Calkins: It’s a pivotal year for Penny Hardaway — and us
Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway at practice during media availability at the NCAA Tournament on March 16, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian file)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
Maybe this is the year.
Maybe this is the year that everything breaks right for Memphis basketball, that the Tigers surprise everyone by exceeding the hype.
Maybe this is the year that the games are more memorable than the soap operas, that the biggest headlines are about the wins.
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Maybe this is the year Penny Hardaway delivers on his promise. Maybe this is the year the team makes a real NCAA Tournament run.
Maybe this is the year — how’s this for optimism? — that Hardaway and the Tigers make it back to the Sweet 16.
That is what every Memphian hopes will happen. And, yes, I feel comfortable speaking for y’all.
Never mind everything that has occurred since Hardaway took the job back in 2018. Never mind the dramas and the NCAA investigations and the program’s revolving door.
Every right-minded person in this city would love it if Hardaway could find the success that has eluded him so far.
Can you imagine how much fun that would be? Hardaway leading Memphis back to the Sweet 16? The embattled favorite son rising above controversy to claim a piece of the glory he expected when he took the job?
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Not only would it be the happiest turn the Hardaway saga could take, it would save us all from the misery that would come with another disappointing year.
So could it happen?
Sure.
Does anyone really believe it will happen?
No.
Of course not.
So, with that, I welcome you to another season of Memphis Tiger basketball. ...
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