Memphis

10 tonight TNT The whole squad is on the case when a teenage beauty queen goes missing. On the home front, Dwight (Jason Lee, right) tries to help his ex-wife, Alex (Sunny Mabrey), launch her new business.

The pumping musical Memphis celebrates an America whose definition of freedom is always evolving. The national tour, which pulled into the Academy of Music on Tuesday and is staying through Sunday, delivers the show about the '50s with the same high energy and spirit as its Broadway rendition. Memphis , which is loosely based on a true story about a young Memphian who integrated the music on the city's radio stations, won the best-musical Tony in 2010, and its popularity across demographics has helped producers turn it into a new Broadway experience, across formats.

Paradise agrees with Michigan. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 21 points, Trey Burke added 14 and the No. 15 Wolverines knocked off No. 8 Memphis 73-61 in the the Maui Invitational yesterday in Hawaii. Back in Maui for the first time since 1998, Michigan (4-0), a two-time tournament winner, used its ability to penetrate to shoot 54 percent while hounding the Tigers with a variety of defenses. "We're really pleased we could come away with a win today," Michigan coach John Beilein said.

Marcus Oliver scored a career-high 26 points and Houston hit just enough free throws in the closing minutes to upset Memphis, 80-74, yesterday in the Conference USA Tournament at Cincinnati. Memphis (22-9) never led and never figured out how to stop the Cougars' patient, highly accurate offense, which shot 55.6 percent from the field and pulled away at the free throw line. Houston (18-13) scored its last 14 points from the line, hitting 14 of 24 in the final 3:57. It was a stunning loss for Memphis, which nearly won the regular-season championship on Cincinnati's court Sunday.

Everyone knows Memphis can crank up the tempo and play a fast-paced game. But if someone wants to get down and dirty? Well, the Tigers can slog it out with the best of 'em, too. Joey Dorsey set the tempo with a performance that endeared him to football coaches everywhere, finishing with 13 points, 12 rebounds, a season-high six blocks, five fouls and an untold number of bumps and bruises, and top-seeded Memphis outscrapped Mississippi State, 77-74,...

Rodney Carney was of average height until a growth spurt during middle school left him at 6-foot-5 as a high school sophomore. He is now 6-7, and he is as thin as angel hair pasta and so gangly that it looks as if his body moves in sections. But in helping Memphis reach the NCAA tournament regional semifinals in Oakland, the leaper of a forward has displayed many of the attributes of a little man: Speed, quickness, agility. "You try to get a man and a half [on Carney]

John Calipari has fielded this type of telephone call before. Because of his success as coach at the University of Massachusetts, because of his high profile as coach of the New Jersey Nets and because of his current job as an assistant coach with the 76ers, it is not unusual for his phone to ring when another job is available. This time, it's the University of Memphis, where Johnny Jones has been the interim coach since Tic Price resigned last month. This time, it's Memphis athletic director R.C. Johnson - a former Temple athletic director - checking with a onetime Atlantic 10 Conference opponent.

In the end, it came down to a comfort zone for Tyreke Evans, the talented 6-6 shooting guard from American Christian and the nation's top unsigned basketball player. Evans liked the way Memphis played, he liked how far Memphis is from his Chester home, and he liked the way Tigers coach John Calipari prepares players for the NBA. They are among the most important reasons why Evans chose Memphis over Villanova yesterday during a news conference announcing where he'll attend college next season.

Justin Reed scored 17 points, including the winning basket on a three-point play with 24 seconds remaining, to give host Mississippi a 71-67 victory over No. 22 Memphis last night. Ole Miss (6-2) trailed for most of the second half until Derrick Allen got fouled on a layup and completed a three-point play to give the Rebels a 66-63 lead with 1:50 left. Camden High product Dajuan Wagner made a driving layup over two Ole Miss defenders to cut the lead to 66-65 with 1:38 remaining.

The University of Memphis isn't backing down in its appeal of the NCAA order to vacate the 2007-08 men's basketball season, even though the Committee on Infraction's response has fans worried about even worse punishment. Memphis argues in its 28-page rebuttal to the NCAA's response to the university's appeal that the Committee on Infractions puts the Tigers at risk of double jeopardy. If the appeals committee decides to restore the vacated wins or cut the fine, the Committee on Infractions has asked that the case be remanded back to it to consider other punishment not handed out originally.

Calvin Coolidge once said that "persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. " The fact that Councilman Bill Green is sharing a plate of Memphis nachos with his wife, Margie, on a breezy Sunday afternoon in Chestnut Hill is proof that the 30th president of the United States was right – even when it comes to Philly Democrats. The empty nesters get to talking about the night in 1986 when they caught each other's eye at the Hippodrome in London, where Green had fled to escape the massive shadow of his father, who served as congressman, mayor and head of Democratic City Committee.

