Tigers Basketball Insider: Where Memphis stands in NCAA Tournament projections ahead of AAC play
Memphis Tigers center Moussa Cisse (32) reacts during the second half against the Ole Miss Rebels at FedExForum on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Wes Hale/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Memphis has completed its heavy lifting when it comes to building its NCAA Tournament resume.
The Tigers have finished a nonconference schedule that KenPom ranks as the fourth-toughest in the country with a 10-3 overall record before they begin play in an American Athletic Conference that KenPom ranks just the 10th-best (out of 31 leagues in NCAA Division I) in the country.
Any Selection Sunday statements Memphis was going to make — and it’s made a few, highlighted by wins over No. 11 UConn, No. 18 Michigan State, No. 24 Ole Miss, Clemson, Missouri and others — have already been made.
All that’s left for the Tigers to do now for the remainder of the regular season is avoid landmines that have the potential to blow up their resume entirely. And that’s no easy task in a conference in which only two other teams aside from Memphis (No. 40) — North Texas (No. 73) and Florida Atlantic (No. 90) — are even in the top 100 of the NCAA’s NET rankings. (Only three of the Tigers’ 18 league games will be against these opponents, with their AAC opener versus FAU on the road Thursday, home game versus North Texas on Sunday and a home game versus FAU on Feb. 23.)
So, where does Memphis stand in the NCAA Tournament picture before it opens its AAC slate?
Let’s take a look:
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Parth Upadhyaya
Parth Upadhyaya covers the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. A Raleigh, N.C., native and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism, Upadhyaya is a longtime college hoops junkie. Prior to joining The Daily Memphian in 2022, he covered high school sports in western Pennsylvania for the Beaver County Times and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times.
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