Game of the Year: Memphis vs. Tennessee, both former Zags opponents, Saturday at 6pm

After going to the Husky game Saturday, I'll be hustling home, putting on some overalls and a straw hat, and settling in to watch what should be the most entertaining basketball game of the year: #1 Memphis against #2 Tennessee.

Here's the local angle--the only school to have played both teams is Gonzaga.

Tennessee beat the Zags 82-72 in Key Arena on 12/29.

Memphis beat the Zags 81-73 in Memphis on 1/26.

As you can see, Tennessee beat the Zags by more points than Memphis did. Therefore, obviously, Tennessee will beat Memphis. For some reason, despite this empirical evidence, they are going ahead and playing the game anyway. Should be fun.

Tennessee has the #4 scoring offense in the nation (83.9 ppg). Memphis is not too shabby at #14 (80.8 ppg).

And, in case your geography is a little shaky, both teams are in the same state. So there's that. Check out Memphis CraigsList, things are a little nutty, with tickets going for up to $15,000.

Here's the one potentially interesting thing I gleaned from looking at the box scores of the two Gonzaga games. When Gonzaga played Tennessee, the Zags' explosive scorer/distributor Jeremy Pargo was ineffective, scoring just 8 points on 1-7 shooting. Will Memphis's explosive scorer/distributor Derrick Rose have the same problem against Tennessee?