After seeing Memphis tee off on No. 16 Ole Miss on Saturday, I think I’m ready to acknowledge something.
I’m a longtime Memphis skeptic, but now I’m getting on board. Penny Hardaway has a serious team, one that can be more than a flash in the pan come March.
Hardaway has been the subject of plenty of criticism, plenty of it deserved, since he was hired from a high school coaching job to take over his alma mater, one of the proudest mid-majors in America. In his first six seasons, he only reached two NCAA Tournaments, winning just one game.
The other seasons were mostly characterized by middling performances in the American Athletic Conference, a league the Tigers have had the talent to rip through. Last January, for one example, they lost four in a row in January after a 15-2 start to the year—capped by a home loss to Rice, of all teams—but some AP voters were still throwing a few votes Memphis’ way because of, I dunno, the brand?
Players came in and out of the program long before the portal was truly in vogue. There was the James Wiseman eligibility debacle and a team that had not only Wiseman (for three games) but also future NBA players Precious Achiuwa and Lester Quinones still underachieved. Hardaway cursed out the media after a loss in January 2022, when the questions started getting more pointed before the coach made his first tourney.
Even this very fall, Hardaway fired his entire coaching staff about two months before the season—and we still don’t really know why.
Chaos combined with losses to the Tulanes and Rices of the world made it easy not to take Hardaway’s program seriously, but I’m not one to argue with results.
When Memphis upended Ole Miss on Saturday, handing the Rebels just their second loss of the season, it marked the Tigers’ eighth win against Quads 1 and 2—they had six all of last season. The Tigers have gone 10-3 against the fifth-hardest schedule in the country. And Memphis beat Ole Miss in every facet of the game, recovering from a loss to Mississippi State the prior week that Hardaway admitted the team was too exhausted to be at their best for.
Hardaway spoke to “The Field of 68: After Dark” on Saturday night, and I was most impressed with his answer when asked about Memphis quieting its doubters.
“I came in as a newbie and I really thought it was gonna be much easier than what it was because I knew the game, I knew I was gonna work,” Hardaway said. “My biggest problem was the culture. My culture was never really good up until this year.
“I failed at a lot of things, and it frustrated me because I thought that it was gonna be better. The criticism was warranted. All I did was just try to suck it up and go, ‘OK, you know what you can do.’ I went out and got a staff that I was very comfortable with and that allowed me to be me.”
That’s someone who’s done some genuine self-reflection and growth. Someone who isn’t going to let another team unravel late in the season.
Something that will help Hardaway is a roster that isn’t top-heavy. There’s a good mix of veterans who have played for winning programs (Tyrese Hunter, Dain Dainja), a fearless lead scorer (PJ Haggerty) and glue guys like Nick Jourdain and Colby Rogers, who shot 6-of-9 from three for 28 points against Ole Miss.
This team already failed to take care of business for a should-win home game against Arkansas State just three weeks ago, but you know what? I’ll forgive and forget. I just want to see Memphis not get pushed around by Florida Atlantic on Thursday to open AAC play. If the Tigers take care of business in January and February, Hardaway’s critics will only get quieter.
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