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Showdown in Tennessee

by Chris Murdico 2/18/2008 7:09:00 PM

This Saturday the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in college basketball will square off when the Memphis Tigers take on the Tennessee Volunteers. In the latest polls the Tigers remained the unanimous No. 1 team in the country getting all the first place votes, even after a scare from UAB this past weekend. The Tigers are the only undefeated team in the country boasting a record of 25-0. The Vols jumped up to No. 2 in the land after beating Arkansas and Georgia last week and getting some help from then No. 2 Duke losing to Wake Forest over the weekend. Tennessee jumped to No. 2 with a 23-2 record and a record of 10-1 in the SEC. The campuses of Memphis and Tennessee are separated by 383 miles.

This will be the first time No. 1 will take on No. 2 since February 25th of least year when No. 1 Ohio State defeated No. 2 Wisconsin 49-48. Before the two teams meet on Saturday at 9PM on ESPN, the Tigers will have to travel to play 15-9 Tulane and the Vols will play host to an Auburn team that has lost five of their last six. Chances are both teams will square off coming off wins this week.

Should the Vols defeat the Tigers, they could end up knocking the Tigers out of the No. 1 ranking, a spot they've held for the last five weeks. Not only is this a big game in the state of Tennessee, its a huge game in the eyes of those that will set up the brackets come tournament time in March. If Memphis pulls out a victory they should coast to an undefeated season playing in a weak Conference USA. Should that happen they would surely be the overall No. 1 seed in the tourney. If Tennessee can pull out the victory, they could find themselves unseating the Tigers and if they can win out, they could take the spot as the overall No. 1 seed in the tourney.

There's still a lot of basketball to be played and a lot can happen between now and the time March Madness rolls around. This Saturday's game between the Tigers and Vols is one of those games that will get you amped up for the upcoming tournament. If it doesn't, you need to check your pulse!

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Tags: memphis tigers, tennessee volunteers

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Comments

2/18/2008 8:00:01 PM

I was absolutely floored to see the new poll come out and have UT at #2. It seems like they've just moved up the polls so quietly, but looking at them closer they deserve the ranking. This is going to be fun, what do we say the over/under is? 170? 175?

Adam Bartel

2/19/2008 9:06:47 AM

I venture to say this matchup of 1 v. 2 is going to be a little bit higher scoring than 49-48.

Also, even if UT gets the victory, I don't see them getting the #1 overall seed in the NCAA's when all is said and done with.

Here's how this is going to go down. Memphis will beat UT. That game is in Memphis at the FedEx Forum. Having grown up in Memphis for part of my life, and still having all of my father's side of the family from there, I can tell you how rocking that building will be come Saturday night.

But Memphis will lose a game. As weak as conference USA is, they will lose a game in the C-USA tourney. Either to Houston or UAB. Mark it down.

Something like that always happens come conference tournament time. It allows a team like UAB or Houston to get into the tourney when no one expected them to. Knocks out an unsuspecting bubble team. And throws a couple of seeding expections in the NCAAs into a tizzy.

You watch. It will happen.

Jeremy Fischer

2/19/2008 10:13:29 AM