Bracketology 2024: Gonzaga, Kentucky, and Indiana among week's biggest losers
By Joey Loose
Memphis
The story in Memphis is a pretty strange on this season. Penny Hardaway’s squad has oodles of talent and it’s been on display, mostly kicking butt during a fantastic run through nonconference play. Memphis picked up wins over Michigan, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Virginia, and a few other intriguing squads, all while only dropping a pair of games. Life in the AAC has been a different story.
Coming into the week, the Tigers had dropped three straight games, all against Quad 2 or lower opponents, but things got much worse on Wednesday. Memphis lost 74-71 at home to Rice for a dreadful Quad 4 defeat. Their play wasn’t much improved over the weekend, though a strong second half allowed the Tigers to avoid upset against Wichita State.
When you put it all together, their four losses in the last three weeks have been a complete anchor on this resume. Another reason why Memphis’s NET is down to 80 is that many of the impressive wins earlier in the year haven’t turned out that way, with most of those teams struggling. Obviously, Memphis can only control themselves and they have played some horrific basketball in recent weeks, needing to turn that around in a hurry to reach the Tournament.