The #1 & #2 teams in the nation will face off in a big intra-state showdown Saturday night. Surprisingly, it won’t feature Duke vs. North Carolina.
#1 Memphis host #2 Tennessee in an ESPN primetime showcase. The Tigers will be fighting to keep their undefeated season alive & gain some more respect, while the Vols are looking to avenge Peyton Manning’s junior-season loss at the Liberty Bowl back in ‘96.
And the Colts QB is expected to be in the FedEx Forum crowd, along with little brother Eli. The “SportsCenter” guys even mentioned on Friday night that Priscilla Presley will also be in attendance. (We thoroughly enjoyed her work in “The Naked Gun” trilogy.)
Can’t wait to hear the P.A. guy announce, “Mrs. Elvis has left the building.”
We wonder if UT coach Bruce Pearl will resort to any psychological warfare in his effort to topple the Tigers. Maybe he’ll wheel out John Chaney to have a pre-game chat with Calipari.
Or worse, Bruce might show up courtside dressed like this:
Frightening, isn’t it?
3:59 pm on February 23rd, 2008
#2 Tennessee at #1 Memphis (ESPN | 9 PM ET)
The top-ranked Tigers put their 47-game regular-season home winning streak on the line, currently the longest of any school in the country. Memphis is also the lone unbeaten team in the nation and hopes to prove a team from Conference USA belongs among the very best. “Them. Us. Everybody in the state. It’s an ego game,” Tigers head coach John Calipari said. “That game has been played up to a level that I can’t even begin to tell you.” EDGE: MEMPHIS
Tennessee beat Memphis last year 76-58 as an unranked team and has won 6 of the last 8 meetings, covering the last 3. “They beat us fair and square,” Tigers forward Chris Douglas-Roberts said. EDGE: TENNESSEE
The lower-ranked team has won 5 of the last 6 meetings between #1 and #2. This is only the 5th time in 38 all-time games between the top teams in which both schools were from the same state. EDGE: TENNESSEE
Tennessee is 6-2 ATS in its last 8 games overall.
Memphis is 9-4 ATS in its last 13 games against the SEC.
JW Stringer
http://pregame.com