MORNING BRIEFING

Memphis’ college team last season had an older starting lineup than its NBA squad has right now.

And while Marc Iavaroni is like most coaches and would love to have more veteran talent, he’s enjoying his work with one of the league’s youngest groups.

“This is who I’ve got and I’m really proud of them, the way they’ve battled against some pretty tough teams,” Iavaroni said. “I think there’s progress, I just think I’d like to get the result more often. That takes time.”

The Grizzlies have four rookies on the roster (matching Portland for the league high) and eight players 23 years old or younger. Their frequent starting lineup of rookies O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol and Darrell Arthur, plus Rudy Gay and Mike Conley, has an average age of 21.4 years.

The Memphis Tigers’ starting lineup in last season’s NCAA championship game averaged 21.6 years.

That’s not nearly enough experience to deal with the Southwest Division, one of the toughest in sports, where Houston had a .595 winning percentage this week and was only in fourth place. Not surprisingly, Memphis is a distant fifth.

“We take a couple of steps forward and then a step back,” Iavaroni said. “Right now, consistency is our biggest goal and again that stuff takes time. It takes experience and it takes having some battle scars.”