It’s a series that Josh Pastner cowardly ran from on the excuse that it hurts recruiting. But Tennessee basketball is about to begin playing the University of Memphis again on a yearly basis, and that’s going to be huge for both the Vols…and the Tigers.
If you don’t think that this rivalry has a huge impact on recruiting, go look at the peak of the Bruce Pearl John Calipari years when they were at Tennessee and Memphis respectively. Yes, Calipari was getting the elite one-and-dones like Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans.
However, Pearl had Tennessee basketball recruiting at an unprecedented level too.