MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -Maybe the talk show babblers and chat line experts will calm down a bit now that Memphis is a No. 1 seed.
John Calipari, quite frankly, doesn't much care if they do or they don't.
``My self-esteem and self-worth aren't built every day on somebody else's opinion of me because in this business if you do that, you need to take Prozac,'' the coach said Monday.
Memphis plays Oral Roberts (21-11) in the first round Friday in Dallas.
When Calipari got to Memphis six years ago, Tiger fans awaited overnight wonders. Success arrived, but it took awhile.
The No. 5 Tigers were near the top of the rankings most of the season, getting as high as No. 3. They won the Conference USA tournament, were regular-season conference champs and mastered a tough nonconference schedule. Now, their NCAA slot is the best in school history, topping the No. 2 seedings of 1982 and 1985.
In Calipari's first five seasons, Memphis went to the NIT three times, winning the championship in 2002, and to the NCAA twice. But improvements were too slow for some.
``In this city, if you play 30 (games), you need to win 31,'' Calipari said. ``And that's fine. I don't listen to talk radio. I've never gotten in a chat room. Wouldn't know how to get in.''
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CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Chris Lowery bristles when he hears talk that his Southern Illinois team and its Missouri Valley Conference brethren play low-scoring, defensive, boring basketball.
But the facts are these: The Salukis and three other teams in the league landed spots in the NCAA tournament.
``You're only ugly in the eyes of the beholder,'' the Salukis' second-year coach said Monday as his 11th-seeded Salukis await Friday's opener against sixth-seeded West Virginia in Auburn Hills, Mich. ``We guard. If you ask anybody who plays us, we keep you honest. And when you're patient and make people be honest, I guess that's ugly.''
Lowery doesn't expect the Salukis to do anything differently against the Mountaineers (20-10) and Kevin Pittsnogle. The 3-point shooting center is among four senior starters on the Big East team that last season was within one win of the Final Four.
``We've just got to pressure, do what we do,'' Lowery said. ``We're not going to change how we play.''
The MVC put a conference-record four teams in this year's 65-school field. Lowery lamented that two more teams from his league teams didn't get in.
``It's our opportunity to prove how good our league is,'' Lowery said.
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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State's disappointing regular season could be forgotten with another NCAA tournament run.
``What we haven't been is a very consistent team in all those areas,'' coach Tom Izzo said Monday. ``At least we don't have to reinvent the wheel. Somewhere throughout the season, we've done those things. Now it's a matter of putting them together.''
The Spartans (22-11), seeded sixth in the Washington regional, open against 11th-seeded George Mason (23-7) on Friday night in Dayton, Ohio.
``We've been through a lot together the past three or four years,'' said Maurice Ager, Michigan State's leading scorer at 19.1 points a game. ``We don't fear anybody.''
Michigan State is making its ninth straight NCAA appearance, the longest current streak in the Big Ten and the fifth longest in the nation. The Spartans have made the NCAA's round of 16 in six of the last eight seasons and the Final Four in four of the past seven.
Izzo is at his best in college basketball's showcase. He has a 23-7 record in the tournament, a 76.7 winning percentage that trails only that of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski (78.6 percent) among active coaches.
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