Nail-biting has always gone hand-in-hand with the single elimination NCAA Tournament. Tigers fans immediately put their fingers to their mouths when they saw their team matched-up with Oral Roberts in first-round action on Friday.
That is because some people are calling the Golden Eagles (21-11, 13-3 Mid-Continent) the most dangerous 16-seed in the field of 64. One expert, ESPN's Jay Bilas, went so far as to say that Oral Roberts is good enough to beat Memphis, and that he wouldn't be surprised to see the upset.
Whether or not you think Oral Roberts is a dangerous opponent, the fact is that a 1-seed has never lost to a 16-seed in Tournament history. The disastrous thought of being the first team to do so should be enough to prevent the Tigers from sleepwalking in Dallas.
By defeating Chicago State 85-72 in the Mid-Continent championship game, Oral Roberts earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance, the team's first in 22 years.
The Golden Eagles, hailing from Tulsa, Okla., pack a potent one-two punch on offense with the inside-out combination of big man Caleb Green (20.8 ppg) and guard Ken Tutt (14.3 ppg). Senior forward Larry Owens has been a force in the paint along with Green, averaging 12.5 points per game to go with 7.8 rebounds per game. The team is averaging 74.8 points per game on the season and shooting a better field-goal percentage than the Tigers.
Tutt does not shy away from the three ball, hitting 42 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. With its top six scorers being upperclassmen, Oral Roberts will look to exploit the youth of Memphis.
Defense wins championships, and that has been the problem for the Golden Eagles. In six of their 11 losses this season, the team gave up 80 or more points. The inability to stop opponents is most likely the reason why Oral Roberts has beaten only one Tournament team all year in Monmouth, the play-in winner. The Golden Eagles are giving up 69.3 points per game on the season, good for 139th in the nation.
Perhaps Oral Robert's best win came back in November when they knocked off the Pac-10's USC (17-13) at home. Other than that, though, the team is lacking quality wins, which is reflected in their RPI of 134.
Memphis, meanwhile, is likely to light up the scoreboard Friday afternoon. The Tigers rank 10th in the nation in scoring with 80.9 points per game.
Unless Oral Roberts can buckle down and keep Memphis out of the paint, the game is likely to stay true to the 15 1/2 point spread that the odds-makers have determined.
