Coach Cal Countdown: Memphis sends message by spoiling Carmelo Anthony’s Syracuse debut
Memphis opened the 2002-2003 season in Madison Square Garden and knocked off a Syracuse team led by Carmelo Anthony. (Photo illustration by Kelsey Bowen/The Daily Memphian)
As the final buzzer sounded inside Madison Square Garden, it was clear that the Memphis Tigers had announced they were back.
No, the Tigers hadn’t actually gone anywhere.
But heading into the 2002-03 season a men’s basketball program that had made trips to the Final Four in 1973 and ’85 had gone six straight seasons without making the NCAA Tournament and years without even a signature win of any sort.
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Parth Upadhyaya
Parth Upadhyaya covers the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. A Raleigh, N.C., native and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism, Upadhyaya is a longtime college hoops junkie. Prior to joining The Daily Memphian in 2022, he covered high school sports in western Pennsylvania for the Beaver County Times and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times.
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