Sports Editor
The University of Memphis men's basketball team is ranked No. 9 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll released on Thursday. The Tigers return all players, except graduating senior forward Will Coleman, from last year's squad that finished 25-10 on the season with a berth into the NCAA tournament and losing to Arizona in the second round.
The Tigers will boast two players on the John R. Wooden Award pre-season watch list in sophomores Will Barton and Joe Jackson. Sophomore forward Tarik Black also joins Barton and Jackson on the pre-season All-Conference USA team.
North Carolina was selected No. 1 in the poll, receiving 30 of 31 first-place votes. Kentucky, which received the other first-place vote, is ranked No. 2. Ohio State, Connecticut and Syracuse round out the top 5. Vanderbilt, which went 23-11 last season, is ranked No. 7.
As it stands right now, the Tigers will face three opponents on their schedule that are ranked in the Top-25 in Michigan (18), Louisville (8) and Xavier (15).
Michigan, which Memphis will face in its championship-round opener of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 21, opens the season at No. 18. If the Tigers advance deep in the tourney, they could face more opponents ranked in the Top-25 this season.
Memphis will begin their season against Belmont on Nov. 15th at 11 a.m. as a part of ESPN's 24-hour college hoops tipoff marathon.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Tigers will debut ranked No. 9 in coaches’ poll
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment