Hardaway disappointed, but understands AAC’S decision
Penny Hardaway – sporting a blue, long-sleeved shirt, with the old Memphis State logo across the chest, and Orlando Magic socks – walked past the Starbucks counter inside the Worthington Renaissance hotel around noon Thursday in downtown Fort Worth.
His Tigers were supposed to be preparing to play ECU at 9 p.m. in the first round of the AAC Tournament. Instead, they were preparing to board buses bound for the airport. The tournament – like most others around the country – was canceled less than two hours earlier amid growing concerns over the spread of coronavirus.
Hardaway was disappointed. The Tigers were disappointed. Even sad. But the second-year coach knew the decision to bring college basketball to a halt was the right one.
“We understand that what’s going on is bigger than basketball,” he said. “I’m sure all the kids around the country that are having their conference tournaments canceled, the seniors especially (and) the teams like us (who were) fighting for an opportunity to try to get in – yeah, it’s very disappointing. This is bad. When you have to shut down the conference tournaments and the NBA, it’s pretty bad.”
Hardaway, along with Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch, met briefly with the team’s players and members of its coaching staff at 2 p.m., ahead of its 4 p.m. flight. At that time, no announcement had been made regarding whether the NCAA Tournament would be played as scheduled, it would be postponed or, simply, scrapped altogether. Shortly after 3 p.m., the NCAA opted to call the whole thing off.
Hardaway, speaking before the decision was made, said he thinks that would be the right move.
“I think with everything that’s going on, like I said, it’s bigger than basketball,” he said. “This is something that’s happening around the country. For right now, yeah, I would say (it should be canceled). Until we really figure out what’s going on.”
Memphis finishes its season with a 21-10 record on the court, but plenty of drama away from it. Some of which will linger into the offseason. The program still has a pending infractions case working its way through the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, with no timetable attached to it.
Hardaway labeled it a “crazy year” and likened it to a roller coaster.
“This has been an amazing year,” he said. “This is a year that we weren’t expecting a lot of things to happen and now to come to this. It’s crazy. A big roller coaster, that’s how I’ll remember this season. But you know what, it’s been a fun roller coaster. There’s been some moments where it’s been kind of ugly or bad. But way more positive moments than that.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.