Memphis was ‘too good’ for Conference-USA, anyways

Some college programs have fans with a level of confidence that borders that dreadful term of cockiness. Whether it's Texas, USC or Notre Dame and their historic football programs, Duke, North Carolina or UCLA and their basketball teams, these fans have every right to brag about their respective schools and their accomplishments.

But when Memphis announced Feb. 7 that they were going to join the basketball juggernaut Big East conference, a new level of arrogance hit the college world, and was felt right here, at UTEP.

When Conference-USA realigned in 2005, it not only marked a new transition for UTEP Athletics, but a nationwide domino effect, mainly in the Big East. Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College all bolted to the ACC at that time, in order to complete a new 12-team super conference. The Big East then added Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Louisville and South Florida from C-USA, resulting in the new C-USA format.

From that point on, Memphis' men's basketball program continued to excel, making the NCAA Tournament Championship game in 2008, before falling to Kansas by a miracle shot and a slew of missed free throws.

One year later, head coach John Calipari left for Kentucky in 2009 (where they are currently ranked No. 1 in the nation in both polls) and Memphis has never been the same.

According to multiple columns, Memphis fans considered themselves snubbed because they lost their biggest rival (Louisville) in 2005 and were stuck in a more mediocre conference. Then, they rejoiced when they heard they got the chance to rekindle that rivalry.

Following the recent Big East announcement, Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins wrote a piece Feb. 7 that listed 14 reasons why it was "a fabulous day" for Memphis. In it, he calls out every current C-USA team (except for Houston, SMU and UCF as they will also be moving to the Big East in 2013) in some shape or form.

First on the list: UTEP. His No. 5 reason said, "The men's basketball tournament will be at Madison Square Garden;" No. 6 read, "It will not be at UTEP." Two reasons later, at No. 8, he said. "Opposing basketball coaches will never be able to tell recruits, ‘Do you want to play your road games at East Carolina, Marshall and Southern Miss?'"

He took his jabs at the final four teams near the end when he asked, "If you're stranded on a desert island, you want to be there with Rice, Tulsa, Tulane and UAB? Or you want to be there with Cincinnati, Georgetown, Rutgers and Boise State?"

But are these comments justified? If Memphis sees themselves as so high and mighty, their track record definitely shows it, right? Not exactly.

UTEP broke Memphis' 64-game C-USA winning streak in 2010 under new head coach Josh Pastner's first season and have not won a regular-season title since then. So far this season, they have lost twice in league play and every year, their top-rated recruiting class has been ranked since 2005 in the pre-season poll. However, over the past four seasons, early losses have dropped them from the rankings by the first few weeks.

Other than winning the C-USA Tournament against host UTEP last year, Memphis has not done much to really consider themselves that much better than the rest of the league. Granted, they lost just one time under Calipari but since then, they are no better than the other top teams in C-USA.

Even after receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament last year, they fell in the first round to an Elite 8 Arizona team. They have not defeated a ranked team since Feb. 2009, going 1-11 against top-25 teams over the last four seasons.

But if this is Memphis' mentality that their program was always better than the rest, maybe it's best they leave just in time for C-USA/the Mountain West Conference's upcoming merger. These programs are run by rich traditions from Marshall to UNLV to Fresno State, not recent success that is slobbered over by ESPN.

And so, UTEP and the rest of C-USA will no longer have to endure one pampered school who has hosted the C-USA Tournament five times and  whining reporters who have to travel too far.

Good luck, Memphis, it was nice knowing you.

William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.