Dear Coach Cal: The South

Dear Coach Calipari: Congratulations on a great season. Your team’s record (33-1) speaks for itself. You must be really proud of earning a number one seed – your second such seeding in the last three years. I like how you got that whole mid-major / Conference-USA thing working. America loves the little guy, the underdog, and your team fits that description. It’s great that you have stayed at a place like Memphis. Gotta love Beale St., Elvis, Graceland, and everything about Memphis. What a town. That school has a great hoops tradition. Not many people remember Keith Lee and the Tigers from the early 80’s. That team was in the sweet sixteen so often they might as well have been domino sugar. And who can forget how Gene Bartow led the Tigers to the National title game in ’73 - great memories. Too bad some people don’t give this year’s Tigers more credit. They forget that earlier this year you beat a bunch of teams that are now in the dance: Oklahoma, ... (link)