Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

Well, this is one I wasn’t sure I was going to write, but I sure am glad I am getting the opportunity.  It looked for awhile I might be writing about Cal State Northridge, but in the end Memphis was able to take care of business.  The Terps on the other hand, made me nervous, and thanks to that game way back in 2001, I will never assume a game is over until it is over!  I was so afraid Maryland would lose and ruin the rest of the day.  The win on the other hand, made it just a great night of basketball.

Let’s get on to Memphis.  The university got its beginnings in 1909 as the West Tennessee State Normal School.  The school officially opened in 1912.  In 1925 it became known as the West Tennessee State Teachers College.  In 1935 the Agriculture department was dropped.

In 1941 the school once again changed names to Memphis State College.  In 1957 they gained full University Status.  In 1959 they accepted their first African American students.  1994 brought the current name University of Memphis. 

A year of instate tuition will cost you just over $6000, while out of state it will set you back $17,500.  Currently the school has about 21,000 students enrolled. 

Here is what you all come for.  The famous Alumni section.   I haven’t looked yet, but I am guessing it will be a slightly smaller list than Cal.  The first one that catches my eye is game show host Wink Martindale.  Hall of Fame professional Wrestler Jerry Lawler is also on the list.  And since this list is short to say the least I will throw you Dan Uggla from the Marlins.  Seriously, this may have been the shortest list I have come across.

This is Mephis’ 21st tournament appearance and have three final fours.  Over those 21 trips they have a 20-21 record.   This years Memphis basketball team is 32-3 on the season.  They went through Conference USA undefeated (again).  Their losses came from Xavier, Georgetown, and Syracuse.  I would say their best wins are against Tennessee and Gonzaga.  Winning at Gonzaga is pretty impressive.  As a team they average 74 points per game, while shooting 44% from 3, 69% from the line and 32% from the three point line.  They are lead by Freshman Tyreke Evans’ 16.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assist.  Robert Dozier adds 12 points and 7 boards.  Shawn Taggart and Antonio Anderson also pitch in 10 points per game.   Memphis is athletic, and will look to run and pressure the Terps.  They have a more athletic front line than Cal did.  Look for more zone defense from the Terps. 

Well that is about all I have time for this morning.  I will try and get you some more factoids later this evening.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 5:51 am and is filed under Maryland Terps Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.