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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WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - John Goldsberry's 15 minutes of fame never quite ended. In the three years since he burst on the scene as a freshman at UNC Wilmington, he often got questions about his NCAA tournament record.
``Hey, aren't you the guy ...?''
Yep, he sure is.
In 2003, Goldsberry made all eight of his 3-pointers in a first-round loss to Maryland to beat the mark of seven set 10 years earlier by Florida State's Sam Cassell. It was a special moment that happens every so often - an unknown player from an unheralded school doing something extraordinary.
``It's something I can look back on if I ever need some confidence,'' he said Monday. ``If I'm in a bad slump shooting, I can always look back at that game and know that I can hit shots.''
Goldsberry finally has a chance to create more memories. The Seahawks (25-7) won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship after finishing first in the regular season, good enough to earn a No. 9 seed in the Atlanta Regional.
Their highest seeding in four appearances in the NCAA tournaments comes with a price. Their opponent is George Washington, which was ranked No. 14 in The Associated Press' final poll but dropped all the way to an eight seed in the regional. The Colonials (26-2) are the only Division I team with fewer than three losses.
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WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (AP) - Tyler Azzarelli is generously listed at 6-foot-1 in the Monmouth basketball media guide. There apparently was no need to pad the vital statistics of 7-foot-2, 320-pound John Bunch, who may be the biggest player competing in the NCAA Tournament.
While Marques Alston's second-half dunk and Chris Kenny's buzzer-beating layup are the dominant images from last week's Northeast Conference championship game, it was the play - not to mention the true grit - of Azzarelli and Bunch that turned the game in Monmouth's favor.
Azzarelli scored five points early in the second half and on two occasions got in the face of 7-foot FDU center Andrea Crosariol and 6-7 Gordon Klaiber after the whistle. Bunch silenced the taunts of the Knights' fans with six points and five blocks in the second half.
Both players will be in the spotlight Tuesday night when Monmouth (18-14) faces Hampton (16-15) in an opening-round NCAA Tournament game to determine the opponent for No. 1 seed Villanova on Friday in Philadelphia.
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The past two years at Indiana were an aberration.
The Hoosiers not in the NCAA basketball tournament? Unthinkable to a generation of Hoosiers who grew up expecting a postseason berth as almost a divine right.
Already a five-time champion, Indiana was the NCAA runner-up in 2002 with a roster made up largely of Bob Knight holdovers. But the Hoosiers lost in the second round the next year and failed to make the 65-team tourney field for two years after that.
Through their struggles, the pressure kept increasing on coach Mike Davis, the heir to Knight's coaching legacy. Davis announced his resignation three weeks ago, and Indiana finished the regular season with four straight victories.
The Hoosiers won a quarterfinal game in the Big Ten tournament and ended with a semifinal loss to Ohio State. Still, with an 18-11 record, the Hoosiers not only made the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid, they also were seeded sixth in the Oakland Regional and will play 11th-seeded San Diego State on Thursday night at Salt Lake City.
``I think right now, we are playing well,'' said Davis, who will step down at the end of the Hoosiers' tournament run. ``Defensively, our intensity has stepped up. The energy and effort we are giving is more important than the wins. I think we are figuring out now that we have to go out and play tough for 40 minutes.''
Seniors Marshall Strickland and Sean Kline are the only Indiana players remaining from the 2003 NCAA tournament team. Now, each game could be the final one for the seniors, and for Davis.
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