Good News, Bad News For Memphis

The good news for Memphis is that 2010-11 is looking better with the commitment of point guard Joe Jackson, arguably one of the ten best recruits in the 2010 class. That news, however, was immediately tempered by the news that forward Angel Garcia is out for the entire 2009-10 season with an ACL injury.Memphis will have a very talented starting lineup in 2009-10 regardless of the status of Garcia, featuring Elliot Williams, Willie Kemp, Pierre Henderson-Niles, Doneal Mack and Roburt Sallie, potentially. That said, by my count they're down to eight scholarship players. Memphis is now dreadfully thin, and another injury will really put them in a bind. One thing in their favor is that they will get so many atrocious opponents in Conference USA that they'll be able to keep their stars fairly rested for their big opponents, but no amount of strategic substitutions will change the fact that they're a team that is very dependent on athleticism, and they will struggle with s...