One of the really good yet nationally overlooked rivalries in college basketball is being spared an unnecessary freeze period, according to a report.
Tennessee and Memphis were set to put their rivalry on the back burner for an undetermined amount of time, but the Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting the teams will likely keep playing each other after all.
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis (paywall link) is saying the deal is not completed just yet. The Commerical-Appeal's story details Memphis' side, saying coming to an agreement in football is part of the bigger plan.
“There’s been no agreement. No firm dates. It’s just kind of general talking,” Memphis deputy athletic director Wren Baker told the Commercial Appeal.
A renewal here is good thing for both programs, and this would add some non-conference juice down the road for Memphis, as it moves to the American Athletic Conference.
Here's why it's done, according to the News Sentinel.
UT athletic director Dave Hart told the News Sentinel on Wednesday that Tennessee and Memphis have “agreed in principle to a four-year home-and-home series in men’s basketball.”
While discussions related to the universities meeting in football are ongoing, the basketball conversation has reached closure.
“We’re going to play,” Hart said. “We’re going to continue the basketball series.”
When the Vols and Tigers met on Jan. 4 at Thompson-Boling Arena, the affair was billed as the last meeting between the two for the foreseeable future. An eight-year home-and-home series beginning in 2005-06 had come to an end. Memphis won the day, 85-80, to narrow the all-time series 14-11.
From Tennessee's side, this appears to be locked up/imminent. A lot of times we can see rivalries end or get put on the shelf due to the politics of college. It's nice when schools overcome that at a time when realignment has mucked up geography in conferences; the rivalries themselves are now a big part of what keeps the contours of pride in a region going strong.
The interesting facet to this: Josh Pastner has long wanted to end the Tennessee game. He's been abnormally public about it, citing recruiting disadvantages for his program. He and the athletic director at Memphis, Tom Bowen, were on opposite sides of this issue last season when Bowen publicly went against Pastner's wishes in a surprising move. Bowen was hired as Memphis' athletic director in April of 2012.
Now Pastner is on board with the renewal of the series.
“Whatever my athletic director says is what I roll with," he told the News Sentinel. "We’re locked arm-in-arm on this one.”
Citing scheduling conflicts for next fall/winter, the rivalry will not be played next season, and so 2014-15 could be the probable timeline when Memphis-Tennessee restart the four-year deal on the court.
