Spotlight still on coach Hardaway
The two cameramen clipped the lapel microphones in an unusual spot on the chest of Penny Hardaway's black Memphis basketball polo, and so he politely asked for them to be moved with a quip Monday afternoon.
“Y'all are trying to make me look bad,” Hardaway said with a laugh.
This is how the first press conference before the first official practice before the first college basketball season that really matters for Hardaway began. With a joke about how he might look to the masses who watched the local news that night.
Because Hardaway knows, perhaps better than anyone, that everyone is watching.
As much excitement and anticipation as there is around watching his No. 1 recruiting class will look on the court, as much as it feels completely different than a year ago when Memphis made the best out of Tubby Smith's leftovers, the spotlight ultimately remains on the same person. Penny Hardaway.
If James Wiseman goes No. 1 in the 2020 NBA Draft, and Precious Achiuwa becomes the lottery pick he's predicted to be, it's Hardahow
way's tutelage that will get the credit. If D.J. Jeffries or Boogie Ellis or Damion Baugh or anyone else morphs into a one-and-done prospect, and Memphis reaches the Sweet 16 or beyond this year, it's Hardaway who will earn more praise.
And if the Tigers fall short of those aspirations, if they endure more than even a few losses, if – heaven forbid – they don't make the NCAA Tournament and this ballyhooed recruiting class can't live up to its billing, it's Hardaway whom the critics will blame.
Will he get more praise if he succeeds than blame if he doesn't? It's unlikely. That, sadly, is how it often works in our sports culture these days.
“I feel there's people around the country, even other college coaches, that probably wanted him to fail,” sophomore guard Tyler Harris said.
That is exactly what Hardaway said out loud last season. Nothing has changed now that he's got the roster he needs to compete with the best in the country. If anything, the skepticism is even more amplified.
Take those early season rankings various national college basketball writers have been publishing the past few months. None of them have Memphis ranked in the top five, even though nine of the past 10 years the school with the No. 1 recruiting class has been ranked in the top five of the preseason Associated Press poll. Now, mind you, all nine of those teams were either Kentucky or Duke and they were coached by either Calipari or Krzyzewski.
“Obviously if it were another college, a bigger college, then they would be ranked in the top five, if they had the No. 1 recruiting class,” Hardaway said. “I guess it's just, in their minds, the inexperience of our staff on this level, but that's up to us to make it different.”
Here's the best part, though, the part that quickly turned Hardaway into such an intriguing and polarizing character in the college basketball world. The part that often gets overlooked in the headlines he generates.
He appears to relish this notoriety. Even invites it.
If it removes some of the pressure off his players, particularly this year when so much is expected of them, even better. Because, when this season ends, their success or failure will be viewed as his success or failure because of his bravado.
Take Monday, once Hardaway was told about the recent preseason ranking history of previous No. 1 recruiting classes. Hardaway decided again he wanted, as he put it a few months ago, “all the smoke.”
“I would definitely rank us in the top five. I would,” Hardaway said. “I feel like we have the talent. I feel like we have the staff. But we have to prove that.”
In one statement, Hardaway reminded everyone that he knows what awaits this season. That yes, his players will be judged. But more so, he will be judged. Including by those actively rooting against him.
This is what it's like for all the best college teams.
The coach becomes more than just a coach. He is the face of the entire program, the person identified with a school even more than the mascot. He is even a villain in some circles.
Think Nick Saban and Alabama football. Or Mike Krzyzewski and Duke basketball. Or John Calipari at Kentucky.
Hardaway already established the Memphis brand in year one to a certain extent, with the trendy outfits and boisterous statements, with the NBA recruiting pitch and the collection of talent that officially begins practice Tuesday.
“I feel like we can get to the Final Four,” Harris said.
If they do, the joke will be on everyone else.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto