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Memphis is home to Elvis and a Sweet 16 mystery team. Dissed as a No. 1 seed ripe for a first-round upset, Memphis now faces a 13-seed on a mid-major trip toward Indy that has Pat Forde befuddled.

The Memphis mystery was supposed to be solved this week. Instead, it might continue all the way to Indianapolis.
This was supposed to be the time we see what the No. 1 seed in the Oakland Regional is made of. The NCAA Tournament was going to be the place where the talented Tigers crawled out of their Conference USA cocoon, faced a few opponents from the power conferences and showed whether they lost their edge by spending two months in Mid-Major Land.
That moment of truth remains on hold for at least one more game. Maybe two.
Memphis opened the tourney with No. 16 seed Oral Roberts of the Mid-Continent Conference. Then came No. 9 Bucknell of the Patriot League. Next up is No. 13 Bradley of the Missouri Valley Conference. If the Tigers beat the Braves on Thursday and draw No. 3 Gonzaga (West Coast Conference) Saturday, they could get to the Final Four without playing a single opponent from a BCS league.
That's happened before. Michigan State did it in 2001, getting the ultimate Final Four walkover by playing No. 16 Alabama State, No. 9 Fresno State, No. 12 Gonzaga and No. 11 Temple. Duke did it in 1999, playing No. 16 Florida A&M, No. 9 Tulsa, No. 12 Southwest Missouri State and No. 6 Temple.
But the Spartans and Blue Devils came out of the Big Ten and ACC sausage grinders, respectively. Memphis came out of a league ranked 13th in the RPI, one in which two-thirds of the membership ranked 190th or lower.
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Backup point guard Andre Allen has had a big part in the Tigers' early-round success.
Memphis hasn't played a BCS opponent since Tennessee in mid-January -- and, not coincidentally, it hasn't played an RPI top-30 opponent since then, either. Memphis hasn't played a BCS opponent away from its home court since mid-December.
Of course, this is an especially dangerous year to discredit a tournament path through non-BCS competition. Just ask Billy Packer how silly you can look for bashing the little guys.
There are five schools from outside the big six leagues in this Sweet 16, the most since 1993. The Missouri Valley and Colonial Athletic Association have validated their six bids. Memphis and Gonzaga cannot be discounted as national title threats, even as they celebrate their inclusion with the Dukes and Connecticuts.
"Enjoy it," coach John Calipari told his constituency. "Take a breath, kick back and enjoy. Because this doesn't happen every year at Memphis. It happens at Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and those other programs. It doesn't happen at Memphis."
Actually, it isn't even happening at Kentucky or North Carolina this year -- another fact that is not lost on the guys from C-USA.
"Little ol' Memphis," chirped backup Tigers point guard Andre Allen, upon his team's first Sweet 16 since 1995.
In truth, there isn't much little about this Memphis team. Its talent is on par with Connecticut, Duke and Texas as the best in the land, with NBA potential at every position. Its nonconference schedule was big-time, including victories over UCLA, Gonzaga, Alabama, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Tennessee and Cincinnati and losses to Duke and Texas.
The only quibble with the Tigers is their conference, which hasn't provided many serious tests -- especially away from the friendly environs of the FedEx Forum. The only RPI top-40 opponent they have played in a road/neutral setting since the calendar flipped to 2006 is UAB -- and they lost that game.
UAB finished the regular season No. 32 in the RPI. Bradley was No. 33.
The Braves scuttled what many figured would be Memphis' first big test of this tournament, against either Big 12 tournament champion Kansas or Big East toughie Pittsburgh. Bradley showed its chops and earned its props by eliminating both.
That's the strongest opening-weekend statement anyone has made in this tournament, but history tells us Bradley's run is done. Since the tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1985, no team seeded 13th or lower has ever made a regional final.
Bradley's vulnerability has Memphians peeking ahead at the regional finals, and a potential rematch with either the Zags or Bruins. The players, though, seem focused.
"If we can beat Bradley, then we'll worry about the next game," Allen warned.
A matchup with Gonzaga would keep Memphis' non-BCS run intact, and it would offer some compelling story lines.
Like the Tigers, Gonzaga proved itself in a rigorous preconference schedule, then slipped off to dominate a soft league. The Zags haven't played an RPI top-30 team since losing at Memphis on Dec. 23.
In that game, Zags star Adam Morrison shredded the Tigers for 34 points, but Calipari switched 6-foot-9 freshman Shawne Williams onto him midway through the second half, collapsed the defense on Morrison in the low post and held him scoreless over the final 9 minutes and 31 seconds as the Tigers pulled away.
Calipari told Gonzaga coach Mark Few after the game, "Let's hope we're playing again in April." Late March might have to do.
Anarchists and non-elitists could enjoy a regional final throwdown between two schools from outside the big six leagues. It would be the first of its kind since 1992, when Cincinnati beat Memphis in a matchup of what were then two Great Midwest members.
Cincinnati won that game in a blowout, and took a whole lot of questions about its Final Four worthiness with it to Minneapolis. Memphis could face the same this year if its path to Indy runs through the mid-major back roads.