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It’s college basketball’s offseason, but the past week was a busy one nonetheless for Parth Upadhyaya. The Memphis Tigers basketball beat writer caught up on recent recruiting and transfer portal developments — it’s a huge deal as coach Penny Hardaway turns over his roster — and dropped in on the Nike EYBL’s stop in Memphis over the weekend. Also highlighting The Daily Memphian sports staff’s work for the week was a sad but moving piece from John Varlas on the untimely death of former Bartlett High runner Gabe Higginbottom. The 2024 NFL Draft, meanwhile, came and went late last week, with Memphis Tigers running back Blake Watson not hearing his name called. The surprising snub for Watson — who quickly signed Saturday with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent, as did Memphis edge rusher Jaylon Allen — came despite a strong sales pitch to NFL scouts and front office personnel from Tigers coach Ryan Silverfield, as Tim Buckley chronicled. Speaking of football, Buckley wrote Sunday about the new Memphis Showboats quarterback — Troy Williams, a Utah product — who got his first United Football League start in a loss to the Michigan Panthers at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. Things are mostly quiet over on the NBA front, but — as Drew Hill wrote after returning from his honeymoon to Italy — the Memphis Grizzlies are beginning to bring in prospects for workouts in advance of the June 26-27 NBA Draft. Hill also visited with ESPN personality Paul Finebaum and wrote about what the former Memphian had to say about what’s going on with Tigers sports while he was in town Monday to speak in front of the Memphis Touchdown Club. Oh, and Ja Morant has a new agent. His name should be familiar: Mike Miller, the former Grizzlies sharpshooter, Memphis Tigers assistant coach and Houston High head coach. Last week, John Martin caught up with Miller for thoughts on his new client, and this week, Miller weighed in with his own thoughts on both the Tigers’ search for a new athletic director following Laird Veatch’s departure for Missouri and Hardaway’s roster overhaul. On the local minor leagues scene, there is plenty coming up over the next several days. The Showboats play host to the Birmingham Stallions on Saturday (11 a.m.), hoping they shake their four-game UFL losing streak; Memphis 901 FC is at home against the Tampa Bay Rowdies for its promotional Stars Wars Day game Saturday (3 p.m.) at AutoZone Park, then visits FC Dallas for a May 7 U.S. Open Cup match; and the Memphis Redbirds are in Charlotte for a six-game series scheduled to open tonight and run through Sunday. The Triple-A Redbirds are not scheduled to be back home at AutoZone Park until May 7, when they open a 12-game homestand that begins with six games against Norfolk and resumes May 14 with six more against Gwinnett. Here’s a look at some of the staff’s top work from the week: — Deputy sports editor Tim Buckley
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By Parth Upadhyaya
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