Here is a photo of the stylish retro uniforms that the Memphis Tigers busted out today for the season opener against the Belmont Bruins.

The 1972/73 Tigers team, led by the late Larry Finch, went all the way to the NCAA Championship game where they were beat by Bill Walton and the UCLA Bruins. Walton had the best game in NCAA tournament history going 21-22 from the field.

The uniforms have a black patch with the #21 inside of it in memory of Finch who died earlier this year on April 2nd after a lengthy illness.

[photo: Memphis Roar]

Breaking news from college basketball.  CBS Sports is reporting that former Memphis great, Larry Finch, has past away:

Larry Finch, who led Memphis (then Memphis State) to the 1973 Final Four and later coached the Tigers for 11 seasons, died Saturday at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis.  He was 60.

Finch is the winningest coach in school history.  He coached the Tigers from 1986 to 1997 and made six NCAA tournaments.

His health had been poor since suffering multiple strokes in 2001.

Our thoughts and hearts here at Sportscasm go out to his family and friends during this obviously difficult time.

[PhotoSource: The Commercial Appeal]

Memphis Tigers head basketball coach Josh Pastner was on the hot seat the second half of the season as his team struggled in Conference USA play with embarrassing losses to Rice, East Carolina, SMU, among others.

However, the Tigers came together in the last month to win the C-USA tournament and earn an NCAA Tournament bid in just Pastner’s second season as a head coach.

Paster was rewarded on Tuesday when the University of Memphis bumped his $880,000 annual salary to $1.7 million annually through the 2015-16 season.  That’s a total of 5 seasons for $8.5 million.

That is by far the most money in the country for a college basketball coach that has never won an NCAA Tournament game.  But the Tigers came awfully close against the Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the tourney and were a blown call away from possibly sending the game into overtime and winning.

Pastner, 33, was the youngest coach in the tournament.  He played at Arizona under Lute Olsen and went on to be an assistant for the Wildcats for several seasons before moving to Memphis to serve as an assistant to former Memphis coach John Calipari for one year.

Josh thought he was going with Calipari when he bolted in the middle of the night for the Kentucky job.  However, after Memphis AD R.C. Johnson was turned down by several experienced, high-profile coaching candidates he turned to Pastner in an act of desperation.  That act of desperation, perhaps dumb RCJ luck, is now paying dividends for all partiest involved.

Many basketball pundits knew Josh would one day be a head coach, just no one thought it would happen as soon as it did.

“Josh has proven himself to be an outstanding coach and recruiter. He has also demonstrated that his values and principles, pertaining to life off the basketball court, mirror those we expect of our student-athletes. Coach Pastner’s leadership qualities are exemplary, and we are pleased that he has chosen to remain with the Tiger program,” Johnson told reporters after the announcement.

He wasted no time in securing the top recruiting class in the country his first full season at Memphis.  He then took that team to the tourney.  Now he is being paid along the lines of the best and most high profile college basketball coaches in the country.

In comparison, the Tennessee Vols just hired Cuonzo Martin.  Martin is set to make $1.3 million.  The Vols athletic budget trumps the Tigers’ into oblivion.

The Tigers should be even better next season.  They are returning all of their players with the exception of senior Will Coleman.  Pastner secured top 10 high school recruit Adonis Thomas to join the team next year as well.  The Tigers played six freshman for most of their minutes throughout the season.

With the big payday, expectations will naturally increase as well.  Just don’t be surprised when Pastner meets and exceeds them.

Arizona was led by talented sophomore Derrick Williams who led the Cats with 22 points and 10 rebounds on just 11 shots. He was 9-9 from the FT line and 1-1 from three.  Lamont Jones scored 18 points as well to back Derrick and Zona.

Many NBA Draft experts predict Williams will be the #1 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

The Tigers controlled most of the first half after jumping out to an early 10-1 lead.  They then battled back to tie the game and take the lead after Arizona came out strong to start the second half.

Memphis hung tough after early foul trouble put prized big man Tarik Black and defensive specialist Chris Crawford on the bench.

Antonio Barton, the less heralded of the Barton brothers, led a balanced offensive attack from the Tigers with 17 points, including two 3-pointers.  His older brother Will added 12.  Wesley Witherspoon and Joe Jackson both finished with 10 points.

Memphis’ sole senior Will Coleman played one of his best games of the year scoring 9 points and grabbing 9 rebounds.

Arizona won the game at the free throw line making 84% of their free throws (26-31).

Arizona – Memphis Box Score

The Wildcats will play Texas on Sunday with the winning advancing to the Sweet 16.

I will be live blogging the NCAA Tournament game this afternoon between the #12 Memphis Tigers and #4 Arizona Wildcats.  Be sure to check back at 2:45pm ET/1:45pm CT/11:45pm PT especially if you are a fan of the Tigers.

<a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=a6bad6b7aa” mce_href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=a6bad6b7aa” >(#12) Memphis vs. (#5) Arizona</a>

You will be able to submit your own thoughts, commentary, sarcasm, and questions throughout the game during the live blog. The Cover It Live blog will also include Tweets from some of the media that often covers the Memphis Tigers.

The game will air on CBS. Arizona is a -6 point favorite.

Garcia, 6′10″, is tall enough to make a difference but his only skill set is jacking up 3’s from 30 feet.  Teams have learned to guard him close out there and let him shoot it from anywhere else on the court.

The loss does come at a bad time for the Tigers. Junior Wesley Witherspoon just had knee surgery and is expected to be out 5 weeks.

Garcia was said to have not been happy with his role on the team.  The funny part is that Memphis fans weren’t happy with his role on the court.

