What a bombshell from the University of Memphis. It has exhaustively determined that it has found nothing to suggest Derrick Rose did not take his own SAT test. Just for good measure it has also concluded that even if -- somehow -- it did turn out that someone other than Derrick Rose took the SAT there was no way the school could have known. Therefore, in Memphis' humble opinion, there should be no punishment of Memphis.
The main thrust of the document (PDF) seems to be to make it clear that Memphis knew nothing. This should not be surprising since it will be a document that Memphis plans to submit to the NCAA as part of its defense.
It has really been a question of if, not when, some of the Memphis commitments would choose to follow coach John Calipari to Kentucky. DeMarcus Cousins was the most likely to do so first, since he has not yet signed a National Letter of Intent (LOI) with Memphis. His commitment was only verbal, so there was not even a formality of having to ask Memphis to release him from the LOI.
Xavier Henry did sign a LOI with Memphis, but has just received his release. He is not ruling out sticking with Memphis since his older brother will be eligible to play for the Tigers in 2009. He is, however, now deciding between Memphis, Kansas and Kentucky.
Memphis was reportedly looking to make a big splash after losing John Calipari to Kentucky. Rick Pitino was not going to be walking through that door. Neither was Tim Floyd coming from USC -- despite apparently listening. Bruce Pearl may or may not have been interested, but Tennessee was not going to let Pearl even appear to be considering an offer from Memphis.
The fallout of John Calipari leaving Memphis looks to be immediate and swift. John Wall is obviously not going to Memphis without John Calipari. The disintegration of one of the best recruiting classes ever is the first and obvious casualty.
The Kentucky press conference to announce the hiring will not be until tomorrow. John Calipari, though, texted ESPN college basketball reporter, Andy Katz, to let him know that he would leave Memphis for the Kentucky job.
That Calipari is taking the job surprises no one. Despite Memphis reportedly offering him a more lucrative financial package to stay, it is not like Kentucky low-balled him.
Everyone keeps tuned to sports sites and ESPNews for the latest plumes of smoke from Memphis and/or Lexington regarding John Calipari and whether he stays at Memphis or goes to Kentucky. The flip side is that the move has paralyzed nearly every other coaching search as programs and coaches in-demand wait to see what happens.
Having slept on it, I've come up with no reason to change this viewpoint. But when you use the O-word, you get reaction, and some of it just isn't reasonable. Saying Memphis was overrated isn't the same thing as saying they weren't good. They were. Memphis was a good team that played a terrible game at a time of year when one terrible game ends your season.
But they were overrated. They were a 2-seed. The 3-seeds were Villanova, Kansas, Syracuse and Missouri. Having watched the tournament so far, can you really believe Memphis was better than any of those teams? I might even have seeded 4-seed Xavier ahead of them, having watched the Musketeers nearly take out Pitt last night. So the point is, while the Tigers were one of the top 15 teams in the country heading into the tournament, they weren't one of the top eight. Hence, overrated. According to the actual meaning of the word.
This is too easy, right? You watch all year as Memphis rolls through Conference USA without a challenge. You listen to the debates about whether it'd finish any better than sixth in the Big East. You ponder its tournament seeding, weighing the impressive lack of losses against the unimpressive quality of the competition against which the record was built. And then Memphis gets smacked in the mouth and knocked out in the Sweet 16 by a team from the Big 12 and you get to say, "See?? See?? We TOLD you they couldn't play with the teams from the real conferences! Oh-ver-RAY-ted!"
Even if you phrase it as carefully as a major leaguer testifying before Congress, ask Kansas coach Bill Self who he thinks should be the national coach of the year and you're likely to get about the same answer as if you'd just asked him to explain the economic stimulus plan.
Which is to say a whole lot of stammering and more tap dancing than Broadway's spring season.
A remarkably short shelf-life for a John Calipari coaching rumor. Usually Coach Calipari likes to let the story linger a day or two to "enjoy the drama." This time, Calipari let the national writers at ESPN.com and CBS Sportsline.com know that he wasn't heading to Arkansas.
Despite reports to the contrary, Calipari said he was never formally offered the Arkansas job, though he did admit meeting with athletic director Frank Broyles. Calipari said he and Broyles have known each other for many years and the conversation was informative. And while he acknowledged the opportunity to be the next coach at Arkansas will be great for somebody he added that somebody will not be him.
"Whoever is offered that job would have to be out of their mind to not take it," Calipari said. "But it's just not the right time for me."
That's solid plausible deniability for both Calipari and Arkansas. Calipari doesn't further aggravate the Memphis faithful with his wandering eye for other coaching jobs and Arkansas can claim not to have been rejected by Calipari.
Calipari is in a good situation at Memphis. Not just because his team absolutely dominates the weak Conference USA. He has almost his entire group of kids (sans Senior Jeremy Hunt) and should see the Tigers come into the 2007 season ranked in the top-10.
What a bombshell from the University of Memphis. It has exhaustively determined that it has found nothing to suggest Derrick Rose did not take his own SAT test. Just for good measure it has also concluded that even if -- somehow -- it did turn out that someone other than Derrick Rose took the SAT there was no way the school could have known. Therefore, in Memphis' humble opinion, there should be no punishment of Memphis. 
It has really been a question of if, not when, some of the Memphis commitments would choose to follow coach 
Nothing like the threat of having a bitter in-state rival possibly poaching your coach to force another contract extension, even after a somewhat disappointing season. Memphis was hoping to land 
The fallout of 
The Kentucky press conference to announce the hiring will not be until tomorrow. 
Everyone keeps tuned to sports sites and ESPNews for the latest plumes of smoke from Memphis and/or Lexington regarding .jpg)
Having slept on it, I've come up with no reason to change
This is too easy, right? You watch all year as Memphis rolls through Conference USA without a challenge. You listen to the debates about whether it'd finish any better than sixth in the Big East. You ponder its tournament seeding, weighing the impressive lack of losses against the unimpressive quality of the competition against which the record was built. And then Memphis gets smacked in the mouth and knocked out in the Sweet 16 by a team from the Big 12 and you get to say, "See?? See?? We TOLD you they couldn't play with the teams from the real conferences! Oh-ver-RAY-ted!"
Even if you phrase it as carefully as a major leaguer testifying before Congress, ask Kansas coach 
A remarkably short shelf-life for a 
