Memphis likely headed to NCAA Tournament for second consecutive season

*Throughout the last half of the season, Bluff City Media tracked Memphis’ NCAA tournament resume every week. Using the NET rankings, KenPom rankings, ESPN bracketology, and CBS Sports bracketology, we kept you updated on where the Tigers are ranked and this is the final installment.

The Memphis Tigers finished the regular season with a 23-8 overall record and finished second in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) standings with a 13-5 record after a 1-1 week with a road victory at SMU and a buzzer-beating loss at home to No. 1 ranked Houston. The Tigers will be the No. 2 seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament later this week and ended the regular season ranked 34th in the Net Rankings and 33rd in the KenPom Rankings.

In ESPN’s latest Bracketology (released on 3/5/23), Joe Lunardi officially removed the Tigers from the NCAA tournament bubble and has them slotted as a No. 9 seed in the Midwest (Kansas City) region. CBS Sports Bracketology Expert, Jerry Palm, still has the Tigers as a No. 10 seed in the East (New York) region in his latest bracket prediction (released on 3/6/23).

Based on these projections it is safe to say that the Memphis Tigers are likely going dancing next week. In ESPN’s latest “Bubble Watch,” John Gasaway has the Tigers in the “Should be in” category of his tournament projection stating “If you must lose at home on the final day of the season, make sure you lose to the No. 1 team in the country on a buzzer-beater.”

As heartbreaking as their loss to Houston was on senior day, the Tigers showed they could compete with the best in the country. We continuously said that Memphis needed to avoid bad losses over the past couple of weeks and they did just that. Beating Houston would have probably clinched the Tigers’ NCAA tournament berth and moved them up a seed line, but losing to them in the fashion they did confirmed that they are a tournament team nonetheless. Their SEC-heavy non-conference schedule that featured wins over Texas A&M, Auburn, and Vanderbilt helped as all those teams finished the season strong and provided the Tigers with their two Quad 1 victories (Texas A&M and Auburn) and one of their eight Quad 2 victories (Vanderbilt).

As Memphis prepares for the AAC tournament in Fort Worth, TX later this week the safe bet would be to get at least one victory in the Quarterfinal round to not have any nerves on Selection Sunday. Memphis will play the winner of the UCF-SMU game on Friday night and a rematch with both teams that swept them this season (Tulane and Houston) could be on the horizon this weekend if all goes to plan. If UCF beats SMU, the Tigers would potentially have two Quad 2 opportunities (UCF and Tulane) and one last Quad 1 opportunity (Houston) if everything plays out as expected. Overall, it was a successful regular season for the Memphis Tigers and they have a chance to make some real noise over the next week.