Last Year: 22-10; 11-7, Fifth in the American Athletic Conference, No Postseason
Head Coach: Penny Hardaway (Seventh Year; 133-62 at Memphis, with two NCAA Tournament appearances)
Projected Starting Lineup
PG Tyrese Hunter – 6’0″, 175 Senior
G PJ Haggerty – 6’3″, 195 Sophomore
G Colby Rogers – 6’4″, 190 Senior
F Nick Jourdain – 6’9″, 220 5th-year Senior
F/C Dain Dainja – 6’9″, 255 Senior
Experienced Reserves
G Baraka Okojie – 6’3″, 175 Sophomore
G PJ Carter – 6’5″, 175 5th-year Senior
F Tyreek Smith – 6’8″, 225 5th-year Senior
C Moussa Cissé – 7’0″, 230 5th-year Senior
Freshmen
G Jared Harris – 6’2″, 160
It would seem that, sometimes, when you ask for “all the smoke”…well, you catch all the smoke.
Even by Memphis standards, Memphis had a particularly Memphis type of season in 2023-24. The Tigers, one of America’s most powerful programs outside of the major conferences, had their usual loaded roster. There were the usual high expectations in early fall. There was the usual bravado from head coach Penny Hardaway. The usual inconsistency, off-court storylines, and 20-win season without an NCAA Tournament bid were all there, too. Things started well; in mid-January the Tigers were 15-2 and ranked 10th in the AP Poll. A four-game skid (and six losses in nine games) in the middle of American Athletic Conference play pretty much put the Tigers out of the running for an at-large bid, and in the end, Memphis was bounced immediately from the AAC tournament by Wichita State.
So, as usual, the roster has been completely overhauled, and as usual, Penny has brought in a tremendous array of proven talent. And in what’s becoming an increasingly usual bit of cunning, Penny has raided the Tigers’ league (for now, at least) foes for some of their best players. Former UTSA 6th man PJ Carter and former Wichita State leading scorer Colby Rogers now play for Memphis. Most churlish of all, former Tulsa star and reining AAC Rookie of the Year PJ Haggerty has also made the inter-conference jump. Throw in a new star at the point and some new big men looking to finish their careers on a high note, and Memphis looks to have a winning mix.
Will this version, though, be unusually successful? The only thing to be sure of is that the path towards finding out will not be a quiet, overlooked, or boring journey.
| Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks) |
| 80.5 – Points Per Game (23rd) |
| 34.0% – Opponent 3FG Percentage (188th) |
| 9.1 – Opponent 3FG Made Per Game (343rd) |
| 8.6 – Steals Per Game (20th) |
| 68.9% – Defensive Rebounding Rate (330th) |
After transferring in following a redshirt year at TCU, Haggerty’s debut for the Golden Hurricane was outstanding. He did it all for his new team, ranking top ten in the American in scoring, assists, steals, and field goal percentage. Furthermore, Haggerty was tops in the AAC and third nationally with 237 made free throws. Now, he’s looking to grow his game. Highly effective on the drive, Haggerty is already a savvy scorer who forces the issue, constantly makes the defense react to what he’s doing, and instigates and absorbs plenty of contact on his way to the rim, earning all those foul shots. He’s a tough-shot maker who still has the vision to find his guys when they’re left open by his trips into the lane, and Haggerty is acrobatic and skilled enough to finish when the whole defense is keying on him.
The next frontier in Haggerty’s development will be refining his jump shot. He’s got outside range, but Haggerty was inconsistent last year – not particularly shocking given that he was often burdened with doing the lion’s share of everything else. Excitingly, last year Haggerty scored the sixth-most points per possession on transition among all Division I players, per Synergy Sports. With a summer spent working on his shot and a significantly more potent cast around him, Haggerty should settle into a more comfortable role helping to facilitate the Tiger’s offense while choosing more opportunities to do his own thing.
Penny’s newcomer at the point is former Texas star Tyrese Hunter, a Big 12 veteran who has started every game of his career. That doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s always been consistent, though, so Hardaway and his staff are hoping to see the very best yet from Hunter as a senior.
“Being his height and being able to get up there and dunk it like that, I’m sure he shocked a bunch of people,” Hardaway told the Memphis Commercial Appeal after Hunter impressed during an exhibition game against North Carolina in October. “I know we have Ja (Morant) with the Grizzlies. He’s not really a tall guy and can fly. Tyrese is not getting that high, but he’s getting high for his height.”
“I keep having to tell them, I can really do all that, (but) I’m just getting older now…I tell them to go back and look on my Instagram – I’ve got some dunks on there. But they’re starting to see now.
