Update [2008-2-25 9:33:8 by Joel]: We won. Why? Pearlfection.

Wow, wow, wow. Waaaay too much info out there to review and categorize and synthesize and render into a cohesive unit. Ergo: LINK DUMP!

• BruceBall vs. Memphis Preview, Part III: Game Preview (BruceBall Blog; recommended)

• The State’s Team vs. "America’s Team" (3rd Saturday in Blogtober): "Cal also said earlier this year that Tennessee "fouls on every play." Well, we do our mugging on the court, Cal, not off it." Ha!

• Memphis Education? Not So Much… (Fulmer's Belly)

• Tennessee vs. Memphis Preview: By The Numbers

• Commercial Appeal: Has there been a bigger game in Memphis?
• Call UT-Memphis a mirror matchup
• Lousy at the line. "Memphis' Joey Dorsey is the leader of the lame, hitting just 33.3 percent (29 of 87) from the line this season." Foul, anyone?
• Got $7,500 to spare? "Tennessee-Memphis is a more expensive ticket that New England-New York for the Super Bowl. Imagine that. Asking price for courtside tickets: $5,000 to $7,500. The game is considered one of the biggest sporting events in Memphis history, ranking up there with the heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, the 1982 Liberty Bowl which featured Bear Bryant’s last game as Alabama’s coach and a recent PGA Championship. ``Tickets are going like Super Bowl tickets,’’ Memphis coach John Calipari said. ``It’s incredible.’’ " Big game, yes.
• Dick Vitale weighs in: "I'm excited about this game. Priscilla Presley and the Mannings are going to be there. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Are you kidding me? I'm bringing a football for some autographs. And don't tell my wife, but I always had a crush on Priscilla. I don't know why she chose Elvis over me. It must have been the hair, ba-beeeeeeeeee!" And yes, the journalist used all caps. It's the law when quoting Vitale.
• UT, Memphis feels the need for speed: ". . . something or someone will have to give. Memphis senior point guard Andre Allen says it won't be the Tigers. "One team is gonna have to slow down," Allen predicted, "and I know it's not gonna be us."" Um, so it's going to be us? Good luck with that. Same article: MTSU coach Kermit Davis, who played both Tennessee and Memphis, "thinks the Vols would be making a potentially fatal mistake if they choose to press Memphis throughout."Fatal does not sound good.
• Vols' Prince wonders about hometown reception he'll get: Coach Cal's been mistaking J.P. for pajamas.
• Adams: No. 1 vs. 2: UT dream come true: For Ray Mears.
• Vols all business: Now this is interesting:
  
  
  ESPN producers called UT earlier this week encouraging the school to send students to today's GameDay set.
  
  "They wanted a 50-50 mix of fans,'' Vols basketball sports information director Craig Pinkerton said. "Apparently, that's not going to happen.''
  
  Pinkerton said he got word from Memphis that only 3,500 fans will be permitted around the ESPN set, with Memphis students getting first dibs and the remainder of the seats going to fans who have tickets for the game.
  
  Pearl was not pleased.
  
  "We don't control the game operations,'' Pearl said, "but if we had GameDay here, I'd try to get 20,000 to fill our place up.''

  From the same article: "The Vols will break out a new adidas model of shoe tonight, the "Piranha 3.0.'' Whose horrible idea was that? You don't try out new shoes for the biggest game in your school's history.

• Strange: The series that almost wasn't: "Calipari didn't especially want to play Tennessee - whom he dismissed as a "regional power" - and absolutely not on a home-and-home basis. UT's first-year athletic director Mike Hamilton had to dangle football as leverage to get the Tigers to extend the basketball series that would lead to the monster game that will be played here tonight between the top two teams in America." Another feather for Hamilton's cap.

• UT rises from the ashes: Scout.com's Randy Moore has a bit of perspective: "Four years ago, Tennessee's 2004-05 basketball team was three wins from earning a bid to the NIT. This year, the 2007-08 team is one win from earning a No. 1 national ranking and, perhaps, a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament."

• Meeting of the minds

• Charismatic Coaches Add Spice To Game

• Hoops hoopla

• Blogger Buzz: Peabody's ducks caught walkin', Graceland turns blue and other tales from the Legions of the Miserable

• Commercial Appeal: "I HATE ORANGE" tees a big hit on Memphis campus

• Basketball's bounce: ""Got Pearl?" is a logo on one of HoundDogs' best-selling T-shirts, but it's apparently more than just a slogan."

• Vols are familiar with hype

• Vols claim heat's on Memphis

• Can Vols find a way?