It hasn’t been the best season for Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers, to say the least. A preseason No. 12 in the top-25 poll, Memphis was supposed to be a sleeper darling of men’s college basketball. A machine of which the usual true blue blood like Kansas and Villanova would rue playing. Factor in what was supposed to be a weaker American Athletic Conference than usual (Memphis was a strong consensus +250 to be AAC Champion). Hardaway and talented Tiger squad on paper had greatness on their minds.
One of the greatest male Tiger players ever, leading them to the promised land. I mean, what a story.
Now it’s fair to wonder whether the high expectations of a put-up-or-shut-up fifth season in Western Tennessee has gotten into the head of not only the Tiger players but Hardaway himself.
After Thursday evening saw Memphis lose 70-62 to conference rival SMU and lose its third-straight game to drop to 9-8 overall, it was evident Hardaway had enough of the criticism of a very young team. And more likely, any criticism of his job as a coach.
Where was the evidence, you ask? Why don’t we check in with Hardaway himself during the post-game?
Penny Hardaway's answer to if he can get the job done at Memphis.
"Stop asking me stupid f***ing questions about if I feel like I can do something. If I had my roster like they did, then I feel like I can do whatever I want to do." pic.twitter.com/WA79u6Y7bc
— Cassie Carlson (@CassieCarlsonTV) January 21, 2022
Woof. Unless I’m mistaken, this whole college sports design is supposed to be a family affair. Children, please cover your ears. But at least it’s over.
Wrong.
Once Hardaway tore into a gathered press contingent, he was only getting started.
Penny: "We have four freshmen starting, y'all need to act like it. Act like we have 17 and 18-year olds trying to learn how to play against 22, 23 and 24-year old guys. Stop disrespecting me, bro. Don't do that. I work way too fucking hard."
— S. Johnson (@StevenMJohnson_) January 21, 2022
See, at face value, Hardaway makes a valid point. A team with four freshmen starters doesn’t usually gel right away (never mind that it’s January, not November). It takes time to get used to the game at this level. Practice makes perfect, but only in live-action. Oh, wait, two of those starters, including Emoni Bates and Jalen Duran, were five-star recruits, who also helped the Tigers get the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class (for the third-straight year)?
That’s a little different.
Suffice to say that Hardaway and the Tigers should not look this lost right now at this point in the year. Many young teams, with multiple freshman five-star recruits no less, haven’t found it challenging to dominate their conference. It’s not as if the AAC is the gauntlet of the ACC, either. Memphis had a terrific season laid out on the platter, and so far, they’ve squandered the opportunity. Hardaway’s frustrations with media coverage of this ongoing failure might be fair on some level (not sure where, though), but even he can’t deny deep down that this hasn’t been his best coaching job.
Fortunately for the Memphis legend, there’s still plenty of time left in the regular season. Hardaway better hope he can push his Tigers to better efforts down the stretch. If not for the sake of his players but also the dear children’s ears.
Helen Lovejoy had the right idea: Won’t somebody please think of the children?
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