Memphis is in the Final Four

Congrats to the Tigers. Forever this team will be remembered for this tremendous achievement, no matter what happens from here. They absolutely mangled Michigan State and Texas this weekend, and in the process punched their ticket to big show. Whoever gets the #1 pick in the draft now has a serious decision on his hands. How can you pass on Rose?
There is no taking away from anything about what the Tiger's have done. They looked the best they ever have in the games that mattered the most, they demolished big conference teams, and they killed Texas in Texas. I will be doing the show from San Antonio on Thursday and Friday.

Calkins explains the Grizz ownership situation on the show

Geoff Calkins came on the show today to talk about the local owners and why they are out of the mix with the Grizzlies. Here it if you are interested and missed it... Calkins Part1 Calkins Part 2

Jeffrey Ma and the new movie "21"

"21" is out in theatres today. The movie is based on the MIT blackjack team that took Vegas by storm. The movie is based on the story of Jeffrey Ma. Ma was on the show yesterday to talk about the movie and everything about his story. This story has always facinated me. The interview and the trailer for the movie are below.

Jeffrey Ma on The Chris Vernon Show 3-27-08

Embarassing white people everywhere

As you may have heard on the show, this past weekend was a disaster. My producer (Roser) and I were asked to play in a celebrity basketball game hosted by Branches of Life. We were honored and thrilled to participate, but knew nothing about the event. As it turned out, Roser and I went to the game and instantly realized that we were 2 of the 4 white guys in the entire arena. So here we are in the gym playing in what amounts to a black celebrity all-star game, featuring the likes of comedian Joe Torry, rapper Chingy, etc. This is now the funniest thing ever. The guy that put together the event, Greg Motley (who runs Branches of Life) is thrilled that we showed up to play, and knows how funny this is. It should be mentioned the stands are packed and there are no white people. We are now the "white boys." So here we are at this game and the goal becomes not to act overtly white... and that goal could not be accomplished.

We are in a layup line before the game and here comes Roser trying to be Tracy McGrady. This within itself is unacceptable. He is going to throw the ball off the backboard and catch it and then lay it up. Roser throws the ball off the board, jumps up (if you want to call it jumping), the ball goes way over his head, and he lands on a girl and breaks his foot. I cannot believe this is happening. The whitest thing to ever happen before human eyes. He broke his freakin foot in the layup line? All we need to do is to not to highlight our whiteness, and Roser pulls this. I was just beside myself. Many of you have asked if this story was made up. Unfortunately the story is true and the proof is below. My producer now sits on the other side of the glass with his foot in the air. Roser would like to apologize to white people everywhere. Talk about representin'...

Tom Izzo and Rick Barnes on 730 ESPN tomorrow morning

Our morning show with Geoff Calkins and Gary Parrish will have Michigan State coach Tom Izzo on at 8:20, and Texas coach Rick Barnes on the show at 8:40. That is absolutely insane. Parrish is pullin the heavy hitters. You have no idea how crazy it is to either of these guys on a local show at this point in the year. There is no way that any other show in this town could pull it off. Check it out. Izzo and Barnes back-to-back tomorrow morning.

The Jason's Deli Remote

A huge thank you to all of you that came out to the remote on Thursday. We raised a ton of money for the Church Health Center and the turnout was totally overwhelming. It was a thrill getting to meet so many of you that listen to the show. Here are some pics from the event...

The place got packed three different times on Thursday

Chris Herrington tries to convince Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace that he needs to draft...

The winner of the tix to Little Rock, Mickey, gets on his phone to tell everyone

We are going to be doing another remote at Jason's Deli this week. I will know which day very soon and will talk about it on the show. If you did not make it to the first one, make it to the next one.

Again, thank you to all of you that came out, and thanks to Jason's Deli for being an incredible host.

The Verno Bracket

I can't figure out how to link the bracket without everyone having to use a password. Here is what the Verno Bracket looks like (top to bottom, left to right)...

