Dec. 12, 2005
I remember making a comment during the Memphis-Duke game. I said that John Calipari and the Tigers were going to benefit from the departures of Louisville, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette and South Florida from Conference USA.
I also said Memphis should become the kings of Conference USA with those other teams now in the Big East. The Tigers should dominate year after year. I remembered when Calipari's Massachusetts teams in the Atlantic 10 were so strong, battling John Chaney's Temple Owls for supremacy. The Minutemen won the regular season and tournament titles five straight years (1992-96, though in '96 the league was split into two divisions and Massachusetts won the East crown). I expected that kind of dominance in C-USA for Memphis.
After making those statements, my phone rang. I received a message from Houston coach Tom Penders. It came booming through -- "Wait a minute, Dickie V. I love you, but there are some teams in Conference USA that can play, like Houston and UAB!"
You know what … Penders is right. Tommy baby, that doesn't mean it's automatic cupcake city for Memphis in your league. I just felt that the Tigers will be the best in the long-term. Memphis will have to lace 'em up against the Houstons and UABs of the world, and it won't be easy.
Penders has quietly done an incredible job rejuvenating basketball in Houston. Who could forget the good old days when the Cougars dominated -- like the Phi Slama Jama days in 1983, when my buddy Jimmy V. got the last laugh when Lorenzo Charles slam dunked against future Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Guy V. Lewis did a phenomenal job building that program, and I have often wondered why he hasn't received his due. National championships have become the criteria for making the Hall of Fame. Lewis did a tremendous job for so many years at Houston.
Penders has people in Houston excited again. His club sent messages with big-time quality wins over LSU and Arizona. The Cougars' coach also pointed out the score of the most recent Houston-Memphis game. (His team beat the Tigers last season, 66-53, holding Rodney Carney to just five points.)
Houston will compete in Conference USA because of Penders' positive attitude and incredible spirit and enthusiasm. Two guys from the East -- Penders and Calipari -- should go at it this season. The schedule makers in Conference USA must have had a flair for the dramatic in mind, as Houston and Memphis meet just once this season. It will be the final regular-season game, on March 4 in Memphis.
Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in 1979. Send a question for Vitale for possible use on ESPNEWS.
