Memphis, Your 25-Point Wins Mean Nothing

↵There are two routes the people on TV have taken in discussing Memphis: the Tigers have gotten fat on cake, thus unworthy of the No. 1 seeds that belong to carnivores, or “Hey! Memphis is doing everything they can! Don’t fault them.”
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↵There’s a third way, in my estimation that right path toward assessing Memphis, which beat Tulsa by 25 in today’s Conference USA title game: Memphis is playing better than every other team in America. In its 26 straight wins since a December loss to Syracuse, Memphis has averaged a winning margin of 18.5 points. Sure, a lot of those teams are cupcakes. The Tigers have beat the cupcakes by huge margins. It’s not like the team is squeaking out win against SMU: the bad teams are being blown out of the water.
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↵And some of the wins are, in fact, big ... including a 18-point blow-out in Spokane against strong Gonzaga. The rip beyond the C-USA roster are the early losses to Georgetown and Syracuse. You know who else has lost to Georgetown and Syracuse? Sure-fire one seed UConn. I’ll admit there are reasons to choose Louisville, UConn, UNC and Pitt over Memphis. There were valid reasons for keeping Utah out of the football national championship game, too.
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↵The great thing about college basketball is that Memphis can prove they belong in the elite class beginning next week.↵