Feb. 9, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. -
By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
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Before the first question was fully finished about the fall of Conference USA's Roman Empire - otherwise known as the University of Memphis - UCF men's basketball coach Kirk Speraw interrupted.
``They're still good, they're still really good,'' he said. ``If they make free throws they beat Gonzaga (last Saturday). Memphis just doesn't have a lottery pick on their team now. If you put (former Tigers and current NBA stars) Tyreke Evans or Derrick Rose on this team you'd view them in a different light. Maybe they're not as deep as they were because they lost some pieces in the coaching change that they thought they were going to have. But they are still really good.''
At 16-7 overall and 6-2 in Conference USA, Memphis clearly isn't the juggernaut it once was with coach John Calipari running the controls and hauling in the elite recruits. But the Tigers still pose a major hurdle to UCF (11-11, 3-5) when the two teams play at FedEx Forum Wednesday night in Memphis.
To many of the Knights, Memphis still serves at the conference's gold standard -- even if the Tigers' aura of invincibility has been broken this season. When UTEP -- ironically a team loaded with five players hailing from Memphis -- beat the Tigers on Jan. 20, it ended Memphis' 64-game conference winning streak that had stretched over four seasons.
And when SMU shocked Memphis 70-60 on Jan. 30 it had to give others in Conference USA hopes that the Tigers reign of terror atop the league was over.
First-year Memphis coach Josh Pastner has the nation's top recruiting class on the way for next season, but as for this season the Tigers seem extremely vulnerable. And a UCF team fresh off a gritty road win in East Carolina is hoping this will be its golden opportunity to take down the Tigers.
``We're going up there to win that game,'' said UCF guard Taylor Young, who had 16 points in the Knights win last week. ``I watched Memphis on Saturday against Gonzaga. They're still a good team, but they are beatable now. We're going up there to try and win that game the same way we would any other tough conference game.''
UCF hasn't played since last Tuesday, getting a much-needed eight-day break before these final eight games of the regular season. With the nation's fourth-youngest team, Speraw said his team needed the break because many of his freshman players are playing more games than they ever have in a season.
Ever the paranoid coach, Speraw said the time off will either be really good or really bad for his team Wednesday night against Memphis.
``They needed (the rest) because a lot of them haven't been through a season this long. The mental fatigue and physical fatigue starts to come to the front of the mind and we needed some days off to try and get better,'' he said. ``On the other side of it, we've gone eight days without playing a competitive basketball and can we turn that intensity to the level that we need to? Hopefully it won't take us a half to realize that, `Whoa, this is faster than practice.' So hopefully we can make that adjustment quick.''
Seeing Memphis fall back in the pack this season and lose in lopsided fashion has been an adjustment for Tigers' fans spoiled by the huge success under Calipari. Memphis hasn't been ranked in weeks and suffered some particularly ugly losses to UMass, SMU and Gonzaga.
Still, beating the Tigers would potentially be a landmark victory for the Knights. The chink in Memphis' armor this season has given UCF hope that it can take down the Tigers in Memphis.
``It would be a real big win. We've had some struggles this season, but that would be a big win to get,'' UCF junior forward A.J. Tyler said of the potential of beating Memphis. ``They're still a great team with great players and it'll be tough for us to go up there and get a win. They might be a little down, but they are still one of the better teams in the conference.''
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFathletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.