NBA Teams are listed in order of playoff position. The first eight teams in each conference earn playoff berths, with the three division winners among the top four seeds.   W   L   Pct.   GB   Strk    y-Chicago 48   16   .750   –   W1    y-Miami 46   18   .719   2   W1    x-Indiana 42   23   .646   61/2   W1    y-Boston 37   27   .578   11   L1    x-Atlanta 38   26   .594   10   L1    x-Orlando 36   28   .563   12   L3    x-New York 34   30   .531   14   W1    x-76ERS 34   30   .531   14   W3    Milwaukee 31   33   .484   17   W2    Detroit 24   41   .369   241/2   L1    New Jersey 22   43   .338   261/2   L5    Toronto 22   43   .338   261/2   L4    Cleveland 21   43   .328   27   L2    Washington 18   46   .281   30   W4    Charlotte 7   57   .109   41   L21      W   L   Pct.   GB   Strk    y-S. Antonio 48   16   .750   –   W8    y-OK City 46   18   .719   2   L1    x-LA Lakers 41   24   .631   71/2   W1    x-LA Clippers 40   24   .625   8   W1    x-Memphis 40   25   .615   81/2   W5   ...

NEW ORLEANS - Kansas coach Bill Self was perhaps 20 minutes removed from seeing his team secure a spot in Monday night's national championship game when he crystallized the critical issue. This Kentucky team, he said, is better than the Memphis team that outplayed his best team for 39 minutes in 2008. Left unsaid is that this Kansas team isn't anywhere near as good as the 2008 national champions. So, how exactly does Kansas beat Kentucky? It probably doesn't. "They've got guys that can make plays you can't coach," Self said.

NEW ORLEANS - In a real way, because the matchup on Monday once again places Kansas in the path of his team's try for a national championship, the shadow traced by the arc of Mario Chalmers' three-point shot in 2008 still falls across the career of John Calipari. The Kentucky coach claims he never watched the tape of that championship game. He doesn't need to review it to forever see Chalmers shoot that fallaway three with just two seconds left and with Derrick Rose in his face.

Kendall Marshall banked in a shot with 10.2 seconds remaining and No. 4 North Carolina edged North Carolina State, 69-67, Saturday in a rugged game to advance to the championship of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament in Atlanta. North Carolina will meet Florida State on Sunday. C.J. Leslie, who led the Wolfpack (22-12) with 22 points, fouled out with more than eight minutes remaining. The Tar Heels (29-4) lost Tyler Zeller to fouls after he scored 23 points. Florida State 62, Duke 59 - The No. 17 Seminoles (23-9)

The rivalry between Kansas and Missouri dates to the 1850s and had nothing to do with basketball. The battle over slavery was the foundation for the early ugliness and the animosity never dissipated. Instead, it has carried over into athletics. It also is why many hoops traditionalists are hoping for a Missouri-Kansas Big 12 championship game; one more Border War before Missouri heads to the SEC. Here is a look at the five leagues starting conference tournaments today: Big 12 Regular-season champ: Kansas, ranked 13th in the preseason, is the biggest surprise among the likely No. 1 seeds for the NCAAs.

If the 76ers are going to improve their chances of being more successful in the playoffs than they were last season, they are going to have to not only shoot better from the free throw line, but they are going to have to get there, somehow, more often than they have thus far. It's not going to matter against the dregs of the league, teams like Detroit, whom they beat earlier in the week by 29 points. The Pistons are blazing a trail toward the lottery, so it didn't matter that the Sixers attempted just nine free throws compared with the 20 by Detroit.

HOUSTON - They say that during an NBA season rookies will usually hit some kind of a wall. The schedule includes so many more games than they are used to, and all the travel and practice hits them like a Mike Tyson uppercut. That's normal during an NBA season. This is no normal NBA season, and that wall is smacked right up in the faces of 76ers first-year big men Lavoy Allen and Nikola Vucevic. In Tuesday's loss at Memphis, both players seemed to be a step or two behind the action not only with their feet, but also with their minds.

MEMPHIS - The drought lasted too long and the deficit grew too wide. The 76ers started the game by missing 14 of their first 17 shots while allowing the Memphis Grizzlies to make 11 of their first 15. And no matter how valiant the effort was to overcome a deficit that grew to as many as 21 in the first quarter, there just wasn't enough time, or healthy bodies, to get the Sixers a come-from-behind win. Playing without Elton Brand, who...

MEMPHIS - Elton Brand is out until after the all-star break because he reinjured his sprained right thumb in the waning moments of the 76ers' loss Sunday at Minnesota. So reserve forward Andres Nocioni has assumed - at least for Tuesday night's game with Memphis - a spot in the starting lineup. Nocioni, 32, has been little more than a hood ornament this season, having played sporadically, never more than 10 minutes in a game. Last season, Nocioni made 17 starts for the Sixers.