It's safe to say Memphis' inexplicably persistent stay in the top 25 is soon to expire.

Before Wednesday night, Memphis was clearly struggling. A quick glance at the Tigers' tempo-free stats showed as much: Memphis' offense was stagnant and turnover prone, its defense was porous, and the Tigers were allowing far too many teams to dominate the offensive boards for Memphis to stop anyone with an effective big man. But because Memphis had yet to lose a "bad" game (the Tigers two losses were to Kansas and Georgetown, albeit by convincing margins) and because the coaches poll is the coaches poll, Memphis had hung on to that little nugget of national relevance, a No. 22 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

That oversight won't happen again. Tennessee, a team with plenty of its own problems both off and on the court, utterly dismantled Memphis in Knoxville last night. The Volunteers scored at will (to the tune of 104 points on 81 possessions, good for a 128.4 offensive efficiency rate). They blew Memphis out early (the score was 45-20 with less than five minutes remaining in the first half). And horrified Memphis fans -- and check the message boards, because they are officially, sometimes hilariously horrified -- could do nothing but watch as the game devolved into a glorified you-shoot-now-I-shoot-now exhibition. It was brutal.

So. Where does Memphis go from here?

(Note: That's also the question with Tennessee, and the answer is, well, we don't know. Bruce Pearl's SEC suspension, coupled with this team's schizophrenic ways, means anything from a first-place SEC finish to an epic flame-out by early February is on the table.)

Memphis, on the other hand, appears to just be what they are: young, confused, and at least a year away from rejoining the nation's elite in the NCAA tournament.

There is an argument to be made that Memphis will improve as the season goes along. Young teams have more room for improvement than old ones, right? That argument might be true. And, sure, Memphis' three losses are arguably "good" losses, given their opponents and the fact that last night's game was in Knoxville. But those arguments -- even one that hopes Memphis's sheer talent will be enough to maintain its recent choke hold on Conference USA -- seem pretty optimistic after last night.

This is a team that entered the season ranked in the top 25 largely thanks to a supreme recruiting effort by new coach Josh Pastner, but after 14 nonconference games, it's clear that the Tigers aren't there yet. In fact, they aren't anywhere close.