Univ. Of Elvis, Er Memphis Game Announcement

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HEADLINES

Tiger NCAA Tournament First/Second Rounds Ticket Policy Announced

Men's Basketball NCAA Seeding Quotes

Memphis is No. 2 Seed in New Orleans

March 11, 2007

The University of Memphis Tiger basketball team, ranked No. 5 in both national polls, earned a No. 2 seed in the 2007 NCAA Tournament and opens first round play Friday, Mar. 16 in New Orleans, La. Game time will be determined later by the NCAA and CBS Sports.

The No. 2 seed is the first since 1985. In that tournament, Memphis used the No. 2 seed to advance to the NCAA Final Four in Lexington. The Tigers were also a No. 2 seed in the 1982 NCAA Tournament.

Last year, the Tigers earned the program's first No. 1 seed and advanced to the NCAA Oakland Regional final (Elite Eight).

Memphis (30-3) will play No. 15 seed North Texas (23-10). The Tigers are 15-6 all-time against the Mean Green. The last meeting between the two schools came in Memphis with the Tigers winning 101-79 during the 1983-84 season. Memphis has won the last four meetings and 10 of the last 11 games against North Texas.

North Texas head coach Johnny Jones coached for three seasons at Memphis, including two seasons as associate head coach and one as the Tigers' interim head coach during the 1999-2000 season.

The Tigers open play in New Orleans, but are in the San Antonio Regional. Memphis' New Orleans bracket also includes No. 7 seed Nevada (28-4) and No. 10 seed Creighton (22-10). The first-round winners will meet in Sunday's second round.

The 2006-07 Tigers won the Conference USA regular season and tournament titles for a second-straight season. Memphis is the first team in Conference USA history to have a 16-0 regular season record and follow that with a C-USA Tournament title. The Tigers also won 30 games for a second-consecutive season, which is a first in the program's history.

Additional information, including ticket information, will be posted as soon as it becomes available.