Memphis Tigers Vs. Perfect ‘76 Hoosiers

We all know by know that this Memphis Tigers team is good. But how good are they? Now, I considered comparing them to Tennessee, Kansas, or Duke. But what is the fun in that. Who really thinks Memphis would still be undefeated with any of the aforementioned teams” schedules. The story and interest of Memphis is the unbeatable, or at least undefeated aspect that has long since left all other college basketball teams. For a true test of how good this Memphis team is we are going to break them down Hoosier style. That is right a showdown of Memphis vs. the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers (32-0).

Backcourt

The three-headed guard play of Chris Douglas-Roberts, Derrick Rose, and Antonio Anderson is arguably the nation’s best frontcourt. CDR leads the Tigers with 17.5 PPG and can really knock down the three. The strongest suit of the backcourt is their swarming defense. Each of the three averages more than a steal a game. Rose has issues of his own controlling turnovers, but does a nice job of distributing the rock for a freshman. Now

The backcourt of the Hoosiers is led by two solid seniors in Bob Wilkerson and Quinn Buckner. Neither are scorers, but the offense runs through them as they feed the ball to the big fellows. Tom Abernathy can score does a great job of taking care of the ball. The biggest strength of the Hoosiers backcourt is that they allow the bigs to do their job, in that they don’t make critical mistakes.

Advantage: Memphis Tigers Strong Lean

Frontcourt

Memphis has upperclassmen in the frontcourt in Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier, both coming in at 6-9. Dorsey averages over 10 boards a game and over 2 blocks a game. He is an excellent defensive presence down low. Dozier averages 10 PPG, but his defense would be a challenge for Memphis to overcome. Overall they are good, but they tend to rely on guard play to spur the offense.

No doubt Indiana’s frontcourt was the biggest challenge that teams tried to overcome when tackling the Hoosiers. They are led by player of the year Scott May, who averaged 23.5 PPG. He is a workhorse down low and would give either Memphis forward’s a nightmarish time. But, that doesn’t mean that either Dorsey or Dozier, who isn’t on May at the time can slack off because Kent Benson, Center 6-11, can give problems of his own scoring 17.3 PPG. The frontcourt would be such a challenge for Memphis that even their superior athleticism would not overcome such a feat.

Advantage: Indiana Hoosiers Really Strong Lean

Intangibles

Memphis is poised and confident in every game. John Calipari is a great recruiter and coach and has this team performing right where they should be with the type of talent on campus. However, Calipari is no legend, which is exactly what Bob Knight happens to be. Bob Knight, personal issues, is best left off the court, but there is no contest that Bob Knight led this Indiana team to an undefeated record. He coached them past certain games that they were not the best team on the floor that night, but yet they still prevailed in large part to Knight’s leadership and coaching abilities.

Advantage: Indiana Hoosiers Strong Lean

Game Recap

Projected Final Score

Indiana 71

Memphis 62

Memphis’ guardplay kept it close and at times could make runs on the athletically overmatched Hoosiers. But, it was not enough as the Hoosiers big men were dominant. Memphis was also crippled by its inability to shoot the 3 consistently and their biggest challenge free throw shooting. It is hard to believe that the Hoosiers would outmatch many teams with their 69.9% FT shooting, yet that is exactly what they did in comparison to Memphis’ 58.3% from the line. Hoosiers prevail, but then again they won’t get the chance to stop the 08 Memphis Tigers, will anyone else rise to the challenge?

Semper-fied