Tigers work out at Fieldhouse
The University of Memphis men’s basketball team unofficially got its 2013-14 season underway Saturday, with assists from Tigers women’s basketball coach Melissa McFerrin and volleyball coach April Jauregui.
With the Finch Center undergoing some cosmetic renovations, coach Josh Pastner enlisted the help of McFerrin and Jauregui to run the Tigers through their first workout of the fall semester, conducting it at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the home of Memphis’ women’s basketball and volleyball teams.
“I was thankful for Melissa and April to allow us to use the gym because our Finch Center isn’t able to be used until Monday,” Pastner said. “We’re doing some things with the (Finch Center) film room, the kitchen upstairs, the training room and resurfacing the (practice) floor. The renovations will be very good for us because it keeps us up with the times. It’s a great building, but it was built in 2000. So these are the first updates we’ve been able to make on some of these areas since then.”
One overdue change that’s been made was the removal of the Big East logo Pastner had posted on the building’s south wall last year in anticipation of the program’s move out of Conference USA. With the Tigers now a member of the American Athletic Conference, updating the look was as important from a conference affiliation standpoint as it is to impressing upon recruits the facility is up to date.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re able to do some different things to enhance the practice facility,” Pastner said. “It’s very important for recruiting, our current student-athletes and the future of the program.”
As for the workout, Pastner said all of the players reported back from a two-week break and were “good to go.” He separated them Saturday into four-man groups of big men, guards and wing players. The team will continue workouts with the coaches in four-man groups through Sept. 15. Fall practice officially begins Oct. 3.
“They were in good shape and they were bouncy, which I liked,” Pastner said.
OFFICIAL VISITOR
Chipola College forward Cinmeon Bowers, one of the nation’s top junior college prospects, begins an official visit to Memphis on Sunday that will run through Tuesday.
A versatile 6- 6, 240-pound forward from Racine, Wis., Bowers has been a primary recruiting target of the Tigers since last summer. His relationship with Memphis assistant Aki Collins dates back to Collins’ time as an assistant at Marquette.
“Memphis is recruiting me hard,” Bowers said Saturday. “I want to see where I fit in.”
Bowers has narrowed the schools he’s considering to Memphis, Florida State and Louisville. He said he plans to also make official visits to Florida State on Sept. 6 and to Louisville on Sept. 27 before making his decision.
As a freshman at Chipola last season, Bowers averaged 11 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds (playing 18.7 minutes per game) in 26 regularseason contests.
WAITING GAME
Pastner said he believes it could be two to three more weeks before the Tigers get an answer from the NCAA on the school’s request that senior transfer Michael Dixon be eligible to play this season.
Memphis submitted the request to the NCAA that the normal transfer restrictions be waived on July 24. Dixon, a former Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year, transferred to Memphis in June after missing all of the 2012-13 season as a senior at Missouri.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are also waiting to see if would-be freshman guard Pookie Powell, a point guard from Orlando, Fla., will qualify academically. With the fall semester officially underway this week, the window for Powell to qualify and enroll at Memphis this fall is down to a handful of days.
“School starts Monday, so after about two or three days the window’s shut in terms of getting him in,” Pastner said. “He has a day or two or three to play with, where he doesn’t have to be here the first day, but after that the window’s closed — at least for this year.”
Powell tweeted Saturday evening that he’ll be in Memphis this week, but Pastner reiterated that Powell has not been cleared academically.