Bartlett’s Knox gets Memphis offer
Junior guard put up 37-point showing at Iverson Classic
Amarr Knox made his way down from the bleachers and strode across the brand-new Bartlett basketball gym to tell the story. He spoke with excitement about being in the car on his way to grab a ham-and-cheese sandwich from Subway when he got a text from Penny Hardaway.
The Memphis basketball coach heard about the Bartlett guard's 37point performance against five-star point guard J.D. Davison in the Iverson Classic the night before and wanted to introduce himself. Knox texted a response and then Hardaway called him.
"I was like ‘I know he ain't calling me,' " Knox said. "I answered the phone and he was telling me all the good things he saw and what he heard last night. And he told me I got a full scholarship offer and I got all excited and stuff."
That's the kind of exposure that the Iverson Classic has created.
A few weeks ago, Knox was enrolled at Central, which isn't playing basketball because Shelby County Schools indefinitely postponed sports. The 6foot-3 junior transferred to Bartlett and his first home game was excellent timing against Calhoun School of Letohatchee, Alabama, featuring the nation's top-ranked point guard. The performance was in front of several former NBA players including Tracy Mcgrady, Stephen Jackson, Matt Barnes, and Mike Miller who were watching courtside.
"Just having T-mac in the gym, seeing Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes coming in, bringing those guys into Memphis and having this event here is big for the city," East coach Jevonte Holmes said. "It shows what Memphis has to offer, it shows what kind of city Memphis is basketball-wise, and it shows the kind of talent we have around here."
It was a grand high-school basketball stage that Holmes helped create. He knew Iverson Classic owner and cofounder Bobby Bates "from way back" and convinced him to have the event in Memphis this year.
The original plan, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, was for Holmes' East team to play in the showcase. But East is unable to play because it is a Shelby County School. Two of the Mustangs' top players, brothers T.D. and J.R. Jacobs, ended up transferring to Bartlett.
So on Friday, the coach stood in a corner of the gym and watched his former players compete for their new school.
"The best thing I saw, was to see T.D. get a chance to play his senior year," Holmes said. "Obviously it's bittersweet. Me and the kids still talk all the time, but just to see him get an opportunity to get out there and play man, that was my biggest surreal moment. It was a teary-eyed moment for me."
A short walk from where Holmes was standing, through the doubledoors and past the concession stand outside of the gym entrance, was a grinning Jordan Nesbitt wearing an unzipped black Nike warm-up over a blue Memphis sweatshirt. The 6-6 Memphis commitment was soaking up a taste of his future home and telling reporters about how he can't wait to refine his game learning from Hardaway.
"He'll help me get to the next level and make my game ten times better," Nesbitt said. "I can't wait to get under his wing and learn from him."
As Nesbitt wrapped up his interviews, Arlington was putting the finishing touches on a 35-point victory over Calhoun. Star guard Madison Peaster threw down a vicious twohanded 360 dunk as the final buzzer went off.
It was a fitting ending to an epic moment of Memphis high school hoops.