THE 32
East- UNC, Indiana, NDame, Wash St, Okla, Louisville, S Alabama, Tenn
Midwest-- Kansas, UNLV, Clemson, Vandy, USC, Wisc, Davidson, GTown
South-- Memphis ,Miss St, Mich St, Pitt ,Marquette ,Stanford ,Miami ,Texas
West-- UCLA ,BYU ,Western Ken, UCONN ,Purdue, Xavier ,WVU ,Duke

The 16
East-- UNC ,Wash St, Louisville ,Tenn
Midwest-- Kansas ,Vandy, Wisc, Gtown
South-- Memphis, Pitt, Marquette ,Tex
West-- UCLA, UCONN, Xavier ,Duke

The 8
East-- UNC ,Tenn
Mid-- Kansas ,Wisc
South-- Pitt ,Tex
West- UCLA, Duke

Final Four is UNC, Kansas, Texas, and Duke
UNC and Texas in the National Championship -- UNC is my national champ

Here we go again...

From the Commercial Appeal today, in case you don't read it I will summarize for you...
-everyone hates Memphis
-everyone picked against Memphis
-some website that nobody has even heard of insulted Memphis
-the Tigers' resume offers the least indication of an early exit from this tournament
-the Tigers like being in the position of nobody picking them

The Tigers played the 107th ranked schedule in the nation according to the Sagarin ratings. I can't believe that people would be more skeptical about them than the other #1's! How could analysts not have had everything proven to them by playing the non-conference games! Come on, Memphis plays in Conference USA and so it is harder to judge them because you have less of a pool of games to construct an opinion of them. It is not their fault, but they played less top 50 teams than any of the 1 seeds and they played most of the big games at home. Memphis did not play one good team in a true road game this season. Again, not their fault but it is the truth. The point is that there is less to draw from when you look at Memphis. I can take a lot more from watching North Carolina play Maryland than from watching Memphis play Tulane because at least the level of athlete is comparable.

This disrespect crap is so tired. Everything today in the paper reads as an indictment of anyone that has not picked Memphis to go to the Final Four. Are the national analysts misinformed? I suppose we will find out very soon. I watched every game this season and have Pittsburgh beating Memphis in the Sweet 16 game. Memphis will prove one way or another if anyone that has doubted them (including me) is right or wrong.

Wanna go to the NCAA tournament? (Part 2) and homerism

Thursday the show will be live at Jason's Deli at Poplar and Highland. There is a room that we will have all to ourselves and we will have drinks, food (unlimited for 5 bucks), giveaways, etc.

The big giveaway is going to be tickets to all of the sessions in Little Rock, which will feature the Memphis Tigers. We will raise some money in the process for the Church Health Center. 2 bucks per entry, enter as many times as you like, and if you win you get the book of tix for the Little Rock pod.

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace will be live on site, so you can come meet and chat with him. Herrington, Easterwood, and others that you hear on the show will be there also. Call your buddies or whoever you call, and come on out for the first day of the tournament. The Beasley/ Mayo game comes on right after the show.

Jason's Deli, the side room, Poplar and Highland.

Now to homerism...

I read the article in the CA this morning about Calipari as a salesman and bench coach (it was well done). There was a portion of the article that I just could not believe. Here it is...

Calipari, however, has no time for the "laymen" who say he should have called timeout while trailing in the final moments last month against Tennessee. In that case, Antonio Anderson missed a wild shot in the lane that represented the Tigers' last real chance in an eventual 66-62 defeat at FedExForum.
"They don't ask why I didn't call timeout against UAB," said Calipari, referring to Chris Douglas-Roberts' game-winning 3-point play in the final seconds of an earlier 79-78 win in Birmingham. "I'm consistent. The players all know what I'm gonna do. We work on that situation in practice. A layman thinks you call timeout. And do what? Draw up a play in the sand that they've never seen before and expect they're gonna perform it?

I am one of the "laymen." I would not even address this, but this is just absurd. There are quite a few media members that have repeated this whole "Cal did not call a timeout at UAB and he did not against UT, so sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't!" Coach Cal is saying it again in this article. IT IS CRAP. THEY DID TAKE A TIMEOUT TO SET UP A PLAY AT UAB, RIGHT BEFORE THE VADEN FREE-THROWS. Go look it up, it takes 2 seconds. I was there, I saw it with my own eyes and then CAL BRAGGED ABOUT CALLING THE PLAY FOR ROSE AND ROSE WANTING CDR TO GET THE BALL INSTEAD.

