Clash of the titans: No. 1 Memphis takes on No. 2 Tennessee

New England had its shot at perfection.

Now it's Memphis' turn.

The top-ranked Tigers (26-0) are trying to become the first Division I men's basketball team to make it through a season without a loss since Indiana in 1976.

First, though, they'll have to get past second-ranked Tennessee (24-2), which visits Memphis tonight for a rare 1-2 showdown.

"Everybody else is talking about it," Tigers guard Antonio Anderson said. "You go to the stores, gas stations, wherever you're at, everybody's talking about it. It's a big game. We know that and they know that."

Indeed, the buildup has been on par with a championship fight.

Tickets on the Internet were going for as much as $5,000. NFL star Peyton Manning, a Tennessee alum, pulled enough strings to land a seat at FedEx Forum.

Even Elvis is taking sides in this one. Graceland was illuminated in Memphis blue on the eve of the big game, an event dubbed "Operation: Blue Suede Shoe."

"It'll be crazy," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "If you can sell your tickets and pay for your child's tuition for a year, just make sure the person is in blue. That's all I'm saying. I'm all for it."

For the Tigers, this will likely be their toughest test until the NCAA Tournament.

They close out the regular season against Tulsa, Southern Miss, SMU and UAB, then it's on to the Conference USA tournament, hosted by Memphis in the same building where the Tigers have a 47-game winning streak, the nation's longest at home.

The team from across the state would like nothing better than to at least snuff out any hope of a perfect season.

"It does feel kind of good, honestly," Tennessee's Jordan Howell said. "Not many people think we're going to go in there and win, but we do. We think we'll go in there playing together and be able to beat them. But they're the No. 1 team in the country, and rightfully so. They're undefeated."

As the Patriots discovered in the Super Bowl, perfection is elusive. Eighteen straight wins didn't mean a thing when New England lost to the New York Giants in a huge upset.

Maybe Peyton Manning's school can do to the Tigers what Eli Manning's team did to the Patriots.

When it comes to hoops, no men's team has come close to perfection since UNLV in 1991. The Runnin' Rebels reached the championship game with nary a blemish on their record -- in fact, they had won 45 in a row over two seasons -- only to be taken down by underdog Duke.

Which still leaves the '76 Hoosiers, who went 32-0 with a team coached by Bobby Knight and led by Scott May, Kent Benson and Quinn Buckner, as the last of the unbeatens.

As if there's not already enough hype -- a 1-2 matchup between bitter state rivals, the possibility of a perfect season -- the coaches aren't exactly the best of friends.

Bruce Pearl and Calipari have sniped at each other in the past, and there's no telling if their cool relationship will boil over in what is sure to be a highly charged game.

"There's just some natural strain there," Pearl said. "I think he does a tremendous job and I've got great respect for what he does, and I think that he recognizes that this program has made some strides as well."'

Calipari tried to downplay the coaching matchup.

"Let's hope we just play the ball game," he said. "This thing is big enough that I don't have to use him and he doesn't need to use me to inspire a team."