Feeding the monster has been tougher. "In the last few years, the bar has been set pretty high," Calipari said. "We've won 23 games a year prior to this year and we have been to postseason every year -- in this town, it's not enough." The coach joked about fans' perceptions of this season. "People are saying, 'It's about time, Cal's finally done something,' " he said. "And I'm fine with that."
Calipari said, because of a similar tradition, expectations are probably high in Tulsa "even though it's not an easy job. Just like Memphis isn't an easy job." Memphis, coming off back-to-back losing seasons, had a zero graduation rate when Calipari accepted the program. Amare Stoudamire, a talented five-star recruit, committed to Memphis but went pro before coming to campus. Dajuan Wagner left school after one year for NBA riches. That didn't stop Calipari, a master recruiter, from finding more talent and graduating players. Since 2000-01, eight of his 11 players earned their degrees, and now the roster is stacked, headlined by player of the year candidate Rodney Carney. "We wanted to get players and recruit players that were good enough to help us win at the level we wanted to win," Calipari said. "We wanted to be a top 20 program." Memphis went 13-15 and 15-16 in the two seasons before Calipari took over as coach. Extinguishing a losing attitude was hard. "It's a challenge because it's changing a culture that has invaded the program," he said. "It hadn't always been that way, but that's what you were changing." Doug Wojcik took over a Tulsa team coming off back-to-back 9-20 seasons. The Golden Hurricane is 7-11 heading into Wednesday's Conference USA contest. It didn't take long for Wojcik to realize the passion that fans have for TU basketball.
"I love our fans because they've been educated fans," he said.
"They appreciate good basketball, and they want to win. They've just been incredibly supportive during our difficult time." Wojcik thinks TU can be a winning program again but cannot take the same blueprint as Memphis. "Tulsa, in my opinion, can't sit and say you want to be Memphis when you don't have the same things," Wojcik said, pointing toward the $250 million FedExForum and NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. What Tulsa does share with Memphis is that five players will play on the court during Wednesday's game. The Tigers are led by Carney and Darius Washington, who are both likely future first-round NBA draft picks. "They're very lethal with very good athletes that can dribble the ball and shoot," TU's Anthony Price said. "It's something that we'll have to try to contain." Price said TU will respect the Tigers but not fear them. "We can't be scared because there's no point going out and playing the game if you're going to be scared," he said.
TU will be heavy underdogs heading into the contest, but Chris Wallace doesn't mind. "They're expected to win and nobody thinks we're going to win," Wallace said. "If we win this game, it'll be a big statement for us." Tickets are available for Wednesday's game, which features the highest-ranked team to visit the Reynolds Center.
"Some say Tulsa is struggling a bit, but it doesn't matter what they're doing prior to our game," Calipari said. "When they play us, they'll be playing out of their minds in an arena that will be electric. "We know what we're up against, and we know Tulsa is good enough to beat us." ------------ Eric Bailey 581-8391
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