MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Tyreke Evans was nervous for his first practice.
That's over, and so, too, are the nerves.
Richard Clement/Icon SMI
Tyreke Evans didn't arrive at Memphis with the hype Derrick Rose did, but the freshman hopes to make a similar impact offensively in the Tigers' system.
He showed little sign of being on edge during practice at Memphis, where he will be counted on to provide energy and points on a new-look Tigers team this season.
The heralded freshman from Chester, Pa., is the latest in a long line of first-year Memphis players with plenty of hype.
"With this offense I can be unstoppable and have an impact,'' Evans said. "I love the style of the play, the Dribble-Drive [Motion]. I can score off the drive a lot.''
Evans was rather blunt in saying that if the current NBA draft rule weren't in effect, he would have gone to the NBA out of high school. But he said he is noncommittal about being one-and-done. Memphis coach John Calipari said Evans isn't exhibiting any thoughts about being a one-and-done at this point. And why should he? The season hasn't even started yet.
But Evans is nowhere near receiving the hype Derrick Rose did a year ago. Rose came in as the player who was expected to push the Tigers over from being an Elite Eight team to a Final Four team with his play at the point. He did just that, dazzling everyone in his path en route to being the leader of the Tigers by March.
"He hasn't had as much pressure as D-Rose had,'' Memphis senior guard
Antonio Anderson said. "Derrick had photo shoot after photo shoot. Tyreke is handling it like a normal high school kid. A lot of people say he doesn't pass the ball, but I played with him all summer and he just wants to win. He'll pass the ball and he can play defense. He does a lot of things. He'll surprise people.''
Memphis senior forward
Robert Dozier said that Evans is an unselfish scorer.
"He's a super defender,'' Dozier said. "He'll make up for some of the scoring from Chris Douglas-Roberts.''
Other Memphis nuggets• The Tigers scrimmaged Saint Louis over the weekend and 6-8 freshman Wesley Witherspoon and junior Willie Kemp shared the point. The hope among the Tigers is that they can have multiple points to get into their driving offense. Look for Evans to have the ball a fair amount as well.
• Anderson has been out with shin splints. He is expected to be back later in the week. He didn't play against the Billikens.
• Memphis is hopeful it will get word on the eligibility of freshmen big men
Matt Simpkins and
Angel Garcia. Both players were allowed to practice before Friday, when they were put on hold until a ruling comes from the NCAA Clearinghouse on their academic eligibility.
• Memphis officials said the NCAA has informed its attorneys that an investigation into whether or not a FedEx official made calls on its behalf to the mother of
Abdul Gaddy for recruiting purposes (the mother worked for the Memphis-based FedEx in its Seattle office) is closed. Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson was informed that since Gaddy isn't attending Memphis (he committed to Washington after getting out of a commitment to Arizona), there is no reason to penalize Memphis. And if he had attended Memphis, the Tigers were told it would have been a secondary violation, which usually doesn't amount to a severe penalty.
• Calipari is working on a number of big-time games in the years to come. He said he has tentative agreements with Duke for a game in Chicago in 2009, at Memphis in 2010 and in Durham, N.C., in 2011; a home-and-home with North Carolina to start in 2009 or 2010; a game with Louisville in Nashville, Tenn., in 2009; and a possible game with Kansas in St. Louis in 2009. In 2009-10, the Tigers will take a year off with the Georgetown series next season, play Gonzaga and Tennessee at home, play at Syracuse and play UMass in Boston.
Andy Katz
