Patrick Reusse: Unsung Tiger knows tough

SAN ANTONIO — Joey Dorsey checks with the underling keeping statistics on the Memphis bench when he leaves a game.

"I always ask, 'How many rebounds do I have?' " Dorsey said. "Then, when Coach starts yelling at me, I can say, 'Hey, it's the first half and I have seven rebounds. Why are you yelling at me?' "

Dorsey is a 6-9, 265-pound, 24-year-old senior from the mean streets of Baltimore. He is the Memphis player no opponent wants to meet at the basket.

On Saturday, he didn't score in Memphis' 78-63 national semifinal victory, and yet he had nearly as much to do with the Tigers' thumping of UCLA as did guards Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts with their combined 53 points.

Dorsey had 15 rebounds in 27 minutes. And still, he came out of the game on a couple of occasions to face loud criticism from coach John Calipari.

"He would even yell at me when I was a freshman and I wasn't playing," Dorsey said. "We'd lose a rebound and he'd say, 'Dorsey, that's why I need you to be able to play, so we can get those rebounds.'

"I'd say, 'Coach, how can this be my fault? I'm not playing.' "

Calipari's hollering at players during game stoppages is very apparent. Asked which players rate at the top of his victim list, Memphis' Mr. Smooth said:

"I got 12 guys that think it's them. But my wife [Ellen] ... the first thing I hear after a game is that I yelled at Joey too much. She says, 'Would you just leave him alone?' "

On Sunday, all of this conversation was offered with great humor. A year ago, that wasn't the reaction to Dorsey among Memphis basketball people -- coaches, fans, even teammates -- after the Tigers lost to Ohio State 92-76 in the South Region final.

Dorsey had called out Greg Oden, the Buckeyes freshman center, saying Oden was overrated and he was underrated.

"It's going to be David and Goliath," Dorsey said. "I'm Goliath. He's the little man. I'm going to outwork him to every ball. I think I'm going to have like a 20-rebound night."

"I was hurt and depressed after the Ohio State game," he said. "I put all the blame on myself. I stayed away from my teammates for a week after we got home."

Teammates sought him out and got him back in the fold. "I've tried to make sure not to say anything crazy in this year's tournament," Dorsey said, laughing.

He got a late start playing organized basketball in Baltimore. "I was a kid walking around the streets, dribbling a basketball 24/7," he said. "But I didn't start playing basketball in high school until I was 16, 17 years old."

Dorsey was asked if he followed "The Wire," David Simon's fabulous series that recently ended a five-year run on HBO. It was about the drug culture on the streets of Baltimore, interwoven with other drama in the city.

"I own the DVDs," Dorsey said. "My favorite was Omar."

He was asked if the series presented an accurate view of the toughest parts of Baltimore.

"No; it's worse," he said. "I don't even like to go home anymore. I go home to see my grandparents, but you don't just walk around the streets. It's too dangerous."

Dorsey escaped Baltimore by first going to Mount Zion Christian in Durham, N.C., in 2002-03, then playing at Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep the following season. Many people in college sports rail against these basketball factories, but Dorsey won't apologize.

"Laurinburg turned me into a man," he said. "No mall, no stores, nothing -- just basketball, getting in shape, getting your grades. If you're a city kid and can last at Laurinburg, you can play anywhere."

No member of Dorsey's immediate family had graduated from high school. Now, he's ready to get a college degree.