Tiger Coaching Search: New coach Josh Pastner

[boogiesdad]

Coaches


John Calipari - Head Coach
John Robic - Assistant Coach
Orlando Antigua - Assistant Coach
Josh Pastner - Assistant Coach
Bilal Batley - Asst. Director of Operations/Mgr.
Richard Hogans - Director of Performance Enhancement
Lamont Peterson - Administrative Assistant
Lunetha Pryor - Office Coordinator
Scott Robinson - Graduate Head Manager
Bryan Settle - Video Coordinator
Chris Simmons - Athletic Trainer
Rod Strickland - Director of Basketball Operations
Jason Walberg - Asst. to Recruiting Coord./Mgr.




Numerical


No Name Ht/Wt Position Class Hometown/High School/Last College

0 Shawn Taggart 6-10/238 Forward JR Richmond, Va./Mt. Zion Christian Academy (N.C.)/Iowa State
1 Willie Kemp 6-2/184 Guard JR Bolivar, Tenn./Bolivar Central
2 Robert Dozier 6-9/220 Forward SR Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia/Laurinburg Prep (N.C.)
3 Roburt Sallie 6-5/186 Guard SO Sacramento, Calif.//City College of San Francisco
4 Pierre Henderson-Niles 6-8/300 Forward JR Memphis, Tenn./Ridgeway/The Patterson School (N.C.)
5 Antonio Anderson 6-6/214 Guard SR Lynn, Mass./Lynn Tech/MCI/Laurinburg Prep (N.C.)
10 Chance McGrady 6-2/183 Guard SR Auburndale, Fla./Dr. Phillips
11 Wesley Witherspoon 6-8/200 Forward/Guard FR Atlanta, Ga./Berkmar
12 Tyreke Evans 6-6/219 Guard FR Chester, Pa./American Christian School
14 C.J. Henry 6-4/210 Guard FR Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City
15 Matt Simpkins 6-9/215 Forward FR Oakland, Calif./Patterson School (N.C.)
20 Doneal Mack 6-5/181 Guard JR Charlotte, N.C./Statesville Christian School
31 Preston Laird 6-2/180 Guard FR Memphis, Tenn./Germantown
32 Jeff Robinson 6-5/232 Guard SO Trenton, N.J./St. Patrick
41 Angel Garcia 6-11/227 Forward FR Toa Baja, Puerto Rico/East Chicago Central (Ind.)

Game Reults


Date Location Result
12/2/08 Memphis, Tenn. (FedExForum) Memphis 100, Marist 61
11/23/08 San Juan, P.R. (Coliseo de Puerto Rico) Xavier 63, Memphis 58
11/21/08 San Juan, P.R. (Coliseo de Puerto Rico) Memphis 84, Seton Hall 70
11/20/08 San Juan, P.R. (Coliseo de Puerto Rico) Memphis 83, Chattanooga 71
11/17/08 Memphis, Tenn. (FedExForum) Memphis 80, UMass 58
11/15/08 Memphis, Tenn. (FedExForum) Memphis 90, Fairfield 63

[boogiesdad]

(15) Memphis

at

(19) Georgetown

1:00 PM CST, December 13, 2008
Verizon Center, Washington, DC
CBS


Neither Memphis nor Georgetown has defeated a ranked opponent this season. The Tigers and Hoyas get a chance to do Saturday at the Verizon Center in a rematch of last season's December showdown.


The No. 17 Tigers (5-1) haven't faced a ranked team yet, although they lost 63-58 to Xavier on Nov. 23 before the Musketeers climbed to their current No. 10 spot. The 19th-ranked Hoyas fell to their only Top 25 opponent, losing 90-78 to then-No. 12 Tennessee on Nov. 28.

Georgetown (6-1) has won three straight since the loss, pounding Savannah State 100-38 on Monday.

Austin Freeman, DaJuan Summers and Jessie Sapp each scored 14 points to lead the Hoyas on Monday, and Greg Monroe added 13. The 62-point win was Georgetown's largest since a 112-39 victory over the University of the District of Columbia on Dec. 16, 1989.

Georgetown has five players averaging in double figures, led by Summers at 13.7 points per game. Freeman is at 13.1.

"It's encouraging -- regardless of who's coming in here," coach John Thompson III said. "For the most part, our guys were extremely focused throughout the game."

Thompson can only hope the easy win provided enough of a tuneup for his team, which will be looking to avenge an 85-71 loss to then-No. 2 Memphis on Dec. 22. The then-No. 5 Hoyas were the highest-ranked team Memphis defeated during the regular season.

Freeman and Summers scored 14 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Georgetown in that game, but Memphis got a combined 61 points from Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Robert Dozier. Only Dozier remains, and he's averaging 12.0 points on the season.

This game will feature a matchup of talented freshmen in Georgetown center Greg Monroe and Memphis guard Tyreke Evans. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound Monroe is averaging 13.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds, while Evans is scoring a team-high 16.2 points and adding 5.8 boards per game.

The 6-6 Evans, who has helped ease the loss of big guards Rose and Douglas-Roberts, scored a career-high 24 points as Memphis defeated Marist 100-61 on Dec. 2. Rust could be an issue for the Tigers on Saturday, as they haven't played since.

Shawn Taggart had 21 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks, while Evans was 10-of-13 from the field and added six rebounds and four assists for Memphis.

"There were a lot of things I saw that I liked," coach John Calipari said. "However, there are still a lot of things we need to work on."

