Memphis is Tennessee’s team?

(pictures courtesy of Mike, Thanks!!!)

Memphis isn’t even Memphis’s team….except at the Plush Club

John Calipari said in the Memphis Commercial Appeal earlier this month that Memphis is Tennessee’s team, and he wants to be America’s team! This is bulletin board material that must be placed in Tennessee’s locker room along with the quotes from the Gonzaga players saying Memphis is the more athletic and better team when comparing Tennessee and Memphis.

Calipari is smart. It is no wonder that he agitated Temple’s John Chaney into wanting to kick his ass in that press conference. Calipari knows exactly what he is doing, and he knows these kind of comments will “rile up the Hillbillies”…

For the Memphis fans, if they somehow manage to lose the game to Tennessee, it would absolutely crush them to lose that Vols…again. So what if they have an undefeated record, revenge factor after getting absolutely lit-up in Knoxville last year. But can Calipari really consider Memphis as a home court advantage? I think it is, look at the Housto/Memphis box score. Pay attention to the Free Throws for each team. Looks like some serious home cooking to me….

It really won’t matter if Lofton is “on” or not. Tennessee has been winning despite Chris Lofton’s past shooting slump. Calipari? I wouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch, my friend…Lofton sure looked solid the last few weeks.

Calipari is posturing himself and Tiger High to exit this series. He basically said as much in last week’s press conference. Calipari stated he was looking for neutral site games and that playing Arkansas was a real possibility. He went onto say he is not interested in playing teams that only want to come into Memphis for recruiting benefits. This Tennessee series looks like it is fast coming to an end, so enjoy it while it lasts. Also I think his statements of UT’s influence strecthing into Memphis recruiting was a swipe Bruce Pearl. Later, Calipari tempered his comments stating that Memphis gets the Memphis kids they want.