Memphis has been to the Final Four exactly 3 times in the history of the school.

And, no, I do not think that this team will be the fourth to make it. History says that we need an All-American talent to make that run. See Larry Finch. See Keith Lee. See CDR paired with Derrick Rose.

1973, 1985, 2008. Based on that interval we have a while to wait yet.

Depends how January and February play goes. If we SOMEHOW win out in the entire month of February, then we should fill pretty confident heading into March and making the Final Four once April rolls around

(Insert another month here)

The conference tourney alone will be hard this year. Look at who is in this conference.

I knew we were going to the final 4 before the 07-08 season

(Though even that team was in trouble with Miss St and no one should forget that example when predicting a single elim tourney)

This year we have a lot of great pieces but questions remain.

Will our skilled backcourt be mentally tough, and make good decisions when they face adversity (other team goes on a run, cold shooting, etc).

Will the bigs produce and stay on the floor? To go deep in the tourney you have to have interior scoring, bc things will go wrong and you need to be able to get a high percentage shot.

For 07-08 that was only secondarily because of bigs. I had seen enough of DRose to know that he would be able to get the high percentage basket with his size, athleticism and strength to finish through contact.

It's no slight to our backcourt to say we don't have DRose back there - he is off the charts rare. So we need the ability to produce high percentage shots from the frontcourt, and while there is room for hope, it's unknown.

Finally, will they have the consistency of effort - defense and rebounding for example, that it takes? Again, this is the thing that gets you through when the ball won't go in the hoop. I have heard some good things but need to see consistency.

I would say its possible. Right now I'd predict us in the 16-8 range, but if one or more of those factors goes really bad or we have a real stroke of bad luck we could go out earlier.

I will say this - Final Four tickets at a good price could be a good investment whether your team is going or not, as long as you're willing to deal with selling and shipping them.

(11-06-2013 12:56 PM)shafted1 Wrote:  We have more than enough talent to reach the final four but Easterwood's 'divided camp' comments from yesterday are disconcerting. If his assessment is accurate, our potential hinges upon CJP's ability to manage people rather than his overall ability to coach.

More than enough talent?

So you think that this team is more talented that the 1973 team,the 1984 team, the 1985 team, the 1993 team, the 2006 team, the 2008 team ?

(11-07-2013 11:03 AM)lenetzach Wrote:  I knew we were going to the final 4 before the 07-08 season

(Though even that team was in trouble with Miss St and no one should forget that example when predicting a single elim tourney)

This year we have a lot of great pieces but questions remain.

Will our skilled backcourt be mentally tough, and make good decisions when they face adversity (other team goes on a run, cold shooting, etc).

Will the bigs produce and stay on the floor? To go deep in the tourney you have to have interior scoring, bc things will go wrong and you need to be able to get a high percentage shot.

For 07-08 that was only secondarily because of bigs. I had seen enough of DRose to know that he would be able to get the high percentage basket with his size, athleticism and strength to finish through contact.

It's no slight to our backcourt to say we don't have DRose back there - he is off the charts rare. So we need the ability to produce high percentage shots from the frontcourt, and while there is room for hope, it's unknown.

Finally, will they have the consistency of effort - defense and rebounding for example, that it takes? Again, this is the thing that gets you through when the ball won't go in the hoop. I have heard some good things but need to see consistency.

I would say its possible. Right now I'd predict us in the 16-8 range, but if one or more of those factors goes really bad or we have a real stroke of bad luck we could go out earlier.

I will say this - Final Four tickets at a good price could be a good investment whether your team is going or not, as long as you're willing to deal with selling and shipping them.

There was a lot of worry preseason about the frontline of the 2007-2008 team. Dorsey was foul prone, Dozier was much maligned for trying to play on the perimeter too much, and no one knew what to think about Taggart.

(11-07-2013 11:07 AM)MemphisCanes Wrote:  

(11-07-2013 11:03 AM)lenetzach Wrote:  I knew we were going to the final 4 before the 07-08 season

(Though even that team was in trouble with Miss St and no one should forget that example when predicting a single elim tourney)

This year we have a lot of great pieces but questions remain.

Will our skilled backcourt be mentally tough, and make good decisions when they face adversity (other team goes on a run, cold shooting, etc).

Will the bigs produce and stay on the floor? To go deep in the tourney you have to have interior scoring, bc things will go wrong and you need to be able to get a high percentage shot.

For 07-08 that was only secondarily because of bigs. I had seen enough of DRose to know that he would be able to get the high percentage basket with his size, athleticism and strength to finish through contact.

It's no slight to our backcourt to say we don't have DRose back there - he is off the charts rare. So we need the ability to produce high percentage shots from the frontcourt, and while there is room for hope, it's unknown.

Finally, will they have the consistency of effort - defense and rebounding for example, that it takes? Again, this is the thing that gets you through when the ball won't go in the hoop. I have heard some good things but need to see consistency.

I would say its possible. Right now I'd predict us in the 16-8 range, but if one or more of those factors goes really bad or we have a real stroke of bad luck we could go out earlier.

I will say this - Final Four tickets at a good price could be a good investment whether your team is going or not, as long as you're willing to deal with selling and shipping them.

There was a lot of worry preseason about the frontline of the 2007-2008 team. Dorsey was foul prone, Dozier was much maligned for trying to play on the perimeter too much, and no one knew what to think about Taggart.

And they continued to be up and down through the year and were never the prototypical final four frontcourt. That's why I said its good that we didn't need them to be that bc Rose could get the high percentage basket.

(11-06-2013 12:11 PM)TigerBill Wrote:  It's that time of year again, ain't it? Who thinks we have a realistic shot at the Final 4? I can go for a bargain price, but unless the Tigers are in it I can't afford the time yet. So, what are your thoughts? Yea or nay?

I will start to think about that about five games into our conference schedule.

(11-07-2013 11:03 AM)lenetzach Wrote:  I knew we were going to the final 4 before the 07-08 season.

Yeah. That season might have been the easiest season to set those sort of expectations on a team that we'll ever see. Elite Eight squad plus lottery pick (and Taggart and Jeff Robinson who was another top 50 type player). Anything less than a Final Four would have been unfathomable. And as you said. Ms. State almost made that team a second round flameout.

Quote:...
It's no slight to our backcourt to say we don't have DRose back there....
...

We could win multiple national championships over the next 20 years and it would be possible to not see another player like him.

(11-06-2013 12:53 PM)TripleA Wrote:  I don't think we're good enough to make the Final 4. Most teams who do have at least one obvious NBA player, and most champs have two. We have several who will be pros, but are on the fringe of making the NBA.

I also think we are too inexperienced up front to win 4 straight NCAA games against tough teams, especially since we're likely a 4 seed, and would likely play two games as underdogs, just to make the F4.

Can we get a higher seed? Sure. Can we make the Final 4? Certainly. Is it likely, or realistic to have that as an expectation? Not in my opinion.

I think the Sweet 16 is realistic. Right now, until I see us play a few games, I would be disappointed if we didn't make it that far. I think anything beyond that is gravy.

Nice assessment. Concur.