Is Memphis ready to be Elite?

Memphis cruised past Michigan State on Friday night looking ready to reach the Final Four, Jeff Gooman isn't so sure.

Memphis is going to the Elite Eight.

Again.

But we've seen this before, haven't we?

And we know what happens next.

So celebrate, Memphis fans. You deserve it. That was quite a performance late Friday, a dunk contest at the expense of Michigan State. But the Elite Eight comes Sunday, a game against Texas.

We've seen this before.

And we know what happens next.

John Calipari's Memphis club put on a virtual clinic and absolutely humiliated a Michigan State team led by one of the elite tournament coaches in Tom Izzo.

Izzo came into the game with four Final Four appearances on his resume in the last decade and a .743 winning percentage in the Big Dance.

He had all the pieces. Veteran guards in Drew Neitzel and Travis Walton, a quick freshman floor leader in Kalin Lucas and a solid frontcourt.

It was a group that had finally started to earn some respect after a second-round victory against Pittsburgh.

But none of that mattered.

Neitzel was shut down and shut out until 1:45 left in the game when he hit a meaningless 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 15.

This game was basically over from the moment the ball was tossed up to start the game.

The Spartans couldn't score — and couldn't stop the Tigers, either.

But we've seen this before.

And we know what happens next.

Flash back to two seasons ago when Coach Cal's group cruised into the Elite Eight after three fairly easy victories over Oral Roberts, Bucknell and Bradley.

Then UCLA held the high-powered Tigers offense to just 45 points and the magical run was over.

Memphis lost two first-round picks, Rodney Carney and Shawne Williams, and Darius Washington Jr., also left early. The Tigers hardly missed a beat.

The Tigers rolled through North Texas and Nevada in the 2007 tourney before sneaking past Texas A&M to reach the Elite Eight.

The Tigers got bounced by Greg Oden and Ohio State.

But this year is different.

Memphis added the nation's most talented point guard, Derrick Rose, and didn't really lose much of anything from a year ago. The Tigers went 36-1 and ran the table in Conference USA.

Rose was the missing link. The guy that was going to get the Tigers over the hump and into the Final Four. He went for 27 points and five assists in the biggest game of his young and what will be brief college career.

The game against the Spartans wasn't ever in question. The Tigers rolled from the outset and took a 30-point halftime lead. It made the Kansas-Villanova game look like a nail-biter.

But if the past is any indication, the next one against Texas will be different.

Memphis looked every bit the part of a team that could reel off three more wins and cut down the nets in San Antonio.

But first things first.

The Tigers need to get past the second-seeded Longhorns. In Houston.

Look for the annual foolish Joey Dorsey quote that'll probably come out of the media sessions later today.

Then Calipari will continue to tell himself and the rest of the world that his team's inept foul shooting is overrated.

He's right. It's irrelevant — especially when the Tigers crush opponents as they did against the Spartans. But he also can't come to expect blowouts when you're playing against big-time programs.

Remember, the Tigers were the favorites here — even though Calipari tries to play the underdog card. Michigan State was the No. 5 seed, the team that lost to Iowa and Penn State this season and was enigmatic.

But Calipari's team deserves plenty of credit for running the Spartans right out of the building.

In fact, things were so good that Memphis even made its free throws on Friday night. The Tigers made 26-of-35 for a more-than-respectable 74 percent.

But this wasn't the Elite Eight.

Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com. He can be reached at or check out his blog, Good 'N Plenty.