![]() ![]() The Tigers are going to be one of the best defensive teams in the country, as they have been for most of Hardaway's tenure, and the additions of Bates, Duren, Miami transfer Earl Timberlake and others should really help them on the offensive end. 7 entering the season, but clearly in that top tier of teams that should be competing for a national championship. Memphis clearly has the potential, though.īorzello: It's hard to consider Final Four expectations unreasonable for a team that has two projected top-five picks at the top of its roster - plus countless other talented pieces surrounding those two players. The league is full of good coaches and there is always a team - or two - that everyone doubts and then makes a run. Memphis also won't have an easy path in the AAC. There are a multitude of other teams that had high-level freshmen but lost long before the Final Four. The experienced players are just physically different and that matters in those late stages. Jalen Suggs was a star for Gonzaga but the veteran guards on Baylor's roster were a challenge for him and his team in the title game. Kentucky (2012) and Duke (2015) are the only two national championship teams in the one-and-done era to do it with freshmen. The concern has to be that freshman-stacked teams don't usually win championships. Sure, the Tigers lost some key pieces to the transfer portal, but they added a pair of projected lottery picks. The Tigers weathered a major COVID-19 interruption last season and finished 11-2 in their final 13 games, winning the NIT title. I think it's easy to forget that although he was an NBA star, he made the unheard-of leap from high school/AAU head coach to head coach of a high-level collegiate program. And Penny Hardaway seemed to hit his stride as a head coach in the second half of last season, too. If you have two players (Bates, Duren) who could play in the NBA right now, you probably have a chance to make a run. Medcalf: Every Final Four projection about Memphis makes sense. Are Final Four expectations unreasonable? What's your biggest worry for the Tigers? 's writing team of Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello, John Gasaway and Joe Lunardi made their predictions and weighed in on all the conference's top issues.Īmerican 2021-22 writer roundtable Memphis enters 2021-22 as one of college basketball's most intriguing teams. The Houston Cougars, who made a run to their first Final Four since 1984 last season, would probably be the AAC's team to beat were it not for the Memphis Tigers, whose headline-grabbing offseason included the late reclassification and signings of projected future NBA lottery picks Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren.īeyond Houston and Memphis, a league that will soon be undergoing a makeover has other intriguing teams including the SMU Mustangs, UCF Knights and a Cincinnati Bearcats squad that is set to start a new coaching era under first-year head coach Wes Miller. After taking a look at Gonzaga and the best teams from the mid-major conferences (Atlantic 10, C-USA, Ivy, MAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, SoCon, Sun Belt, and WCC) earlier this week, we continue with the American Athletic Conference. ![]() 9, 's panel of experts is making its predictions for all of the nation's top leagues. Men's College Basketball, Memphis Tigers, Cincinnati Bearcats, Houston Cougars, Wichita State Shockers, South Florida Bulls, Temple Owls, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, SMU Mustangs, UCF Knights, East Carolina Pirates, Tulane Green WaveĪs the countdown continues to the start of the 2021-22 college basketball season on Nov. ![]() The American 2021-22 predictions: Projecting Memphis' ceiling, and Houston's Final Four encore You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
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