page_title: Memphis Tigers men's basketball
section_title: 2000s
hierarchical_section_title: Memphis Tigers men's basketball / History / 2000s
caption_attribution_description: Calipari directing his players during an away game against w:Conference USA rival University of Houston in January 2007. Photo by Nick Juhasz.
context_page_description: The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers have competed in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. As of 2011, the Tigers had the 29th highest winning percentage in NCAA history. While the Tigers have an on-campus arena, Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the team's local popularity is such that it has played home games off campus since the mid-1960s. The Tigers moved to the Mid-South Coliseum at the Memphis Fairgrounds in 1966, and then to downtown Memphis at The Pyramid, initially built for the team in 1991 and later home to the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. In 2004, the Grizzlies and Tigers moved together to another downtown venue, FedExForum. ESPN Stats and Information Department ranked Memphis as the 19th most successful basketball program from 1962 to 2012 in their annual 50 in 50 list.
context_section_description: John Calipari was named Memphis' head coach in 2000. Under his leadership, the Tigers won the 2002 NIT championship, then made the NCAA tournament in 2003 and 2004. The Tigers left The Pyramid to play home games in the FedExForum in 2004. The 2005–06 Tigers were led by Darius Washington, Shawne Williams and Rodney Carney and set a school record by going 30–3 and reaching a No. 3 ranking during a regular season that was capped by a Conference USA championship. In the 2006 NCAA tournament, the Tigers received a number one seed, and they advanced to the Elite Eight before falling to eventual tournament runner-up UCLA.
  Despite losing their top three scorers from the prior season to the NBA and graduation, the 2006–07 Tigers duplicated the previous year's regular season record of 30–3, were ranked as high as No. 5, and again won the Conference USA championship, going undefeated in conference play. The Tigers earned a number two seed in the 2007 NCAA tournament. The Tigers defeated 15 seed North Texas in the first round, 7 seed Nevada in the second round, and 3 seed Texas A&M in the Sweet Sixteen, and lost to 1 seed and eventual tournament runner-up Ohio State in the Elite Eight.
  The 2007–08 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team achieved a No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press basketball poll in January 2008, the school's first No. 1 ranking in the poll since 1982, and went on to win their third straight Conference USA title on March 15, 2008. After a month, they lost this ranking when they were defeated by in-state rival and No. 2-ranked Tennessee at home. Led by First-Team All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts and future No. 1 overall pick Derrick Rose, the team received a No. 1 seed in the 2008 NCAA tournament and defeated No. 16 seed Texas-Arlington in round one, No. 8 seed Mississippi State in round two, and No. 5 seed Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen. Memphis convincingly defeated No. 2 seed Texas in the Elite Eight round to advance to the school's first Final Four since 1985. Following this win, Memphis went on to beat No. 1 seed UCLA on April 5, 2008, advancing to the National Championship game on April 7, 2008. With this win, Memphis became the first team in NCAA history to achieve 38 wins in a single season. After holding a nine-point lead with two minutes and 12 seconds left in regulation, the Tigers lost to Kansas in the National Championship in overtime by the final score of 75–68, becoming the second NCAA runner-up team in Memphis history.
  The 2008–09 Tigers, led by another freshman guard, Tyreke Evans, again went undefeated in Conference USA and earned a two seed in the 2009 NCAA tournament. The Tigers were defeated by the No. 3-seed Missouri Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen. Evans left after one year and was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2010, the second straight Tiger to do so after Rose. On March 31, 2009, Calipari resigned to become the head coach at the University of Kentucky. In the months following Calipari's departure, nearly all of the incoming recruits who had committed to play basketball for the University of Memphis decommitted from Memphis and committed to Kentucky or other schools. The recruits included Xavier Henry, DeMarcus Cousins, Nolan Dennis, and Darnell Dodson.
  On May 28, 2009, the NCAA formally accused the Tigers of allowing an ineligible player to participate in their games during the 2007–08 season. On August 20, 2009, the NCAA Committee on Infractions announced that Memphis must vacate all 38 wins for that season as well as their appearance in the NCAA tournament and spend three years on probation. The NCAA alleged that Derrick Rose, a Chicago native, had obtained a fraudulent SAT score when another person took the test for him in Detroit, Michigan and his brother Reggie Rose was provided nearly $1,700 in free travel and lodging with the Memphis team.  The University of Memphis was not charged with knowingly fielding an ineligible player given that Rose had originally been cleared by the testing company and the NCAA. Rather, the NCAA imposed the penalty on a "strict liability" standard which
caption: Calipari directing his players during an away game against Conference USA rival Houston in January 2007.
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