UPDATE: Matt Stark tweets that the Tigers will remove the redshirt from freshman Hippolyte Tsafak.

The word out of the Bluff City tonight is that the NCAA has reversed its previous ruling and that top 10 recruit Will Barton will be allowed to play for Josh Pastner and the University of Memphis Tigers this fall.

Both Dan Wolken reported the news via his Twitter:

Source just told me Will Barton has been cleared to play for Memphis this season. The NCAA reversed its ruling.

Barton news is confirmed. Memphis sending out press release momentarily.

I heard a week ago the NCAA “missed something” among the 2,000 pages that were submitted on Barton. Whatever it was, obviously they found.

Certainly an eventful day on the U of M basketball beat. There have been a lot of them the past four years, have there not?

Barton’s eligibility obviously huge for Memphis on many levels, but his impact on their rebounding might be biggest of all.

Follow Dan Wolken on Twitter

The NCAA had ruled Barton ineligible on August 8th for taking too many semesters to graduate high school.

Great news for the Tigers for sure.  Barton handled the initial ruling with a lot of grace and maturity. By all reports he is a good kid, happy for him.

Head coach Josh Pastner’s video response:

Barton tweeted his disappointment earlier tonight:

Barton hinted at bad news Wednesday night via his Twitter account.

“It don’t get no worse than this,” Barton Tweeted. “The hardest thing I ever had 2 face is here. Need vision cuz everything blurry now. Where do I go from here?”

By all accounts Will is a great kid.  Most experts considered him a one-and-done college player. Hopefully, he can stay in great shape by playing overseas or in the NBADL.

Best of luck to Will the Thrill on his future.

The death of Memphis basketball legend Lorenzen Wright rocked the Memphis community when his body was found last week in a wooded field riddled with a dozen gunshot wounds.

Since that time, theories galore have floated around as to who murdered Lorenzen and for the reason why he died so horrifically.

Many theories being tossed around are silly and unreasaonble. Others actually make a good bit of sense.

No one can say for sure who killed Lorenzen, but a Sportscasm reader submitted a comment with his opinion on who killed Wright and why (Read Below).

Comment by MEMPHIS on Lorenzen Wright’s Girlfriend Alexis Bradley’s Photos from the Day Before He Died:

First of all, I live in Memphis and know some of his close family members. Sherra his ex-wife, her brother, and botfriend had something to do with his murder. Lorenzen divorced her b/c she got hooked on drugs (crack). Her boyfriend and Lorenzen had an altercation b/c the boyfriend damaged his vehicle and Lorenzen kicked his a*s. Lorenzen had planed to remove his kids out of her home and relocate them to Atlanta…All of this non-sense lead to his death. As for his girlfriend I was told that she was here in Memphis when he came up missing so….if she didn’t mean anything to him he wouldn’t have brought her home to meet his family. For those of you that don’t know him, his family, or even his girlfriend (Alexis)….SHUT THE F*CK UP!!!! I don’t know his grilfriend but I do know him and his family members. A man doesn’t bring a “groupie” home to meet his family.

(DISCLAIMER: 100% opinion, theory, and thought of comment made by user MEMPHIS.)

Lorenzen’s ex-wife Sherra Robinson Wright told her attorney (not the cops) that three armed men arrived at her house several weeks ago looking for Ren.  Many in Memphis believe that statement might have been a cover since it was never reported to the police but instead to her attorney (per her attorney).

The majority of rumors circulating around Memphis include Ren’s ex-wife.  We can only hope they aren’t true for the sake of the six children she had with Lorenzen.

The word out late tonight is that Sherra is already in police custody. Police spent several hours at her home today looking for evidence and inspecting a bar-b-q grill for a long time. Neighbors reported seeing flames come from the grill on the day he was killed, an unusually hot day in Memphis to be using a grill.

It sounds plausible, but until the police release more information, this is just one of the dozens of theories floating around Memphis.

UPDATE: Sherra Robinson Wright Refuses to Talk to Police (Vide0)

View Photos from Lorezen’s Girlfriend Alexis Bradley from the Day Before he Died

What are your thoughts? Who did it? Why did they do it?  Will they ever find out what really happened?

The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) is reporting that Lorenzen Wright’s ex-wife Sherra Robinson Wright told police that just weeks ago three armed men showed up at her Germantown home looking for her ex-husband.

Sherra Robinson Wright opened her front door one day in recent weeks to find three men she had never seen before, each with guns tucked in their waistbands.

They looked serious and wanted to know if her ex-husband, former NBA star Lorenzen Wright, 34, happened to be inside the Whisperwood Drive home visiting his six children.

Ten days ago Wright showed up in Memphis and within 24 hours he was dead, the victim of 12 gunshot wounds.  It took police nearly a week to find his body even after he made a 911 call (the day he went missing) that included gunshots, before becoming disconnected.

Germantown, Collierville, and Memphis area police continued to state throughout the time he was missing that they didn’t believe foul play was involved in his disappearance.

It’s simply inexcusable that police didn’t follow up on the 911 call to see whose cell phone it came from.  That in conjunction with Wright’s appearance should have tipped police off from the get-go that something was not right.  Remember, Wright’s family waited nearly four days before reporting he was missing.  Four days after that 911 call in despair.

If the police were truly incompetent it doesn’t really matter in this instance. Wright was dead the second that 911 call turned into dead air.  But something has to be corrected, and hopefully quickly, in Memphis before someone else calls 911 and they let the call and follow up fall through the cracks.

May Lorenzen rest in peace. Perhaps know the police and investigators can do justice in finding the men responsible for his callous and unfortunate death.

RELATED: Lorenzen Wright’s Girlfriend Alexis Bradley’s Photos from the Day Before He Died