– Tyrese Hunter
“I keep having to tell them, I can really do all that, (but) I’m just getting older now,” quipped Hunter. “I tell them to go back and look on my Instagram – I’ve got some dunks on there. But they’re starting to see now.” When he’s ‘on’, Hunter can play like a true star; his 21 points and game-winning layup to knock off Baylor last year being among the latest examples. Or there was his 30-piece plus seven assists to beat Oklahoma in the Longhorns’ final regular season game. When he’s ‘off’, Hunter can struggle with frustrating turnovers and less-than-ideal shot selection…see his six-turnover performance against Tennessee in last season’s NCAA Tournament. He was largely terrific in a Big 12 Rookie of the Year, but for Hunter the turnover issues and inconsistency have largely remained since that time. Playing alongside a variety of other guys who are natural playmakers, accustomed to having the ball in their hands might have been expected to aid Hunter in his decision-making, but it hasn’t just yet – and now he’ll be playing with a new group of such players. Can Penny unlock Hunter’s true potential?
The playmaking talents that Memphis has acquired include Rogers, but to these Tigers his greatest value will be as a marksman. And such a marksman Rogers has proven to be. After sitting out a year due to transfer from Sienna in 2022-23, Rogers took the American by storm, leading the league with 99 made triples. He also shot 40.9% from the land of trey, backing up the breakout year (73 makes, 42.9% 3FG) he’d enjoyed at Sienna. Now, Hardaway and his staff are counting on Rogers to provide that same net-scorching range to the Tigers. A true shooter, just 11.6% of the field goals Rogers attempted last year came at the rim, per Bart Torvik. What’s more, he made just 38.2% of those shots – the fifth-worst percentage in the country among players who attempted 400+ shots and the continuation of a career-long trend. The Tigers will get Rogers open and let him bomb away from distance, but it would also be great if Rogers could catch the defense off-balance with cuts to and finishes at the rim.
The one guy who played significant minutes for the Tigers last year and returns is versatile forward Nick Jourdain. In his first year with Memphis, Jourdain started 25 games and absorbed some minutes against the biggest opponents in the AAC. He’s best when playing as a 4-man, though, and Jordain should get to do that more often this year. He can be a dangerous shot-blocker, and Jourdain brings value in his ability to guard a bunch of different players up front. Though he’s not a high-volume outside shooter, Jourdain can hit from deep and last winter posted a career-best 17 made three’s at a 40.5% rate – by far the best of his career. Despite the punishment he fought against defensively, Jourdain’s offense didn’t suffer. He wasn’t a featured part of the offense, but Jourdain was highly efficient with the shots he took. In addition to his strong performance from deep, Jourdain made 66.0% of his two-point tries, including 22 dunks. Strangely, he was terrible (4/25) from mid-range, and Jordain, a 67.6% free throw shooter before his arrival at Memphis, bottomed out at an even 50.0% rate at the charity stripe. This season, he’ll be hoping to put it all together – and fight off a challenge from new arrival Tyreek Smith.
He’d have counted as another interleague coup had SMU had remained in the American, but nonetheless Memphis fans are happy to have the high-energy Smith on their side for a change. He developed slowly over the course of four years (including a redshirt) in the Big 12, but Smith started showing out as last season wore on for the Mustangs. He entered SMU’s starting lineup last year at the beginning of February and stayed in it, averaging 9.2 points, 2.0 blocks and 1.3 steals per contest down the stretch. For the season, Smith ranked third in the AAC in blocks per game despite averaging under 20 minutes on the year. This time around, he’s looking to make an even bigger impact. Smith knows what works for him, and he absolutely hammers the opposition with those skills. Some of those hammers count for two points; en route to posting a field goal percentage above 58.0% for the fourth consecutive season, Smith threw down 25 dunks. With his long arms, high motor, and willingness to bring the noise on defense, Smith is a genuine deterrent around the goal despite standing a hair under 6’8″. His rangy athleticism and veteran awareness are also useful in denying good feeds into the post, and Smith aggressively wreaks havoc on other teams trying to run pick-and-roll action. As a contrast to Jourdain’s hybrid face-up game, Smith should fit well in Memphis and cause headaches for everyone else.
| Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on |
| N Connecticut – November 25 |
| N Michigan State/Colorado – November 26 |
| Maui Invitational third game – November 27 |
| @ Clemson – December 14 |
| @ Virginia – December 18 |
The biggest spot on the floor has also been reworked, and it’s possible that the biggest x-factor for these Tigers resides in the paint. After three years with Baylor and then Illinois, Dainja arrives in Memphis looking for the feature role he’s often been denied in the past. He’s not cut out for the 4-out and fast-paced systems that many programs employ; he’s a classic post-up big man who can drag favorable matchups into the ‘Dainja Zone’ and absolutely feast inside.
