Tulane-Memphis Preview

As the host school, top-seeded Memphis is seemingly a lock to win its third straight Conference USA tournament, but coach John Calipari doesn't want his team looking too far ahead.

The second-ranked Tigers try to take their first step towards a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament when they play ninth-seeded Tulane in the C-USA quarterfinals Thursday at FedEx Forum.

Memphis (30-1) wrapped up the regular season with a 94-56 win over UAB on Saturday, completing its second straight 16-0 mark in league play. The Tigers have won 39 consecutive league games -- including six in the conference tournament -- since an 80-74 loss to UAB on March 2, 2006.

Memphis' dominance in conference play led to five weeks this season atop the AP poll, including three weeks as a unanimous choice, before a 66-62 home loss to then-No. 2 Tennessee on Feb. 23.

While the Tigers appear headed for one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament, a slip up in the conference tournament could drop them to a No. 2.

"If ... the four other teams win their tournaments and we lose ours, then they should be one seeds," Calipari said Wednesday after being named Conference USA coach of the year.

"What we are trying to do is just worry about us and try to keep it day-to-day and try not to get a visions beyond tomorrow but today. Don't worry about tomorrow or the next day or what everyone's thinking."

The Tigers have the luxury of playing their conference tournament on their home court, where they've owned an overwhelming advantage lately.

Memphis' loss to the Volunteers last month snapped a 47-game home winning streak. The Tigers have also won 29 straight conference games at FedEx Forum since falling to Louisville in the 2005 C-USA tournament title game, including eight league games this season by an average margin of 24.4 points.

"We enjoy our fans and our fans enjoy us, so it's like another home game," said junior Chris Douglas-Roberts, named the league's player of the year Wednesday. "We have all the support as opposed to these teams that are coming and don't have that many fans, maybe 50 to 100 fans. It's in our advantage."

Douglas-Roberts leads Memphis in scoring at 17.3 points, and finished with 29 points in the Tigers' only game against the Green Wave (17-14) this season, a 97-71 victory at Tulane on Feb. 20.

The Tigers have won 14 straight games over the Green Wave, including the last six by an average of 30.5 points, since a 64-63 loss on Feb. 9, 2000 -- the season before Calipari arrived at Memphis. The Tigers, who have also won 11 straight home games in the series, beat Tulane 71-49 in the semifinals of last season's conference tournament.

Guard Derrick Rose joined Douglas-Roberts on the all-conference first team, and was also named the league's freshman of the year on Tuesday. Rose, who averages 14.1 points, had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists versus the Green Wave last month.

Tulane defeated eighth-seeded Marshall 48-47 in the opening round of the C-USA tournament on Wednesday.

Kevin Sims scored 14 points, including the winning free throws with 6.4 seconds left, as the Green Wave closed the game with 11 unanswered points.

Tulane, which defeated East Carolina in its regular season finale on Saturday, has won two in a row following an eight-game losing streak.

"I thought our guys have done well the last two weeks, just staying with the season and playing hard and still trying to win," Green Wave coach Dave Dickerson said. "I've known a lot of teams that would have given up over the year, but our guys haven't."

Senior forward David Gomez, who is averaging a team-high 14.3 points, finished nine with against Marshall. He scored 23 points versus the Tigers in the regular-season meeting.

Tulane has lost 20 straight games against ranked opponents since a 73-62 victory over then-No. 25 North Carolina State on Dec. 22, 1999.