2009-10 Result: 24-10 (13-3 Conference USA) lost to Mississippi 90-81 in the second round of the NIT.
Coach: Josh Pastner 24-10 in his first season at the helm with Memphis.
Thirty Tigers have laced them up in the National Basketball Association including current players Rodney Carney, Joey Dorsey, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose and Shawne Williams.
Memphis has punched 22 tickets to the NCAA Tournament with national championship game appearances in 2008 and 1973 and a semi-final showing in 1985. Memphis reached the Elite Eight in 1992, 2006 and 2007.
Notable Non-Conference Tilts: 11/16 vs. Miami, Fla., 11/21 at LSU, 12/7 at Kansas, 12/23 vs. Georgetown, 1/5 at Tennessee, 2/5 at Gonzaga.
Stat of Identity: 8.4 three point field goals per game (15th in the country).
Key Returners:
Will Coleman 23 mpg, 7.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg
Wesley Witherspoon 25.6 mpg, 12.5 ppg
By Paul Casey Gotham
In Josh Pastner’s first season at the helm, Memphis lost ten games. Seven of those losses were by single digits including three games decided on the game’s final possession. Memphis’s double digit losses all came on the road: by 17 to a hot Syracuse Orange club, by 17 to Houston – last year’s top team in Conference-USA and by 10 at SMU.
Pastner is one year wiser, returns a pair of solid veterans and landed a recruiting class ranked in the top ten. The recipe should make for an exciting March in west Tennessee.
Wesley Witherspoon scored double figures in 22 of 34 games last year. He improved his average by four points from the middle of December. At 6’9″ Witherspoon will need to provide athleticism in the paint as the Tigers go through some early growing pains.
Will Coleman will add more stability around the basket. The 6’9″ senior led the Tigers with 6.2 rebounds per game last year including 75 offensive rebounds.
Will Barton heads a star-studded freshmen class. Barton is the only freshman to earn C-USA all-league pre-season honors. It should be interesting to watch the 6’6″ guard make the transition into the college game. His height should give him an advantage on the perimeter getting good looks. He is listed at 175 pounds. He could struggle having to defend an opponent the same height.
Barton’s brother, Antonio,joins the freshman class along with Tarik Black, Chris Crawford, Trey Draper, Joe Jackson, Jelan Kendrick and Hippolyte Tsafack.
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