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What if James Wiseman had played the entire 2019-2020 basketball season

Since the 2019-2020 college basketball season ended unexpectedly on Thursday, we're going to take a look back at the biggest what if's that will go left unanswered until the end of time.

Starting with the biggest question of them all, what would have happened had James Wiseman never been ruled ineligible to play.

For starters, Memphis would have mirrored the Kentucky team of 2015 with the usage of a two-platoon system.

The first platoon could look something like this, James Wiseman, Precious Achiuwa, Lester Quionas, Tyler Harris, and D.J. Jeffries.

The second platoon would be as deep as the first with Boogie Ellis, Alex Lomax, Damion Baugh, Lance Thomas, and Malcolm Dandridge.

Had Wiseman been eligible this season, the Tigers would have added a fourth man to the rotation that averaged double figures in scoring and second in rebounding.

When the NCAA made their decision to rule James Wiseman ineligible, the Tigers went from immediate Final Four contender to second or third best team in the American.

Memphis fans got their taste of what this team could have been had Wiseman played in every game during the two games that James played.

In those two games, Wiseman and Achiuwa combined for a total of 69 points and 35 rebounds. These two would have been the dynamic, one-two punch for teams to handle.

From a matchup standpoint, having Wiseman would have given the Tigers the advantage over a large chunk of the AAC, when you go back and watch the film, teams would either double-team Precious, or they would switch to a zone and force the Tigers to shoot the outside shot.

Having James would have freed up Precious and the other bigs to do their thing without having the full load on one or two players. Having a four-man rotation in the frontcourt would have given the Tigers the freshness needed to be an elite team.

Lastly, had James been able to play the entire season, the ending would have probably been a lot harder to swallow given the Tigers would have likely won the AAC outright, and would be facing a very high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

In hindsight, it would have been fun to watch James Wiseman play at Memphis, but given the circumstances, it's almost a blessing in disguise that the city of Memphis only had their heartbroken just once this basketball season.

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