It is the only blemish on the record and obviously still stings for Coach Cal. He did not call the timeout and instead of having the ball in the hands of CDR or Rose, he had Anderson shooting a shot that would have killed a member of the Blue Crew if it was not stopped by the backboard.

There are so many puppets that just repeat what they hear. You live and die with your best players taking the last shot. Even the "laymen" knows that, and even Cal did at the end of the UAB game.

The next time, if ever, this topic is brought up at least you will know the truth. Unfortunately the homer media and this town care more about Cal liking them than reporting the facts.

-the layman

Wanna go to the NCAA tournament?

We are giving away tickets for the Little Rock bracket tomorrow on the show. The winner of "The Haters" segment will win the tickets. This is your chance. It will happen tomorrow in the 4 o'clock hour. If you are unfamiliar with hatin' and do not know how to construct your call and you want to win, pick your subject and then understand the following definition... HATIN

Also... on Thursday the show will be live on site at Jason's Deli at Poplar/Highland (where the Poplar Quartet used to be). Please come and watch the games with us out there. We are going to be in a huge room on the side of the restaurant and we will have the room to ourselves. They will have a projector screen showing the games and we will have unlimited food, beverages, adult beverages, etc. 5 bucks and you will eat all of the food you want. It is going to be the greatest experience of your life. Call your buddies and bring them with you, leave work and come to Jason's Deli. Thursday. Poplar and Highland. Bedare.

Shooting for San Antonio on CW30

Tonight there is a TV special (Shooting for San Antonio) on channel 30 news at 6:30pm. The special is going to be broadcast live from RP Tracks on Highland. I am going to be on the special in the last segment to talk about the Memphis season, their draw in the tourney, etc. If you are in the area, come check it out and get on live TV. RP Tracks at 6:30pm.

The Memphis road to the Final Four

On Friday I had a list of teams that I did not want to see in the Memphis portion of the bracket. On the top of that list was Pittsburgh. Of course, Memphis draws them in the third game assuming that Pitt can get past Michigan State.

Memphis will play the winner of Oregon and Miss. St and if you are a Tiger fan you should root for Oregon. Memphis should have no problem with either of them, but coaches and scouts have both told me that Miss. St could give Memphis some problems.

I think the third game is THE game. I actually think the match ups get better for Memphis after this game. Pitt is something like 17-1 with Levance Fields in the starting lineup and looked absolutely awesome in the Big East tournament against some serious competition. They have real bruisers in the post and in my opinion are clearly one of the best teams in the nation with Fields healthy and in the lineup. Memphis fans should root for Michigan St. because they are a better match up than Pitt. But...

Here is a crazy stat for you regarding Michigan State (when you hear someone say this, you will know they are reading my blog)...

When Tom Izzo's teams have had less than 10 losses going into the tournament, here is what has happened (5 times)...

1 National Championship
3 Final Fours
1 Elite Eight
1 Sweet Sixteen

yikes

I still would rather see Memphis get to play Michigan State than Pitt this year. In the end, you are looking for the Dorsey match ups and I have no reservations in believing that Pitt could neutralize Dorsey. Memphis has to have him in the game and dominating in order to win a game where a lot of talent on the court. You have the best chance of Dorsey being Dorsey against Oregon and Mich St, rather than Miss. St and Pitt.

Games are about how teams match up, and I think there are a ton of teams I would have rather seen Memphis face than Pitt. I said it last week, so this is no revelation after seeing the bracket. Pitt is a bad, bad match up for Memphis. Memphis could beat them, Memphis could beat any team in the nation, but it could have been a lot easier to move on than it is going to be.

Check out Geoff and Gary in the morning

Parrish was in New York with CBS and had the goods before the bracket was even released. I am sure they will talk about it. 7-9am on 730 ESPN, tune it in on your way to work (assuming you have a job).

Update: Check this... G Peezy is a tv star, breakin down the games with Clark Kellogg. Watch out Seth Nepotism, I mean, Seth Davis. Here are the vids on cbs. Click here.

