NOBODY WINS
NCAA’S ruling against Wiseman hurts college basketball in general
Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway sat on the dais dissecting another win, defiant and defeated all at once Wednesday night.
He tried to hold his tongue. He tried to claim he had no reaction to the NCAA’S ruling just a few hours before tip-off that star freshman James Wiseman would have to sit out 11 more games (now 10) due to the $11,500 his mother received from Hardaway for moving expenses in the summer of 2017.
But any time the conversation veered toward Memphis’ 68-58 win
Inside
Hardaway ‘in shock’ from NCAA’S ruling on Wiseman, 4B over Little Rock, inevitably another question about Wiseman wasn’t far behind.
Did Hardaway tell the team about the Wiseman ruling?
“No, actually we didn’t,” he said. “It’s just something, it is what it is right now. It’s taken on a life of its own, so I’m sure they’ll see it.”
Was Hardaway at least glad to find out the number of games Wiseman would have to sit out?
Yes, “we’d been waiting on that,” he said.
3 takeaways from Memphis’ win over Little Rock, 4B
What was Wiseman’s reaction to the NCAA’S ruling?
“I didn’t ask him,” Hardaway responded. “We kept going business as usual.”
What kind of test will this be for the Tigers without Wiseman for this long?
“It’s going to be a big test because guys got to grow up,” he said.
Is it fair that a teenager like Wiseman is the one being punished by the NCAA?
And here’s where Hardaway decided enough was enough. Here’s where he decided he had to say something, had to let everyone know what we already knew.
“I stated from the beginning that I didn’t think it was fair, but there’s
nothing I can do about it,” Hardaway said. “Obviously, James should be on the floor. That’s just how I feel.”
That’s just not going to happen until Jan. 12, pending an appeal. Which means nobody really won Wednesday.
Not Wiseman, certainly. Not Memphis. Not Hardaway. Not Tiger fans or fans of college basketball, in general. And not even the NCAA, even as the organization upheld its own backwards version of the rule of law.
Wiseman is forced to sit on the bench. His teammates are forced to play their entire non-conference schedule and two AAC games without him. The fans are forced to go almost two months without watching the presumptive No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA draft play basketball.
The university is forced to deal with the very real possibility that the NCAA is only just getting started because it knowingly played Wiseman when he had been deemed “likely ineligible.” Hardaway is forced to confront the reality that the NCAA might be out for vengeance against his program, and him. And the NCAA is forced to deal with another public relations nightmare of its own doing.
About the only positive is that at least they all know now what comes next. Well, sort of.
Memphis knows exactly what games it will have to navigate without Wiseman. The school should also know exactly what it’s up against in this case — an organization that isn’t willing to show mercy to a member school that acted in an insubordinate manner. Which also means Memphis doesn’t know if another investigation or more penalties could be on the way.
More than anything, this just stinks for Wiseman. He doesn’t deserve any of it.
Hardaway is right that Wiseman should be on the floor right now — playing in the NBA like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett did straight out of high school once upon a time. He shouldn’t have to adhere to arcane NCAA rules that — oh, by the way — schools like Memphis agree to adhere to by being a member of the NCAA.
If Wiseman needs money, he should be able to go make money however he sees fit. And now, of course, he needs money.
He needs to pay back the $11,500 to charity and it can’t come from fundraising and it can’t come from boosters. It has to come from his family. The same family that needed Hardaway’s money to move from Nashville to Memphis.
It would be comical if it weren’t so disheartening and illogical.
The good news is that perhaps these Tigers, a team built around Hardaway’s No. 1 recruiting class, were built to deal with this successfully. It was fascinating after Wednesday night’s game, for instance, to hear D.J. Jeffries and Precious Achiuwa blissfully unaware of the hammer the NCAA had dropped on Wiseman before tip-off.
They claimed to have had no idea how their season had changed.
“That’s crazy,” Jeffries said when told of the NCAA’S ruling on Wiseman. “Can’t wait for it to be over.”
It was obvious, as Hardaway’s news conference came to a close, that he feels exactly the same way. That what he’s learned in this case, or at least what he’s been forced to stomach, is fighting the NCAA might just be fruitless.
So, he was asked at the end, would he have done anything differently in retrospect?
“I don’t really know what else to say about it. I don’t know what you want me to say,” Hardaway answered. “I feel like James should be on the floor, so the process of what’s going on, they’re in control. They make the rules, so we just have to abide by them.”
With that, Hardaway walked back to the locker room and into this program’s uncertain future, just as defiant and defeated as he began.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto