Gary Parrish

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- I walked into the Finch center Monday, told John Calipari I was there to see his team.

"You won't see much," Calipari said.

And then the wounded began to take their positions.

There was Antonio Anderson, hanging out under a basket, a device attached to his lower leg designed to help with shin splints. To his left was Tyreke Evans and Angel Garcia, both on the sideline watching, Evans with a sprained ankle, Garcia with a sprained knee. And then there was C.J. Henry still recovering from a broken foot.

Combined, that's two starters (Anderson and Evans) and two key reserves (Garcia and Henry) that the Tigers won't have Tuesday night when they play Christian Brothers University in an exhibition. So yeah, Calipari is frustrated because it was going to be hard enough to replace Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey even if everything went perfectly. But anybody waiting for the world-is-out-to-get-us quote from Calipari will have to keep waiting because the man who has managed to again sell every season ticket in the 18,000-seat FedExForum isn't openly complaining or feeling sorry for himself.

"I'm not saying anything because we had none last year," Calipari said. "Stuff happens."

Indeed, Rose, Douglas-Roberts and Anderson each played all 40 games last season, and Dorsey played the final 38. Robert Dozier only missed three games (two early because of a small injury, one later for discipline), meaning the usual starters who led Memphis to a 38-2 record combined to play 195 of a possible 200 games.

"We went through a whole season with a couple of nicks, bumps and that's it," Calipari said. "So this happens."

The healing process looks like this: Anderson should return to practice late this week, Evans could be back by the Nov. 15 opener against Fairfield and Garcia and Henry are both probably out until mid-December. The Tigers' first real test will come either Nov. 17 against UMass or Nov. 21 in a likely game with Southern California in Puerto Rico.