I dare you not to rank Memphis
Penny Hardaway said he wouldn’t even be mad if his team gets snubbed again.
But you should be.
If the coaches who vote in the USA TODAY Coaches poll or the reporters who vote in the Associated Press poll disregard Memphis basketball this week, they will have officially become willfully ignorant.
Rank them!
It should have happened already, after Memphis went to the Bahamas and beat Michigan and then-no. 20 Arkansas. It should have happened last week, after Memphis went to VCU and thenno. 19 Texas A&M and won two more times.
It has to happen now. No more excuses.
Not after Memphis knocked off No. 11 Clemson, 79-77, Saturday in front of a delirious Fedexforum crowd that had been starving to show Hardaway and his roster full of transfers how quickly this city can fall in love with a team.
“Out of anyone in the country,” Hardaway said, “I feel we’ve earned, really had to earn the right.”
There is no denying anymore these Tigers are one of the top 25 teams in the country.
Missouri knows it. Michigan and Arkansas found out weeks ago. VCU and Texas A&M joined the list last week. Clemson (9-1), which came here undefeated, left with its own lesson after a fantastic, back-and-forth game between two teams that looked like they could do some damage in March. If the goal this season for Hardaway and the program is to finally break through to the Sweet 16, this had the vibe of a round of 32 game it will have to win to get there.
Memphis (8-2) is fast becoming everything anyone could have hoped for this season, piling up wins against a gauntlet few coaches would dare play. Even if it’s taking the rest of the country longer than it should to notice.
“That’s why we called Memphis to play,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “We know that they’re going to be good every year and you’re trying to put together a resume with games of as many good teams as you can get. I give Penny a ton of credit for what he’s scheduled. He’s pretty secure in his job, I would think, to be scheduling sixstraight road games. Most of us don’t have that kind of security.”
About the only thing Memphis and Hardaway hadn’t done was win a big home game. The program went 30 days between appearances at Fedex
Forum before Saturday. Hardaway was serving a suspension for the first two home games of the season. So all these new players were greeted by a raucous environment that rivaled all the best atmospheres during the Hardaway era.
This was, for both players and fans, the first time they got to really see and hear each other. They were each rewarded with a compelling chess match between two contrasting styles.
There were nine lead changes and six ties. Clemson’s star big man, PJ Hall, proved overwhelming at times. But Memphis’ pressure and small ball lineups discombobulated Clemson more. Memphis had runs of 17-2 in the first half and 15-2 after halftime, and Clemson responded in kind each time.
Burgeoning Memphis star David Jones scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half. Point guard Jahvon Quinerly played the role of maestro in crunch time. Memphis committed just six turnovers. Big men Malcolm Dandridge and Nick Jourdain made so many timely hustle plays. For the final six minutes of regulation, just about everyone in the crowd was standing and just about everyone on the court was diving on the floor.
But the defining sequences were all predicated on sheer guts. Quinerly had two steals in a minute span. And with 42 seconds to go, there was Dandridge, Jourdain and Quinerly frantically harassing a Clemson guard into a shot clock violation. Clemson still had two
more chances, though, thanks to some missed Memphis free throws.
But Quinerly prevented Clemson sharpshooter Joe Girard from catching the ball down three with nine seconds to go and Jaykwon Walton stood his ground on a desperation heave by Hall. When Dandridge collected one final rebound off a deliberately missed free throw, all those moments leading up to this scene served as confirmation.
This was the vision Hardaway had for this group – to buy in to what Memphis basketball can be despite such a limited time together.
“I just feel like we’re growing faster than these other teams that are playing lower competition. It’s forcing us to grow as a team, to not drop these big games,” Quinerly said. “It’s honestly bringing the best out of the group.”
Mind you, the best could still be to come.
Memphis won despite shooting 4 for 26 from 3-point range. Memphis won even though Kansas State transfer Nae’qwan Tomlin, who could join the team as soon as Tuesday’s huge matchup against No. 21 Virginia, was sitting a few rows behind the bench, waiting to enroll in school to provide a 6-foot-10 reinforcement. Memphis won again when the rankings said it shouldn’t.
“I put this schedule together blindly. I didn’t know who I was going to have,” Hardaway said. “And man, I thank God for these guys that I have.”
So of course, he won’t be mad. He already knew what all those polls better tell him come Monday.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on X: @mgiannotto