Bracketology 2020: Buy or sell Memphis, Purdue, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin
By Bryan Mauro
Memphis Tigers – Sell
Penny Hardaway has been in the media a lot this season already. He was the textbook example of giving a kid benefits to come to play for him in superstar James Wiseman. Wiseman was then subsequently suspended, and he decided it was in his best interest to drop out of college and get ready for the NBA draft. Memphis looked to have a roster good enough to still get into the NCAA tournament and do damage while there.
The reality is that losing Wiseman has hurt the Tigers and they are in danger of missing the tournament entirely. All the hype that Penny supplied with his outstanding recruiting class, has gone by the wayside especially when Memphis looks disinterested some nights. The thing that is going to hurt the Tigers the most is the sheer lack of quad 1 games within the American Conference. To date, Memphis has played three quad 1 games with a 1-2 record.
The Tigers also are the only team on this list that has a loss in quad 3 and quad 4. They are 5-2 in quad 3 and bad losses can destroy a tournament resume quick, especially when the conference you play in is having a bad year like the American is. Outside of winning the conference tournament, it doesn’t look like Memphis is going to go dancing this year. Most likely they are destined for the NIT, where they can do damage.
Next. Updated National POY rankings. dark
The likely scenario is then again that the Tigers are going to be in a rebuild as most of the super freshman will go pro including star Precious Achiuwa. It has been a long hard fall from grace for Memphis capped by a 40-point loss on the road to Tulsa. The Tigers have an uphill climb.