“We haven’t really had a big like Dain before,” Hardaway surmised this fall. “He’s highly skilled down on that block and can make plays and can score it. And he handles the ball like a guard.” With soft hands, nimble feet, a 7’7″ wingspan, and the patience needed to score efficiently in the lane, Dainja owns a 64.8% career shooting rate and tends to put up serious numbers when he plays 12+ minutes in a game. Thing is, Dainja isn’t huge enough to out-huge some guys, and opponents can expose him defensively with shooting bigs. So, how will Penny feature him and keep him involved with so many guys on the roster who can run? Under Hardaway, Memphis has not been a slow-paced outfit, and the consistency of Dainja’s involvement will bear watching. To his credit, Dainja is a boisterous cheerleader when not in the game and has been described as a great teammate, and Tigers fans should enjoy his positive and outgoing demeanor. Still, Dainja didn’t hit the transfer portal just to end up with another program that wasn’t going to utilize him. If Memphis can strike the best balance yet of his usage, Dainja could be primed to explode.
Sharing the pivot with Dainja will be a big fella whose hugeness has never been questioned. Moussa Cissé was named the American’s Rookie of the Year in his debut with the Tigers nearly half a decade ago. Since then, he’s been an important player for both Oklahoma State and Ole Miss, but for his final go-round, Cissé is back on The Bluff. At each of his stops, Cissé left fans imagining a potential future where he develops a bit better hands and a larger scoring repertoire – and shot 60% at the foul line. Unfortunately, those things have yet to consistently happen, but Cissé still brings some rather visible skills to any lineup. He can be an absolute terror defensively; Cissé was named the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year two seasons ago. The rangy seven-footer has blocked 198 shots in his four seasons, and prior to his smaller role and imperfect fit with Mississippi last season, Cissé had never failed to lead his conference in rejections for a season. If he finds his groove back in a familiar setting, Cissé should give Memphis a particularly strong tandem at the pivot.
Since Caleb Mills wasn’t able to get a waiver to play one more year, two other new guards are coming in to help out. At UTSA last season, PJ Carter enjoyed the best campaign of his career. He made 52 triples at a 40.3% rate, and has the size and feel to hunt and get his shot whenever he wants. If he can provide consistent, efficient scoring off of the Tigers’ bench, Carter might be an AAC 6th Man of the Year candidate for the second straight season. George Mason transfer Baraka Okojie underwent offseason shoulder surgery following a promising rookie year, but still hopes to be ready to tip off the season with his new teammates. As of September 20th, he was still awaiting full clearance to play. Naturally unselfish and savvy in the halfcourt, Okojie should add even more entertaining wrinkles to the Tigers once he takes the floor. The lone freshman Hardaway has added this year is scoring guard Jared Harris. Harris has already got big-time scoring instincts and an athletic frame, and a jumper that can be dangerous at times, but his motivation has been questioned by scouts. If Harris can find consistency early on – or Okojie takes a bit to get rolling – Harris could push for significant minutes.
“I could leave right now…No matter who they’d go get [to replace me], it’s gonna be hard on them. This is not an easy job. I’m not making any excuses…I feel like if I leave [Memphis basketball], it’s gonna go down hard.”
– Penny Hardaway
With the resources, talent, and swagger Memphis has, expectations are consistently high for a reason. That things haven’t gone smoothly very often, though, is becoming a weary ride for plenty of Tigers fans. For his part, Hardaway has remained confident to the point of hubris, and isn’t shy about answering those who question his handling of the program.
“There’s been a lot more negative and personal things towards me this year out of all years because to me, it was an easy layup…People are trying to normalize me. That’ll never happen. You can’t normalize me,” Hardaway declared to Taylor Made Sports this spring.
“I could leave right now,” Hardaway continued. “No matter who they’d go get [to replace me], it’s gonna be hard on them. This is not an easy job. I’m not making any excuses…I feel like if I leave [Memphis basketball], it’s gonna go down hard.”
With such bravado, winning big is the only next step which will suffice. There will be opportunities for big, loud, victories, too. With one of the toughest non-conference schedules in America ahead of them, Hardaway’s team is going to be under the bright lights constantly. Memphis has the talent to win a whole bunch of those games, and to advance in March. No one doubts the Tigers’ talent, though. It’s Hardaway who has the most to prove this winter. Following mass upheaval of not just the roster but Haedaway’s coaching staff, are things finally going to come together? There will undoubtedly be headlines along the way, and soon, all of us – Hardaway included – will mess around and find out.
Leave a Reply