I’m still
trying to figure out the 2006-07 Memphis Tigers. Having won seven straight
games, the Tigers appear to be running away with a second consecutive Conference
USA championship. But that’s part of the catch, isn’t it? They’re running away
with, well, the C-USA championship. Sorry, but such title runs don’t make the
cover of Sports Illustrated. What will this team have to offer come
March? Who is the go-to player in crunch time? (What would you have said a year
ago about the answer to that question being Jeremy Hunt?) Can coach John
Calipari toughen his young squad in ways C-USA competition cannot?
The answers to
these questions await as winter winds gradually give way to spring’s thaw. But
for this week, here are three lessons we have learned at the season’s midpoint.
RULES. Among the new slogans I’ve heard Calipari preach this season is, “It’s
about the path, not the prize.” If such is the case, the paths taken by Jeremy
Hunt and Kareem Cooper have been as winding — and rocky — as a mistreated ski
trail. A season ago, Hunt was “permanently” suspended for a pair of assaults
that had the sharp-shooting swingman appearing at 201 Poplar. As for Cooper, the
sophomore center was suspended for the first eight games this season for
transgressions away from the basketball court. Were it not for his teammates
making a public appeal, Cooper may well have played his last game as a Tiger.
Cutting to the
present, Hunt is the team’s second-leading scorer (13.6 points per game through
Saturday’s win at East Carolina) and one of the top sixth men in the country.
Cooper has embraced the role of Joey Dorsey’s backup, and played so well that
highly touted freshman Pierre Niles has been a casualty of the limited minutes.
Cooper’s soft hands — particularly evident on his lefty hook shoot —
complement the fearsome play of Dorsey and create matchup problems for Memphis
opponents that can’t go as large off the bench.
WINS. Duh. There have been but three games this season in which the Tigers were
outrebounded. Those games were against Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Arizona.
Precisely the three games Memphis has lost. The Tigers are easy to brand as
“small,” considering the number of guards (six) they have in their nine-man
rotation. But Dorsey has averaged just under 10 boards a game, Robert Dozier is
pulling down almost six per contest, and Chris Douglas-Roberts is one of the
best rebounding guards you’ll ever see in a Tiger uniform. Add Kareem Cooper to
the mix (more than five rebounds a game off the bench), and you have a team that
can clean glass with the best of them. Well, at least the best C-USA has to
offer (that qualifier, once again).
GUARDS, GUARDS. (Might be a nice rewrite for Motley Crue.) CDR, Hunt, Antonio
Anderson, Andre Allen, Willie Kemp, and Doneal Mack. Six push-it-up playmakers
crammed into a total of 200 player minutes per game. While it may have fans
checking the scoreboard to remember who’s in and who’s out, Calipari is enjoying
the luxury of substituting — now! — for any ball-handler who isn’t getting the
job done, at either end of the floor. With their top scorer (Douglas-Roberts)
forced to the bench with an ankle injury early in last week’s UAB game, Calipari
utilized Mack for 20 minutes and got seven points and three assists out of the
exchange. “I told Chris,” said a smiling Calipari after the game, “you better be
worried about your position right now, if that kid plays like that.”
Through
Saturday’s win, Kemp, Allen, and Anderson have combined for 177 assists and only
93 turnovers. For some perspective, consider that last season, Darius Washington
— the team’s starting point guard — had 110 assists and 111 turnovers. It’s
the kind of efficiency that lets a coaching staff sleep well at night. And the
kind of team play that helps a fan keep hope in his hip pocket, however many
other questions remain to be answered.
