Since the Memphis Tigers are back in the Final Four for the first time in over twenty years - when they were known as Memphis St. - USA Today did a fascinating article on what happened to that 1985 team.

It isn't pretty.

Officially, the Tigers never even made the 1985 Final Four, for recruiting violations. But the team also disintegrated in the years following their appearance.

• William Bedford, the team's 7-foot center, was the No. 6 pick in the 1986 draft and a member of the Detroit Pistons' champion "Bad Boys" in 1989 and '90. But drug use hastened the end of his career and the beginning of several incarcerations. He was such a mess on the Pistons that Dennis Rodman said he had to grow up. If Dennis Rodman is telling you that you need to grow up, man, you're done.
• Forward Baskerville Holmes wound up eventually suffering from drug addiction and depression and had an argument with his girlfriend of six years and shot and killed her in 1997. Sometime after (on the same day) Holmes then killed himself.
• Head coach Dana Kirk was fired after one more season and later briefly jailed on a tax evasion charge.
• Keith Lee, the star forward who had his highly anticipated pro career flame out in the blink of an eye.
• Aaron Price, who was a reserve guard, was shot down in a carjacking.
• Larry Finch, the assistant coach, was robbed of so much of his life by a series of strokes.

Anyway, I highly advise reading the article. It's almost like the famous Rebel Without a Cause curse hit the Memphis St. Final Four team from 1985.

Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to this year's team. Although I wouldn't be real surprised if this year's team wound up getting recruiting violations.

'85 Memphis State run went from triumph to tragedy. [USA Today]