It wasn't too long ago that Massachusetts men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg sat in Memphis senior Robert Dozier's family room and recruited him for the Tigers.
Now Kellogg will be coaching against him.
UMass (1-1) officially opens the college basketball season as part of ESPN's 24-hour marathon against No. 12 Memphis (1-0) Monday at midnight at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
In their previous game against Southern Illinois, the Minutemen were up by as many as 15 points in the first half, but 20 turnovers ultimately allowed for the Salukis to pull off an 80-73 comeback victory.
Against a team as successful as the Tigers, UMass isn't going to have nearly the margin for error that it did in Carbondale, Ill.
Yet Memphis is nowhere near as dominant as it was last season when it lost a close game in the NCAA championship to Kansas, led by NBA No. 1 overall draft pick Derrick Rose. Even without three of their five starters from last year, the Tigers are expected to be one of the best teams in college basketball.
The arrival of freshman guard Tyreke Evans is part of the reason why Memphis can continue its high aspirations of winning an NCAA championship. Evans isn't as polished as Rose, but was rated the sixth-best incoming freshman according to the Web site Rivals.com.
Memphis rolled through its first opponent, Fairfield, 90-63, on Nov. 15. After playing the Minutemen, the Tigers will compete in a three-game series in Puerto Rico before returning to the FedEx Forum.
Prior to this season, Memphis coach John Calipari held a policy of not competing against former assistant coaches, but changed the rule after Kellogg got the UMass head coaching job.
The Tigers' schedule features meetings with three of Calipari's former assistant coaches: Tony Barbee (UTEP), Steve Roccaforte (Lamar) and Bruiser Flint (Drexel).
The last time UMass played Memphis was on Jan. 4, 1996 when the top-ranked Minutemen beat the Tigers, 64-61. That meeting was part of Calipari's last season coaching the Minutemen, who went on to make the NCAA Final Four.
Kellogg played under Calipari at UMass between the 1992 and 1995 seasons. Kellogg made the NCAA tournament every year while playing for the Minutemen. Their best season was during Kellogg's last year when they reached the Elite Eight.
After his playing days, Kellogg's coaching career received a big boost from Calipari after three years as a mid-major assistant coach. Kellogg was one of the first hires to Calipari's staff after taking the job at Memphis in 2000.
As an assistant coach, Kellogg has worked with and recruited four first-round picks in the NBA draft. His most significant recruit to date is Rose, who is the starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls in his rookie season.
Some of Rose's success with Memphis came from being part of the dribble-drive motion offense.
Kellogg is carrying that offense over to the Minutemen with the help of assistant coach and creator of the dribble-drive offense, Vance Walberg.
Kellogg believes the offense is helpful for any point guard, which is why he has such high expectations for Chris Lowe. The senior won't be expected to put up numbers similar to Rose, but he is expected to be one of the best point guards in the Atlantic 10.
Lowe is averaging 17.5 points and 5.5 assists per game. But after committing 10 turnovers with no assists against the Salukis, the Minutemen are going to need Lowe to take better care of the ball against the Tigers.
Adam Miller can be reached at ajmil0@student.umass.edu.
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