The national media is hyping it up as the game of the year. It’s #1 versus #2. It’s the best of Conference USA versus the best in the SEC. Add to that both teams hail from the great state of Tennessee and you have an old fashion civil war.
College basketball fans on Rocky Top as well as those on the delta have had Saturday circled on their calendars for months. At the time the schedule was announced, no one could have imagined the magnitude of the in-state match. The fact the Memphis Tigers sit atop the polls comes as no surprise. They were preseason favorites to take the big prize in San Antonio. The Tennessee Vols were expected to be pretty darn good themselves but few prognosticators had them number two in the land at this juncture.
So, is this the biggest basketball game ever played in Tennessee? In a word, the answer is “NO”. In fact, for the Vols, believe it or not it’s almost meaningless. Oh sure, being in the national spotlight will be nice. ESPN’s College Game Day will be on hand to share in the excitement. But UT, unlike Memphis, must maintain its focus on the SEC schedule if it hopes to achieve its goals. A win over the hated Tigers would be icing on the cake but the cake remains the SEC.
The Vols can ill afford to go into the Bluff City and put it all on the line. Win or lose, the Men in Orange face the toughest stretch of their SEC schedule. Three days after the showdown in the FedEx Arena, the Vols travel to Nashville to take on a hot Vanderbilt team. They then come home to take on the much-improved Kentucky Wildcats before heading off to Gainesville to do battle with Billy Donovan’s young Gators. Three games in a row against the Vols’ three biggest conference rivals. The Vols could conceivably lose all three games, especially if they put too much emphasis on a meaningless non-conference game.
Although it wouldn’t have generated the same attention from the media, this game should have been played in December when most non-conference games are played. But John Calipari, playing in the lowly Conference USA, would have no part of that. He has made it clear he doesn’t want to play UT. The university administration makes him keep the Vols on his schedule knowing that UT will refuse to play the Tigers in football if they drop the basketball series.
Interestingly, Calipari’s reason for not wanting to play the Vols is that he is building a national program with a national schedule and games against local schools do little to help him build a national program. The strange thing about that argument is that he doesn’t mind playing 3 other in-state schools – Austin Peay, UT-Martin, and Middle Tennessee State University. I guess he sees them as being of more interest nationally than the Volunteers.
Since Calipari can’t get out of the game, he will dictate when the game is played. The only time he could fit the Vols in was coincidentally right in the middle of the stretch run in the SEC race. While the Vols face the toughest part of their conference schedule against national powers, Cal and his Tigers can look forward to games with such notables as Tulsa, Southern Miss, and then SMU. Now, there’s a scary stretch for you.
Why does UT let its little sister form the west push it around like this? Part of it is Coach Bruce Pearl’s thirst for national media attention. If he can get his Vols on national TV, then he will play anybody anywhere. Fan interest plays a key as well. Part of it has to do with recruiting and then money always plays into it.
But UT athletic director Mike Hamilton should just say thanks but no thanks. One phone call to area code 901 would do it. If he told Memphis AD R.C. Johnson, “I’m sorry but we find playing the Tigers in football detracts from our efforts to remain a national program so we are terminating our agreement to play you guys in football. Yeah, we’re sorry you will lose millions of dollars but that’s the way it is. Now, if you want to think about telling your basketball coach he will play us in December rather than in the middle of our SEC schedule, we will reconsider.” Then hang up the phone and wait.
Then, if I were Pearl, I would find someplace in Memphis, even if it is a high school gym, to schedule a home game every year. An annual presence in Memphis would boost recruiting in the city and be a welcome gift to UT fans in the area, not to mention a real thorn in Calipari’s side.
One versus two is great! But why bother? There is a conference title to win.