The Tigers are in a solid position for an NCAA Tournament bid

*Throughout the rest of the season, Bluff City Media will track Memphis’ NCAA tournament resume every week. Using the NET rankings, KenPom rankings, and ESPN bracketology, we will keep you updated on where the Tigers are ranked.

The Memphis Tigers are now 20-7 overall and 10-4 in American Athletic Conference (AAC) play after a 1-1 week with a home victory over the UCF Golden Knights and a road loss at the (now) No. 1 ranked Houston Cougars. Although the Tigers fell to third in the conference standings they moved up in the Net rankings from 42nd to 40th and moved up in the KenPom rankings from 37th to 35th.

In ESPN’s latest Bracketology (released on 2/21/23), Joe Lunardi has the Tigers in the “Last Four Byes” on the NCAA tournament bubble and as a No. 9 seed in the South (Louisville) region. However, CBS Sports Bracketology Expert, Jerry Palm, dropped the Tigers down from No. 9 to a No. 10 seed in the South (Louisville) region in his latest bracket prediction (released on 2/20/23).

Next, the Memphis Tigers travel to Wichita State Thursday night to take on the Shockers in a Quad 2 game as the Shockers are currently ranked 121st in the NET rankings before returning home Sunday afternoon to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats in a Quad 3 game as the Bearcats are currently ranked 80th in the NET rankings.

March Madness came early for the Tigers last Thursday when they defeated UCF on a last-second steal and score after losing Kendric Davis to injury. Although losing your best player is tough, the Tigers played a very competitive game in their loss at Houston Sunday when Alex Lomax and Malcolm Dandridge finally returned from their injuries.

Memphis seems to be in a solid position to make the tournament as long as they avoid any more bad losses (also known as, any team besides Houston). A wrench could be thrown into those plans as Kendric Davis’ status is unknown right now for the next few games but if they copy the same formula they had in the second half of the Houston game, they should be fine until he gets back hopefully sooner rather than later.