Memphis basketball returns to AP Top 25 ahead of AAC play

Associated Press (AP) voters re-ranked Memphis basketball for the second time this month.

The Tigers (10-3) are No. 21 in this week’s AP Top 25 after crushing No. 24 Ole Miss 87-70 inside FedExForum last Saturday. Penny Hardaway’s club ended its non-conference schedule with eight wins in Quads 1 and 2, which tops the rest of the country.

”Just an unbelievable run to be 10-3 after this schedule. Every game was grueling. Every game was fatiguing. Every game was hard,” Hardaway said. “Kudos to the players for fighting hard every game to be 10-3.”

Memphis turned out its most complete performance this year against Ole Miss after getting blown out by Arkansas State and No. 17 Mississippi State in back-to-back home games. The Tigers led the Rebels wire-to-wire, held them to 36% shooting and recorded a season-high in rebounds (45).

Colby Rogers—after shooting a combined 1-for-19 against Virginia and Mississippi State—led the charge with a season-high 28 points while shooting 10-of-16 overall and 6-of-9 on 3-pointers. PJ Haggerty (17), Dain Dainja (16) and Moussa Cisse (13) scored in double figures too. Cisse, a 6-foot-11 center and former Rebel, also notched his first double-double in two seasons with 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and a steal.

Other human polls like the CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish’s Top 25 and 1 have Memphis at No. 18. Jon Rothstein, also of CBS Sports, ranked the Tigers No. 20 in his top 45 Monday.

Computers are still a bit lower on Memphis. The Tigers are currently No. 35 in KenPom, No. 40 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) and No. 46 in Bart Torvik.

KenPom projections favor Hardaway and Co. to sweep through American Athletic Conference (AAC) play, though, which begins Thursday at Florida Atlantic (6 p.m., ESPN2). If Memphis does that, it’ll earn its first regular season conference title in Hardaway’s tenure and return to the NCAA Tournament after missing last year.

Rogers, a 6-foot-3 senior, believes the sky is the limit for the Tigers.

”We have an opportunity to do something special here, and I think we all kind of understand that and what that means,” he said. “Our non-conference schedule really helped to show we have a chance, for real.”