2007 Conference USA Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals Preview:
Memphis begins their Title defense

Thursday, March 8, 2007

March Madness Hits Memphis; #6 Tigers Try To Repeat

If it is anything like the regular season, there won’t be much drama required to determine the champion of this week’s Conference USA Men’s Basketball Championship in Memphis. Despite have a bullseye on its chest and getting everyone’s best shot, John Calipari’s fifth-ranked Tigers were rarely challenged while posting a perfect 16-0 record in Conference USA play. Ron Jirsa and Marshall, who defeated UAB in the last minute on Wednesday night, will get their chance against the defending tourney champions today.

Memphis' Fed Ex Forum is the host to the 2007 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship which began Wednesday.

There are also other intriguing quarterfinal match-ups, which include UCF’s star Josh Peppers and the UCF Golden Knights facing Morris Almond and the Rice Owls in the first game of the day. Below is a look at each of these games.

#2 UCF vs. #7 Rice @ Noon (CT)

UCF comes into this match-up with a star of its own in Josh Peppers. The Golden Knights’ horse has been phenomenally hot recently, scoring in double digits for the last eight games. He has had three 20 plus point contests in that span. UCF won both regular season match-ups, defeating the Owls, 72-67, in Orlando in the first game before collecting a 74-63 victory in its trip to Houston.

Although the Golden Knights won both meetings, this appears to be an evenly matched contest. The Owls were in a tie for third place with UCF despite finishing with the seventh seed.

Look for UCF to take advantage of their fresh legs in this game against a squad who was on the court 24 hours earlier in a closely contested contest with UTEP.

UCF was in the same predicament last year when they defeated ECU in the first round, but came out flat in the first half of their quarterfinal game against Houston as they went fell behind by 20 before intermission.

It should be a close and exciting game to watch.

UCF has likely locked up a NIT bid, but it will look to cement that berth with a victory over Morris Almond and the Owls. The Golden Knights are the only team in the conference outside of Memphis that has any chance at earning an at-large bid to the Big Dance, but that is a stretch at this point.

Look for UCF go on a run in the second half of this contest with their fresh legs. For Rice to advance to the semifinals, they will need another strong performance from its star Morris Almond. The Owls’ guard finished with 31 points in Wednesday’s tourney opener.

#3 Houston vs. #6 Southern Miss @ 2:30 p.m.

The Cougars have often lived and died by the hand of guard Robert McKiver, as they are 10-4 in contests where their star scores 20-plus points. On the other hand, when McKiver fails to exceed the twenty-point barrier Houston is only 6-11.

Last year's squad was able to go deep in the tournament while competing with Memphis in the semifinals, as the Cougars trailed by only four at the break. However, Houston was also blown out by the Tigers in a game where it shot 25.2 percent. This year’s team has been plagued by such inconsistency, as they live and die by the three.

Houston will face a Southern Miss team that defeated SMU, 59-52, on Wednesday afternoon. The Golden Eagles beat the Cougars, 74-69, in Hattiesburg in the lone regular season match-up. Oliver Lafayette netted 30 points in that game. However, he and the Cougars could not overcome the 22-point efforts of Courtney Beasley and Jeremy Wise.

#1 Memphis vs. #8 Marshall @ 6:00 p.m.

Memphis comes into the tournament with a chip on their shoulder. The Tigers have not lost a game since December when they lost at Arizona (who at the time was ranked ninth in the country) and they are heavy favorites to repeat as conference champions.

Memphis (27-3, 16-0) feels that it is under appreciated, but Coach Calipari and his Memphis Tigers understand that their work is cut out for them as well.

"Last year, it was a tough road to win the C-USA Tournament because all the teams are fighting for the title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. I hope some of guys that were with us last year remember how hard our opponents came at us. And this year will be no different. We are the tournament's top seed, and in the eyes of many, expected to win. However, that just makes the bulls-eye on our back bigger. With our recent close games, our players are finding out just how hard these teams are playing us. But, I expect our guys to step up to the challenge,” Calipari said when asked about what they took out of last year’s experience.

The other league coaches know they will likely have to knock off Memphis if they want to garner Conference USA’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tourney.

The Tigers’ opponent will be Ron Jirsa’s Marshall Thundering Herd, who pulled out a last-minute 53-52 win over UAB on Wednesday night. Marshall (13-18, 8-9) lost at Memphis, 78-59, back on December 4 th. Tre Whitted led the Thundering Herd with 14 points in that contest. The Tigers’ Robert Dozier finished with 16 points while Joey Dorsey grabbed 13 boards.

#4 Tulane vs. #5 Tulsa @ 8:30 p.m.

Tulane (16-12, 9-7) earned a first round bye and will attempt to just how much they’ve improved under second year Head Coach Dave Dickerson when they take the floor against Doug Wojcik’s Tulsa team on Thursday evening.

The Green Wave started out conference play with a 1-4 record, but notched seven wins in their last nine contests. Their losses were to Memphis and Houston.

Tulane started this run after a home loss to Tulsa in which they fell by one after the Golden Hurricane went ahead on a three-pointer with only two seconds remaining. The Green Wave placed four players in double figures in that victory. Kevin Sims led the way with 18 points while big David Gomez finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Tulsa (20-10, 10-7) had three players reach double figures. Rod Earls led that trio with 15 points, all of which came from long range.

After that heartbreaking defeat to Tulsa, this squad has been out to avenge that loss. They will get that opportunity tomorrow night when they square off against the Green Wave in the final game of day two in Memphis.

*Stay tuned to CUSA-fans.com for recaps of each of these quarterfinal games, as well as previews of both of Friday’s semifinal match-ups.