Memphis also has five players averaging double figures in scoring, with Dozier, Doneal Mack, Taggart and Antonio Anderson joining Evans. Calipari's team again boasts a deep roster, as the Tigers have used all 12 players in half their games and gone nine deep in every game.

Georgetown is 4-0 this season at the Verizon Center and has won 25 straight on its home court -- 12 in a row against non-conference opponents.

The Hoyas lead the series with the Tigers 6-2.
Credit ESPN.COM

[SD2042]

With this game loss, the Tigers were really exposed in this matchup. Obviously, the inexperience of a young squad comes to mind. They lack better perimeter shooting from beyond the arc. Doneal Mack is probably the most consistant 3% shooter on the team. Also, if you notice the Tigers tend to run up and down the court so fast that they tend to rush themselves on possessions. One issue I have with the Tigers is what skills is Wesley Witherspoon better than Willie Kemp on that allows him to be the current PG? Not to say that Willie Kemp is a superb PG by any means, just a question that needs to be asked.

[boogiesdad]

ugh another humiliating loss this time to Syracuse.

[SD2042]

The news stated that the Tigers shot 34% from the field against the Orangeman. Unfortunately, the Tigers will experience more losses like this during this season. Tennessee and Gonzaga will be among the potential losses for the Tigers.

[SD2042]

Tigers looking to go with Tyreke Evans at the PG spot.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... -new-hope/

[bgassassin]

Took long enough. Considering that he's a combo guard and the team lacks a PG, I don't know why Cal waited so long.

[jefe]

We keep playing like this, and we'll have to win the CUSA tournament to get a ticket to the NCAA bracket.

[True Blue]

I like what I'm seeing from Tyreke at PG so far. Too many TO's, but we have to start somewhere. He's still a project.

[GrizzledGrizzFan]

I agree that there's too many turnovers from Tyreke, but, I'm very pleased by what I'm starting to see from him. He's not Rose, nor will he be, but, if he has a similar learning curve we could be in for a pleasant surprise by the end of the season come tourney time.

[SD2042]

Evans looks to be the right player at the PG position. He does has a long way to go in terms of learning the position. He will have to learn how to keep his TOs' down to a minimum as this season goes along.

[jman3134]

I personally don't like the decision to play Evans at point. Kemp is going to have to learn sometime, even though he is better at times off the ball. Wesley Witherspoon would be a match up nightmare for teams at the point.....that would be interesting. I agree that Tyreke should have the ball in his hands so that he can retain his former confidence in his shot. But, I do not know how I feel about him as the primary decision maker. I would opt for a more experienced Tiger first.

I'm not trying to upset any folks, but Tyreke is not even come close to his everyone's expectations at this point. If you strictly examine the stats, you don't really see the entire picture. He has been atrocious shooting the ball and most of his points come off of fast break layups and cherry picking. Of course this could continue in the mediocre CUSA schedule, but will not be effective at the next level of basketball.

So far, I have been impressed by Dozier and Taggart. When Shawn is in the game, I have confidence that he can hit a jump hook or something to lead the offense. Dozier has been effective attacking the hoop, but needs to improve his free throw shooting a bit. I think it's simply a matter of focus.

As for Antonio Anderson, he needs to step up his offensive production. He's a tremendous, NBA level defensive player though and this may earn him an NBA roster spot. Mack has been cold from the floor. Sallie has proven to be an effective shooter off the bench. I have not seen much of Kemp this year. And, Jeff Robinson was nothing to speak of in the limited minutes he has seen.

Memphis has a lot of talent, but these former top recruits need to develop their individual games before they can come together as a team. Mack and Kemp cannot be so off and on. Robinson needs to improve his all around game. And, Pierre Niles needs to continue to get himself in game shape.

[boogiesdad]

Finally the Tigers are ranked in the Top 25 again. 25 in ESPN and 22 in the AP.

[SD2042]

They still have a long way to go in terms of improving from a year ago.

[jman3134]

Memphis's defense is some of the best in the country- there is no doubt about that. However, I am not quite sure if they truly are a top 25 squad at this juncture.

[SD2042]

Looks like the Tigers keep climbing up the latter as they claim #14 in the AP polls.

[True Blue]

Big win yesterday at Gonzaga. Tyreke Evans is starting to show he's the best freshman in the country.

[SD2042]

That may be a stretch, but he's showing some improvement especially from beyond the arc. Other than that, Evans has been holdin his own pretty good during his time as the PG.

[Downtown]

I posted in the draft forum about whether the Grizzlies should consider trying to make a move to get Evans in the draft.

Basically I said they could offer Conley and their unprotected 2010 first round pick to a team in exchange for them drafting Evans and trading him to Memphis.

Then if they can draft either Greg Monroe or Jordan Hill with their own pick they would have a really nice group of young talent.

I'm intriuged by a backcourt of both Evans and Mayo, both of whom can handle the ball, shoot, defend, and have enough pointguard skills to be a solid tandem running the team together.

It would take a creative coach to have a system using two combo guards of their skill sets in the backcourt but it could be something that could work.

[jman3134]

I saw that post. And while Evans has shown some nice signs, I am not a fan by any stretch and would not like to see him on the Grizz.

Like Mayo, he is a high volume shooter who always needs the ball in his hands. However, he is far less efficient in his current state. He gambles on defense. And, he plays in a system that is not even close to similar to that of any NBA team. I would stay away from him at all costs.

Just my two cents.

As for the Memphis team, I am curious as to what has happened to Mack and Kemp. Why haven't they really developed much? Also, what is going on with Jeff Robinson? He received some early PT but has since been relegated to the bench.