Penny bump: Hardaway jolts Tigers’ recruiting
Evan Daniels tells the story because it’s a moment that showed him Penny Hardaway’s ability to connect to this generation of basketball players.
Daniels, the national recruiting director for 247 Sports, is also a member of the USA Basketball Committee. He was there when Hardaway shared his journey with 17 of the nation’s top recruits during a private meeting in Colorado last October at a USA Basketball junior national team mini-camp.
The central theme was how he went from unranked to just like all of them while playing at Treadwell High School in Memphis.
“We are in an age when attention spans don’t last and every single kid in that room was focused on Penny Hardaway, and listened to him,” Daniels said. “They sought out advice from him throughout the camp. They were engaged with him, and I think when you have a guy of that caliber, it draws that type of attention.”
What does Hardaway’s success mean?
Hardaway is adapting well to the instant gratification demands of the recruiting world, showing off the clout he developed in grassroots basketball with an initial recruiting haul that bodes well for Memphis.
Over the past week, Hardaway reeled in top 150 recruits Tyler Harris, Antwann Jones and Alex Lomax. He also added 6-foot-10 junior college prospect Isaiah Maurice, who played at Kansas State. It’s the Tigers’ first top 30 recruiting class since 2015.
Memphis is ranked No. 26 in the country by Rivals and No. 30 by 247 Sports. It’s also the highest-ranked class among first-year coaches this offseason and the top recruiting class in the American Athletic Conference.
“He’s already having success on the recruiting trail and he’s only been there a month,” Daniels said. “I’m not surprised he’s having recruiting success. In fact, I expect the recruiting success to not only continue, but to amplify.”
Hardaway, of course, is not the first new coach to jolt a school’s recruiting efforts right away.
Cuonzo Martin built the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class, according to 247 Sports, before he ever coached a game at Missouri last season. He did so by hiring the father of top recruits Michael Porter Jr. and Jontay Porter as an assistant coach.
LSU’s Will Wade, Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann and Brad Underwood of Illinois all maintained top-30 2017 recruiting classes after being hired last offseason.
In 2015, Chris Mullin of St. John’s (No. 26) also had a top 30 recruiting class when he returned to his alma mater as a first-time college head coach, along with Florida’s Mike White, Shaka Smart at Texas and Mississippi State’s Ben Howland.
Of those eight coaches, Martin, Holtmann and Smart qualified for the NCAA tournament in their first season on the job.
“It’s a great start and they’ve gotten the Penny bump that they wanted and that brings energy to the program. It creates enthusiasm, creates excitement,” ESPN analyst and former Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. “But it really doesn’t mean anything. I’m not diminishing what they’ve been able to do. Signing kids late is hard because there’s not a lot of guys available.”
Why does Hardaway’s success matter?
Memphis assistant Mike Miller said on Sports 56 WHBQ Tuesday that the Tigers are still looking to add to their 2018 recruiting haul. Memphis has one scholarship available for next season and six open slots to use for the 2019 recruiting class.
But the way Hardaway constructed his first recruiting class and coaching staff at Memphis suggests even more high-profile talent could be on the way.
He hired Tony Madlock, a wellknown recruiter, and Miller, who has ties to at least four top 15 recruits in the 2019 class.
Former NBA coach Sam Mitchell is the latest name to reportedly emerge as a candidate for Hardaway’s final assistant coaching spot. The former Toronto Raptors and Minnesota Timberwolves
Rivals 4 stars (129); ESPN 4 stars; 247 Sports 3 stars (No. 145 composite, No. 175 247 Sports)
Rivals 4 stars (115); ESPN 4 stars; 247 Sports 4 stars (No. 92 composite, No. 109 247 Sports)
Averaged 12.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game at South Plains Junior College G Jayden Hardaway, Memphis/South Florida
Rivals 5 stars (2); ESPN 5 stars (1); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 1 compositive, No. 1 247 Sports) Rivals 5 stars (1); 247 Sports 5 stars (1) Rivals 3 stars; 247 Sports 3 stars (125) Rivals 3 stars; 247 Sports 3 stars (132) head coach has worked with Adidas and developed ties to its top prospects over the past two years.
