Shawn Taggert is Tyson Chandler with offensive skills. Tyreke Evans is, well, a 6′6 point guard who will be in the NBA in 2009. Robert Dozier is rock solid. Did I mention that Evans has a 7′3 wingspan?

And of course do include Pierre Henderson-Niles, who lost about 50 pounds during the summer. So from now on, Pierre, people are going to expect Robert “Tractor” Traylor types of things from you on the court—you know, like when Traylor was in college.

Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today

The 104 victories in three years tied an NCAA record, and if Memphis reaches 30 wins this season, seniors Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson will become the winningest players in NCAA history.

Getting to 30 won’t be easy. With Derek Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Joey Dorsey in the NBA, Memphis lost 50% of its scoring, 45% of rebounding, 44% of assists and blocked shots and 41% of steals.

“Other than that, we’re good. We have everybody else coming back,” Calipari says, laughing.

Post from: EveryJoe

Memphis Tigers

Three more underclassmen declared late Wednesday: Memphis juniors Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier and Texas junior guard A.J. Abrams.

Anderson and Dozier were role players on Memphis’ team this year, and their early entries come as a big surprise to me. Neither player signed with an agent, so I would expect both to return to school next season.

If Dozier and Anderson were to stay in the draft, that would mean that the entire starting 5 for the Tigers would be in the draft. Let the rebuilding in Memphis begin…

Abrams joined fellow Longhorn guard D.J. Augustin in declaring for the draft on Wednesday. Abrams averaged 16.5 points per game last season, but at 5′11″ is a little short to play shooting guard in the NBA.

Post from: EveryJoe

Let the underclassmen exodus to the NBA begin, Part Five