Debra - HOW 'BOUT THEM TIGERS ?

Yes, I'm going to talk basketball but stick with me.

If you've been living in a cave and don't know, the NCAA national basketball tournament has been going on for a couple of weeks. At the end of a grueling regular season and individual conference championships, the top 64 teams in the country are invited to the big dance, the NCAA Tournament, March Madness, a chance at the national title.

I want to talk about focus, elevating our expectations and sticking together. Speaking of elevating, take a look at that tiny picture of Memphis player Derrick Rose (white uniform). Check out where his feet are and that the camera man is not shooting "up" at the blue-uniformed UCLA player.

REFUSE TO LOSE.

University of Memphis is back in the championship game (today) for the first time in...well, a really really long time. Our first trip to the national championship game ended with us on the losing side of a legendary Bill Walton lead UCLA team. Last year's bid to make the hallowed Final Four was crushed by UCLA. You see, 64 becomes 32 becomes 16 becomes 8 becomes 4 becomes 2 becomes 1. We'd made it to the round of 8 and faced UCLA. They only have 11 National Championships.

We had a pretty good team last year, but we aren't one of the dynasty teams. We aren't in a star-studded conference. Most of our television time, even when we win, is all about how our conference is weak and that we'll fold like an old card table once the heat is on from "real" teams. Commentors talk about what teams can do to beat us as if doing so is a piece of cake. And yet, despite all these tidy game plans for crushing us...in each of the last three seasons we've had over 30 wins. (That's unbelievably brilliant no matter which conference you're in. The prognosticators barely noticed.)

We've been undefeated in our conference for two years. Conference champ for 3. We've shut out the other teams in our conference tournament two years in a row and won it for 3. We play and beat quality teams on the road every single non-conference game. (We have to. Our conference isn't a strong one yet.) Our cummulative record for the last three years is 98-7.

You have to wonder why the coaches and sports casters would rank us #1 in the country and then talk trash about us. Memphis spent a large part of this year as #1. Not a unanimous decision of the various polls, but we've never been lower than # 3. We've only been beaten once this year...by in state rival University of Tennessee. They were #2 in the country at the time and we were # 1. Interestingly, that was the first time #1 and #2 ranked teams in the country had ever met in the history of NCAA basketball. That was a heckuva game. We lost. Then we went right back to winning.

And still, no respect. Well, maybe a little. Folks did agree we deserved our regional #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but the next words printed were predictions that we'd be the first of the highly seeded teams to fall. We weren't expected to go the distance. We didn't belong. We aren't a dynasty. The press has written scathing articles about Coach John Calipari's inability to coach. Didn't matter than he owns or shares more than a few serious NCAA coaching records. Or that his record for the last three years is 98-7. We are the dirty little secret in basketball. The no-pedigree team that would be king.

It's not that I didn't want to post some good pictures of our team, but pictures are a little scarce since there has been so little national coverage of our team.

We marched through the season with almost no fanfare despite the fact we kept piling up wins. For a very long time this year Memphis owned the country's longest undefeated record. The only thing the anchors said was, "Well, their conference schedule is easier than most." Our boys never talked trash, never whined. They just looked ahead and said, "Well, they can say those things but we still have to go play basketball. If we play well enough they'll stop sayin' it." Their coach inspired them to love each other, to play unselfishly and to want each win. It doesn't matter how far ahead they are in the scoring, you will see those boys hit the hardwood floor in a mad scramble to grab every lose ball. They've sometimes clawed their way back to a win after trailing by double figures.

They believed. They carried the city with them. We marched through the tournament. We chewed up and spit out some seriously good teams. We posted huge margins. We played 40 minutes of good ball over and over again. And still the press spent more time on every other team, dismissed Memphis and focused on anyone else with a basketball in their hand because there was no story in Memphis. They were going to lose. Why spend precious page space or air time on them? No one thought all top 4 regional seeds of the tournament would make it to the Final Four. That's never happened in the history of basketball. Except it did. Because we didn't lose like we were supposed to. (Apparently we didn't get the memo.)

When Memphis reached the Final Four and was staring at the promised land of a national championship, who did we have to beat Saturday to get to Monday's championship game? UCLA. Who else? Really, you couldn't write this stuff in a book. They wouldn't believe you.

A slogan draped the bus carrying our tigers to the Final Four game. REFUSE TO LOSE. And they did just that. They dispatched UCLA and won in double digits. In winning this game the Memphis Tigers now own--outright--the record for most NCAA wins EVER in a season--38. That's EVER. Since the history of record keeping in basketball, which is a long long time.

Finally, there is respect. Grudging respect but it's coming. My boys didn't celebrate. They put their heads down and said, "The job's not done."

They've taught me a lot this season. They're just kids, but they bought into a dream. They followed a coach who uplifts them and requires them to be not just better basketball players but better human beings.

Tonight, win or lose, I'm gonna be proud of those boys. And I'm going to remember to put my head down and get the job done. I'm in charge of my dreams. You can be too.