The Chris Wallace Segment

The GM of the Grizzlies joined us live from the Pac-10 tournament. This week we used the Wallace segment to talk to him about how he got his start in basketball. The guy is living the American dream for sure. He gave us the story of the Blue Ribbon magazine that he started, how he got on ESPN to promote the magazine, etc. I got a ton of response from this, so if you missed it you may want to check it out. It is a facinating story to say the least.

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace on The Chris Vernon Show segment 1

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace on The Chris Vernon Show segment 2

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace on The Chris Vernon Show segment 3

The TV segment

Below is the TV bit from this week if you missed it. The subject was the on-campus stadium being shot down. The bit is on every Wednesday on CW30 at 9:45.

MIC CHECK

The video you will not stop sending me

The listeners continue to send me this video and asking if I have seen it. I have seen the video, it is classic, and I think it first surfaced on deadspin. The guy clearly is not a fan of Tennessee.

Gerald Green on the market

Gerald Green, the former Celtic draft pick, was released by the Houston Rockets recently. So would the Grizzlies take a shot at signing Green? You may remember that Jerry West was interested in Green the year that he came out. It also stands to reason that Chris Wallace was a fan of Green at one point, but what about now?

I am told that the Grizzlies are not interested in Green at this point and that getting playing time for Gay, Miller, Navarro, and Crittenton makes it difficult to add another perimeter player. That is an exact quote.

The Grizzlies are not adding payroll this year. They cut 10-day guys so that they could save the money, not because they didn't think they could play. When I tell you that everything is done with cost-cutting in mind, would you believe me?

Taking a flyer on Gerald Green would cost money, so it will not happen.

Pat Summitt on the show

Pat Summitt has 7 National Championships and 14 SEC championships. Every time she is on the show it always strikes me that she is so incredibly down-to-earth considering the success that she has had, and how that quality is in stark contrast to coaches that have had much less success yet act like they have a resume like Pat Summitt. We talked about her team this year, Candace Parker leaving school and how that may affect women's bball going forward, winning championships, what she would be doing if she were not coaching, etc.

Pat Summitt on The Chris Vernon Show 2-6-08

The all important audio (Banowky, Wallace, Bucher)

The commish of CUSA, Britton Banowsky, joined us on the show to talk about what, if any, punishments were thrown down from the UAB/Memphis game, the conference landscape, where the CUSA tournament will be going forward, the CUSA TV deal, etc.

Britton Banowsky on The Chris Vernon Show 3-5-08

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace was on for his regular spot to talk about my rants about the direction that the Grizzlies are going and what they have done, and are going to do.

Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace on The Chris Vernon Show 3-5-08

ESPN NBA Reporter Ric Bucher (who's report was commented on during the show) joined us to talk about Michael Heisley making the calls for the Grizzlies and what all he knows about the moves the Grizzlies have made and have not made.

Ric Bucher on The Chris Vernon Show 3-5-08

I think I am going to throw up

I am so furious it is unreal. Though I have been tough on the Grizzlies, anyone that listens to me knows that I am a fan of the team and want them desperately to succeed. I had a gag reflex tonight when Ric Bucher came on ESPN and said that fans should not jump on Chris Wallace because it was Michael Heisley that pulled the deal to send Pau to the Lakers for an underwhelming return.

Heisley himself said that to the CA, so that is not news. What is news is that Bucher said that sources have told him that Wallace was ready to swing a deal with Chicago that would net the Grizzlies Andres Noccioni, Joakim Noah, and Joe Smith... only for Heisley to instruct him to make the Lakers deal so that it would cut costs.

Knowing that the Grizzlies could have Noah, Noccioni, and the lottery pick this year, to pair up with Conley and Rudy is enough to make me throw up.

Let somebody try to defend Heisley now. (Awaiting the CA article that will cover for Heisley that will say that Bucher was inaccurate)

IF YOU ARE FILTHY RICH AND LOVE BASKETBALL, AND HAVE HAPPENED TO STUMBLE UPON MY BLOG... PLEASE BUY THE GRIZZLIES.

A video for the anthem

One of our listeners, Dwayne, put together a video for "My Brain." Nice work Dwayne.