiting senior — UAB quarterback Joe Webb — took over and led his Blazers to a 31-21 win and possession of the world's most famous bronze rack of ribs.

• Tommy West

Those five minutes will live a long time in reflections of West’s time atop the U of M program. What’s regrettable is that his message — a sound one — gets lost in the volume and emotion with which it was delivered. Consider the words minus that volume and emotion (like, say, reading them): “History will repeat itself, folks, if [the administration doesn’t] do something about it. But our fans have to demand that the new guy be given a level playing field. Stobart stood here and he was a bad coach . . . but good enough to beat Southern Cal. Rip became a bad coach . . . but he beat Peyton Manning and Tennessee. At some point, we have to do the things necessary to make this program what we want, or do away with it. It’s too painful, for coaches, players, and people. Every day I’ve been here has been a fist fight.”

Had West chosen to deliver this precise message in an interview format, perhaps sitting down, the content would have been just as powerful for the Memphis community, particularly for its football boosters. And it would not have been picked up by national TV producers aiming to titillate, aggravate, and agitate. A great lesson for parents (and office managers) to pass along: It’s not so much what you say, but how you say it.