Hardaway celebrating 100 wins no matter what the NCAA says
CINCINNATI — Penny Hardaway took a moment recently to reflect on Memphis basketball’s Nov. 6, 2018, game against Tennessee Tech and the feeling it gave him.
That, of course, was Hardaway’s debut as coach at his alma mater. In front of 15,231 fans inside Fedexforum, Hardaway’s Tigers got 30 points from Kyvon Davenport and 18 from Jeremiah Martin, giving the revered favorite son his first coaching victory.
“I was just excited to be here,” Hardaway said last week.
That enthusiasm hasn’t faded. Neither time nor tribulation has dulled Hardaway’s fervor. Not even his program’s dust-up with the NCAA — the one stemming from the decision to play James Wiseman (who had been ruled ineligible) that resulted in an investigation and took years to snail its way through the Independent Accountability Resolution Process — has diminished his zeal.
Even though, officially — in the everwatchful eyes of the NCAA and, as a member institution, the Memphis athletic department’s record books — Sunday’s 75-68 win at Cincinnati was the 99th of Hardaway’s career, he celebrated it as No. 100. Because that is the number of times the Tigers (15-5, 5-2 AAC) have won games they have played since he was named coach.
But you won’t see any mention of it from the school or the program until Memphis wins its next game. Not on its website, on social media nor on the jumbotron at Fedexforum before Thursday’s game against SMU (6 p.m., ESPN2). That’s because the IARP’S Independent Resolution Panel prescribed a handful of penalties once it had finished adjudicating the Tigers’ case back in October 2022. Included among them
was the vacation of one win from the 2019-20 season due to Wiseman’s participation. It’s listed in the fine print on page 89 of Memphis’ 2022-23 record book: “one victory vacated by NCAA.”
Hardaway may have deferred to a program spokesperson during Sunday’s postgame interview when a reporter asked for clarity on the school’s official count. But, as far as he’s concerned, Sunday’s win at Fifth Third Arena over Cincinnati — a particularly pesky nemesis during his playing days — will never not be the 100th of his career.
“I’m only going by the games I’ve coached,” he said, before echoing what his stance on the NCAA investigation has been all along. “Everything I’ve done in my life — from when I first went to the NBA to now— has always been from my heart. I don’t have any (ulterior) motives.”
Hardaway called it “unfortunate” that his milestone victory can’t be recognized as part of the official record book.
“But, for me, it’ll be my 100th,” he said.
And, as such, Hardaway took time Sunday to concentrate on perspective.
“I’m so thankful to God for the opportunity,” he began. “All I wanted to do was make a difference for my hometown team. Try to get the fans back in the stands. To get the team to the NCAA Tournament. So, it makes me feel good, man. You can not only come in and feel like you have the knowledge of what to do, you’ve got to surround yourself with great people. Which I have all five years that have helped me get to this level. And we recruited great players.
“It’s been a struggle, but I feel like we’re turning the corner now. From that first game that I came in, I was just excited to be here. It’s still the same. I haven’t lost that feeling of wanting to win for the city and for this university.”