Memphis basketball: Will No. 1 recruiting class live up to the hype?

Memphis basketball brought in the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and expectations have never been higher. Can head coach Penny Hardaway and the Tigers live up to the hype?

In 2001, Memphis made a splash hire when they brought John Calipari in to be the head coach of Memphis basketball. Calipari had been successful at UMass but recruiting violations and sanctions handed down by the NCAA put a black mark on his name.

The Tigers were hoping that the good Coach Cal would come and help them become a relevant program again. By a stroke of luck, the “One-and-Done” rule was enacted while Calipari was on the Tigers sideline and he lured prized recruit, Derrick Rose to Memphis who led them to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament in 2008. However, a year later the University of Kentucky came calling and Big Blue Nation was too big of a draw for him to turn down.

Since Cal left, Memphis has had three head coaches in a 10-year span. Josh Pastner was Calipari’s top assistant who stayed on in hope of replicating his mentor’s success but after early positives things turned for the worse. Tubby Smith was then brought in but he only lasted two seasons before the fans ran him out due to the team underperforming.

In came Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway. The beloved hometown kid who attended Memphis — then known as Memphis State — and had spent the past few seasons coaching high school (East High School) and AAU (Team Penny/Bluff City Legends) in the city. That gave him first-hand experience working with the top talents in-state and the hope was that by hiring him those kids would choose to stay home (specifically No. 1 recruit James Wiseman).

His first year on the sidelines Hardaway made noise (on the court and in the media) and led Memphis back to a postseason tournament for the first time in five years. The momentum was riding high and the former NBA All-Star converted that into a big push on the recruiting circuit.

Not only did they get Wiseman but they also brought in Precious Achiuwa (15th overall), Boogie Ellis (38th overall), DJ Jeffries (52nd overall), Lester Quinones (58th overall), Malcolm Dandridge (106th overall) and Damion Baugh (115th overall) on their way to the No. 1 class.

The last year they finished in the top 10 was in 2015.

Memphis is a blue-collar city and despite the presence of the Memphis Grizzlies — outside of the “Grit-N-Grind” era –, the people are Tigers fans first and foremost. With the amount of talent that has come through the area, it makes sense that their loyalty will remain with the collegiate program. There’s a natural toughness that comes with growing up in Bluff City and the citizens want to see that reflected in their team.

For all the talent that Hardaway brought in this summer, they’ll need that Memphis mentality if they want to be the ones cutting down the nets in April. Skill alone doesn’t get it done at this level. The city has placed high hopes on this group and anything short of a Final Four appearance would be a major letdown.

Memphis has been itching to become relevant in the college hoops scene again and the 2019 team looks like their best chance of accomplishing that. How this season plays out isn’t just important for the upcoming season but it will also direct the future of the program. If they win at a high level and match the preseason hype then the Tigers could quickly become a university akin to Kentucky and Duke that routinely brings in the best of the best year-after-year. Yet, if there are any bumps in the road this whole experiment could blow up in their face quickly.

Lucky for them, it’s hard to envision any path (no matter how big of a disappointment it is) that results in Wiseman and Achiuwa not becoming first-round picks when they ultimately declare for the 2020 NBA Draft. The potential of both players is just too tantalizing for NBA general managers to ignore.

The other pieces of the class aren’t scrubs in any way and in fact, they have complementary skills to the two five stars. Quinones is one of the best shooters entering the NCAA, Ellis is a prototypical combo guard who is a scorer at heart, Jeffries is a high-level player in his own right that would be much more talked about had he gone to another situation, and Dandridge and Baugh are in-state talents who can use their best attributes to fill necessary roles. The trick for Memphis is figuring out which players fit best with each other and how to ensure that no one player gets lost in the shuffle.

The groundwork for what Hardaway wants this program to be was laid down a year ago. The pace of play for the Tigers skyrocketed and they were a blur moving up and down the court in the blink of an eye. Playing at a faster tempo makes them more attractive to potential recruits but also helps ease the transition between high school and college. It’s one thing to ask a bunch of 18-19-year-olds to learn an intricate set of offensive plays; it’s another to get them accustomed to playing quick but also under control. With the second, it doesn’t have to be perfect to work.

Memphis is a place where the occupants pick themselves up by their bootstraps. There’s a real sense of community and commitment to one another. If the Tigers can bring that attitude to the court this season then the program will make a big splash this season.

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