Memphis coach John Calipari and UC's Bob Huggins have spiced up Conference USA with their sometimes-subtle jabs relayed through the media.

        On Sunday, their teams play in a game that will determine the No.1 seed in the Conference USA Tournament.

NEXT GAME

What: Memphis at No. 4 UC When: 1 p.m. Sunday Where: Shoemaker Center (13,176) Records: Memphis 22-7, 12-3 C-USA; UC 26-3, 13-2 TV: ABC, Channel 9 Radio: WLW-AM (700) Tickets: Sold out

        The exchanges started at C-USA media day in Chicago. Huggins sat at his table and said that when an NBA scout had asked for a list of potential pros in the league, Huggins suggested the scout get faxed a copy of Memphis' roster.

        Calipari, at a table not far away, insisted — and still does — that the Bearcats are the team to beat in the conference and that won't change until someone dethrones UC. UC has won or shared each of the league's seven regular-season titles and been the tournament's top seed every year.

        Earlier this month, Calipari, miffed that his team wasn't getting national recognition, said: “We have a coach in our league that is not even voting us in the Top 25. The good news is, we've got to play him before the year is out.”

        Huggins, who has a vote in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, told the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “He's getting almost half his votes from me. Cal maybe should direct his venom at the other 30 coaches. ... Tell Cal that, as usual, he's got bad sources.”

        Calipari said Thursday: “They asked me if I thought Bobby's voting for you, and I said, "What do you think?' And it's funny, the next week we lost, but we moved up in the polls.”

        And so it goes.

        If nothing else, their, uh, relationship has added some flavor to the UC-Memphis rivalry. The Bearcats have beaten the Tigers five consecutive times, including twice last season on Calipari's watch.

        “John says a lot of things he doesn't mean,” Huggins said after No.4 UC's surprising 74-71 loss at Louisville on Wednesday night. “... We're playing for a conference championship. We're playing for a seed in the NCAA Tournament. And I'm worried about what John says? Why would I even care what John says?”

        Said Calipari: “I think we both respect each other. I called him a while ago and said, "Would you not let these people say, John said this,to get you fired up? Leave it alone, Bobby, we've got our own battles to fight, both of us.' He said, "You did say it.' I said, "Bobby, I don't know what I said, but who cares?'

        “Let me say this: In no way — and I don't do this with anybody — am I consumed with what he does or who they're playing or what they're doing. I've got my own job. I'm not worried about (Louisville coach Rick) Pitino. I'm not worried about (Marquette coach) Tom Crean. I just worry about my own job, and I imagine he's the same way. I don't think he's looking at what's going on at Memphis, who are they playing, what do they have, what's their recruiting budget. I'm telling you, these jobs are all hard. We don't have time.”

        Calipari said he watched only a couple minutes of the UC-Louisville game, even though the result allowed his team to remain in the running for a share of the conference title. UC is 13-2; Memphis is 12-3.

        When the schedule came out, the Memphis-Cincinnati regular-season finale was the one to circle. Memphis was predicted to end the Bearcats' regular-season stranglehold on the league.

        UC already has clinched a share of the championship. If UC wins Sunday, the Bearcats will win the title outright. If UC loses, Memphis will share the title and earn the No.1 seed in the tourney because the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, and Sunday is the only game between the two this season. But if Marquette (12-3 in C-USA) beats DePaul tonight and UC loses to Memphis, the Golden Eagles also will earn a piece of the title.

        “My wife asked me this morning, "Are you happy that it's like this?' And I said, "Absolutely,'” Calipari said. “You're playing for a championship. But I'm not the one on the court, and we've got to figure out if our team's happy, because it's truly going to be a high-stakes game. I've coached in them before, and they're fun — if you make them fun.”

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