Memphis Basketball Update: Tigers Drop Two Spots in AP Poll

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this season to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our Memphis Correspondent Kyle Eaton brings the latest update on the Memphis Tigers basketball team.

In the latest AP Poll, the Memphis Tigers have dropped two spots to 16th in the rankings. Arizona, Butler, and Wichita State are the three teams that jumped the Tigers in the poll. Butler is still riding momentum from their improbable winning of the Preseason NIT, and edged out the Tigers by a single point in the voting to gain the 15th position. The Arizona Wildcats sit in 14th slot two weeks prior to the big showdown between the Tigers and Wildcats. Wichita State made the biggest jump by leaping over the Tigers from the 17th ranking all the way to 10th after big road victories over LSU and Syracuse in consecutive weeks.

Despite the slight drop in the poll, the Tigers cannot get too discouraged for it is only the first week of December and there is plenty of basketball left to play. The Tigers are young and showed great poise in answering their only loss of the season, a 92-85 meltdown against Georgia Tech, with an impressive 80-63 victory over perennial power Kentucky the following night in Maui. Come March, the Tigers are still heavy favorites to win C-USA for the second straight season and are expecting to make another deep run in the tournament.

In the Coaches Poll, Butler, Arizona, Wichita State, and Memphis fall in order from 14th to 17th. The Tigers still sit at 17 despite being overtaken by Wichita State and Butler in the Coaches Poll.