Regular season record: 29-2
C-USA conference record: 15-1
Good RPI wins: in Bahamas over VCU, Duke, at home vs Louisville, and @ Tennessee.
Bad losses: none
A #2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Outlook:
This year's Memphis team is LOADED top to bottom with size, athleticism and scorers. Our front court depth may be as good as it's been since the 80's. Tarik Black (6-9 262) is primed for stardom as one of the top post players in America. His tag-team partner Freshman Shaq Goodwin is like his twin coming off the bench. Also 6-9 and 250 lbs, Goodwin, a McDonald's All American, presents a nightmare for opponents inside. Seniors Ferrakohn Hall (6-8 230) and Stan Simpson (6-10 230) have been praised by Pastner as the most improved players from a year ago so far this preseason in practice. On the wing we have a National Player Of The Year candidate in Adonis Thomas, a 6-7 240 beast with a deadly outside jumper that he's strongly worked on during the offseason. While our front court is deep, our back court may be our strongest area. Starting with junior point guard Joe Jackson. His confidence is soaring this year and has gotten high praise from Pastner. At the shooting guard will be either sharp shooter Chris Crawford who is deadly when on from the outside, or newcomer, JUCO Player Of The year Geron Johnson who is a Derrick Rose clone. Very athletic and bounces off the floor with ease. There's also backup guard junior Antonio Barton who might be the best pure shooter on the team. It's a deep and experienced roster and Pastner is growing into a confident young coach with a lot of talent to work with. And he knows there's no room for error this year as Tiger Nation is hungry to get back to the Final Four. With a weak schedule in front of us, anything less than an Elite 8 would be a disappointment to me.
I know some of you who don't know much about Memphis thinks that I am being a homer and just over exaggerating, but I'm not. This is every bit of how I just described it. We're talking Atlanta this year!
