Ten seconds into the new season, Jaykwon Walton gathered himself near the foul line, drove, rose, kept rising, and hammered the ball toward the hoop.

He missed.

Hey, it was just the first game. There are plenty of eye-popping dunks where that one came from.

Memphis overcomes sloppy start to beat Jackson State in season opener

Besides, Walton drew a foul. He calmly potted both shots.

Thus began another season of Memphis Tiger basketball, another season for this city’s original team. Two hundred and thirty-five days after the Tigers last played a basketball game that counted — and what a heartbreaking game that was — they opened their new season with a 94-77 win over Jackson State.

“It’s the first game, man,” said Walton, explaining why he tried to begin the proceedings with such a flourish.

So why not start off by dunking on their heads?

“It’s a new season, so I’m always excited,” said Pam Loeffel, a longtime fan who wore a Lester Quinones shirt to the game.

Game times announced for SMU and Temple games

Quinones is long gone, of course. And there are 11 — 11! — new players on this year’s team.

“I saw one of the names started with a ‘Q,’” Loeffel said.

That would be Jahvon Quinerly, the point guard who transferred in from Alabama. Maybe alphabetical continuity is all these times allow.

On this night, even the head coach was different. Rick Stansbury filled in as Penny Hardaway began his three-game suspension.

“A whole new team and a whole new coaching staff,” said Stansbury.

Tigers defense gets the stops when needed most, but there’s work to be done

But the same old questions to answer, quick.

You know the ones. We have pondered them all before.

Sure, the Tigers are talented. Sure, they are deep and long and capable of doing great things.

But can they start doing those great things, like, really soon? By Friday would be best. Because that is when the Tigers play a road game at Missouri. That is when their non-conference gauntlet begins.

It is plainly unfair that Memphis teams don’t have the ability to prove themselves over time — that their only path to a high seed in the NCAA Tournament is to win a whole bunch of non-conference games immediately after the season tips off.

Martin: Even without DeAndre Williams, this Tigers team has a chance for greatness

But that is the hard reality. Just look at the last few years. It didn’t matter how the Tigers were playing as the NCAA Tournament approached. Early-season losses to the likes of Saint Louis, Seton Hall, Iowa State, Georgia, Ole Miss, Murray State, Western Kentucky, VCU and Auburn doomed them from the start.

Given that, Tiger fans may be excused if they weren’t thrilled by the way Monday’s contest began. There was already a new starting lineup. One that didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. Jordan Brown and Caleb Mills were out. Malcolm Dandridge and Nick Jourdain were in.

The Tigers then proceeded to pitch the ball all over the place. They committed their 10th turnover with 8:12 left in the first half.

“We didn’t really play well,” said Mills, which is absolutely true.

And yet.

And yet the Tigers still won by 17 points over a team that is picked to win its conference.

Memphis Tigers rout LeMoyne-Owen despite sloppy play in exhibition game

And yet the Tigers still put up 94 points.

And yet Memphis still hit 11 three-pointers, forced 23 turnovers and left its temporary head coach making up words.

“We have spurtability,” Stansbury said. “Is that a word?”

Technically, no.

But it sure fits!

The Tigers have so many gifted players — so many experienced, gifted players — that they just might be able to win the games that previous Hardaway teams could not.

Sure, they got off to a slow start Monday. But Walton kept them in it by exploding — excuse me, spurting — for 17 points in the first half.

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Sure, Walton added just two points to his total in the second half. But four other players joined him in double figures. And a total of six Memphis players dropped in at least one three-pointer before the game was done.

I mean, you know who looked great?

Jonathan Pierre looked great. The dude is so long, and he sees the floor so well, and he likely won’t be part of the rotation in close games.

“He came in and gave us a lot of cerebralness,” said Stansbury, making up yet another word.

But you get what he was saying. The Tigers are super talented. You can be confident they will be an elite team in time.

Calkins: Yep, the Grizzlies lost another opener. But you should have seen the happy tears.

So Memphis fans should be patient and give them as much time as possible.

Say, the end of the week?