Eye of the Tigers

By Chad Hollingsworth
Love of Sports Correspondent

Remember how loaded the Memphis Tigers were last year? They had arguably the best point guard in the nation with Derrick Rose, a talented 6’5” swingman in Chris Douglas-Roberts, and a big senior leader (literally and figuratively) in Joey Dorsey. 

This year, they’re still a very dangerous team, returning some core players and introducing new faces. Freshman Tyreke Evans is picking up the scoring slack left by Rose and Douglas-Roberts, and Robert Dozier and Shawn Taggart are both grabbing the boards that Dorsey used to be responsible for.

Basically, Memphis coach, John Calipari, has proven that even his most talented teams can be deemed replaceable. For every Rose he can bring in for a year, he can bring in a Tyreke Evans and hope that he isn’t “one and done”.

Regardless, even if Evans does bolt for the NBA in next June’s draft (and as successful as his freshman campaign is going, it’s likely he will), Calipari has already lined up his replacement with his latest star recruit, Xavier Henry.

Henry is highly regarded as the top prep hoopster in the nation, evidenced by his No.1 ranking in the ESPNU 100. He is a 6’7” shooting guard that averaged 26.7 points and 7.2 rebounds in his junior year at Putnam City in Oklahoma. His size makes it difficult for other two guards to defend him, but he’s quick enough off the dribble to release his sweet left-handed jump shot.

Calipari likely realizes how fortunate he is to be able to pull in recruits like Henry and Evans, but another freshman he recruited might have been the key to Henry’s commitment to Memphis. Henry’s brother, 22-year-old freshman C.J. Henry, was a key factor in getting Xavier to choose Memphis over Kansas University. 

The story of C.J. Henry begins with him choosing to sign with Kansas out of high school, but he has been in the farm system of the New York Yankees for the past five years. He remains part of the Yankees’ minor league system, but is a walk-on for the Tigers this season. Thus, Memphis gets a potential key contributor at point guard this year without giving up a scholarship.

On a side note, Bill Self and Kansas must be ripping their hair out wondering what could have been. Then again, they already one-upped Memphis last season in the national championship. 

However, the future for the Memphis Tigers looks awfully bright. They’ll have a quality team that will probably be the cream of the crop in Conference USA this season, and they could potentially make some noise once March Madness rolls around as well. 

Even if Evans leaves after this season, Calipari has the luxury of having the Henry brothers in his arsenal along with talented juniors Taggart and Doneal Mack (should they also decide to return to school next season). Add the fact that Memphis is also bringing in high school teammates Will Coleman and Darnell Dodson along with another ESPNU Top 100 shooting guard in Nolan Dennis, Memphis has to be a deemed a team to keep an eye on next season.

While teams like North Carolina and Connecticut will possibly be reloading (although Roy Williams is also bringing in a stellar freshman lineup next year), Memphis is already used to this process. Just leave it to Calipari to remain a major player in recruiting the best high school kids in the nation and watch the Memphis Tigers keep gunning for that elusive national championship.