Over the weekend, Hardaway convinced Jones and Maurice, who had been tethered to other schools, to sign with Memphis during official visits. To get Lomax and Harris, he bridged the gap between two sides of the Memphis basketball scene.
They are all aggressive moves that bolstered the Tigers’ roster and Hardaway’s reputation as a recruiter. Imagine what Hardaway and a full staff could do with a year, instead of less than a month, to build relationships with prospects.
“It’s clear that he hit the ground running and he was able to use his connections to the area and reel in good players,” Daniels said.
“To keep (Lomax and Harris) home is a big deal for Memphis. I think Memphis fans have been adamant about the coach at Memphis recruiting the city and recruiting the state and keeping the best players within the city home. It’s clear that Penny Hardaway is trying to build a fence and build a wall around the city of Memphis and really attack that
Rivals 5 stars (5); ESPN 5 stars (5); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 4 composite, No. 4 247 Sports)
G Alex Lomax, Memphis — G Antwann Jones, Florida — F/C Isaiah Maurice (JUCO), Durham, N.C. — 2018/19 F/C James Wiseman, Memphis — 2020 G Jalen Green, Fresno, Calif. — 2020 CG Matthew Murrell, Memphis — 2020 F Cameron Mathews, Olive Branch — Potential transfers Chattanooga G/F Nat Dixon (grad) Auburn G Desean Murray (grad) Arkansas F Darious Hall (freshman) Pittsburgh G Parker Stewart (freshman) 2019 F Matthew Hurt, Rochester, Minn. —
Rivals 5 stars (13); ESPN 5 stars (10); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 12 composite, No. 10 247 Sports)
2019 G Jalen Lecque —
2019 F Trendon Watford, Birmingham, Ala. — Rivals 5 stars (10); ESPN 5 stars (9); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 9 composite, No. 13 247 Sports) Rivals 5 stars (7); ESPN (7); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 7 composite, No. 8 247 Sports)
2019 G Bryan Antoine, New Jersey —
Rivals 5 stars (9); ESPN 5 stars (8); 247 Sports 5 stars (No. 6 composite, No. 9 247 Sports)
2019 F Scottie Lewis, New Jersey —
Rivals 5 stars (49); ESPN 5 stars (26); 247 Sports 4 stars (No. 40 composite, No. 51 247 Sports)
2019 F Chandler Lawson, Memphis —
2019 F Malcolm Dandridge, Memphis — Rivals 4 stars (102); ESPN 4 stars; 247 Sports (No. 117 composite, No. 94 247 Sports) 2019 G/F Antavion Collum, Memphis — Rivals 4 stars (94); ESPN 3 stars; 247 Sports 4 stars (No. 155 composite, No. 91 247 Sports) area hard.”
But to put Hardaway’s urgency at Memphis into its proper context, understanding his anxiety over losing is crucial.
It’s the competitive side of Hardaway that’s emerging more frequently lately because of how many interviews he has conducted as the Tigers’ new men’s basketball coach.
This week, for instance, he reiterated in a podcast with ESPN’s Marty Smith that “making the NCAA tournament, winning our conference,” is his firstyear goal because “it’s just how I’m wired.”
As a recruiter, it’s a trait that is serving him well.
“You’re never hotter than when you just got hired,” Greenberg said. “You haven’t coached a game. You haven’t lost a game. You haven’t had an issue off the court. You’ve got the cleanest slate.
“So what do you have? It’s Penny Hardaway coming back to Memphis. It’s his reputation. It’s his pedigree. It’s the enthusiasm that goes along with it. And they’ve done a great job of using those things to secure kids that have a chance.”
2019 F Javon Franklin, Little Rock, Ark. (JUCO)