With talent aplenty, Tigers bench goes deep

By Adam Douglas

 Sports Editor

David Minkin

The U of M men’s basketball team before tipoff of a game last season. The team will benefit from a more well-rounded roster this season.

 

This year's University of Memphis men's basketball team, unlike the past two seasons, expects to be good.

Not only do they boast some of the best talent in the country with a few former McDonald's High School All-Americans, but they bring a No.9 ranking into the season. And one of the biggest reasons is their depth. But third-year head coach Josh Pastner said it's still tough to evaluate this year's team, which was the third youngest in the country last year.

"Guys are competing, guys are getting after it, but it's hard to judge right now because we're beating up each other," he said. "I think we look good, but we're only playing ourselves."

Though the season won't officially start until Nov. 15 when the Tigers open up against Belmont, players are very eager to play against Lemoyne-Owen College next Wednesday in an exhibition match. The Tigers will no doubt have a deep roster this season, but Pastner says he doesn't yet know how his starting five will look once it takes the floor in a real game. What he does know is how deep they will be. So picking starters will be something of a puzzle for him and his staff.

"We talked about it a little bit today," he said. "Just out of fairness, I want to give our guys a little more time. But the way our talent is, we're not going to be a five-starting team – those are just the facts."

So with this team being deep as it is, there shouldn't be a problem when someone gets into foul trouble. Last year's undersized team struggled to rebound the ball effectively, but Pastner said he will ensure such Tigers' deficiencies are addressed this season.

"Every day we keep a plus-minus chart on everything the guys do," he said. "Every day in practice, the two stats I'm talking about are defensive and offensive rebounding, along with assists-to-turnover ratio. I don't talk about nothing else."

One of the main cogs in the Tiger offense will be sophomore Joe Jackson, who said that though he's more than ready for the responsibility, his teammates will be ready to step up as well.

"Our team is so loaded that it's like playing another team in practice," he said. "We have a lot of weapons. Adonis (Thomas) can post guys, Will (Barton) can slash and shoot, Chris (Crawford) can pass and shoot and Wesley can handle the ball just as good as me, so if we play the right way, we can win easy."