Buckley: Last season was a mess. What does Ed Scott think of Penny now?
Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway instructs his defense during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UAB in the championship of the American Athletic Conference tournament, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Gareth Patterson/AP)
Tim Buckley
Tim is a veteran sportswriter who graduated from CBHS in Memphis and the University of Missouri. He previously covered LSU sports in Baton Rouge, and the University of Louisiana football and basketball for The Daily Advertiser/USA TODAY Network in Lafayette, the NBA’s Utah Jazz for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and West Texas State basketball for the Amarillo Globe News in Texas.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A season ago, Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers left here with heads hanging.
They had just been upset by Wichita State in their opening game of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
After a late-season collapse, a team that had been ranked as high as No. 10 wasn’t even going to make the NCAA Tournament. Things were so bad they took a pass on playing in the NIT.
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Buckley: DainjaMan got winged. Then he shed his cape and resumed business.
Dain Dainja was “a little banged up” in the first half of the Tigers’ AAC quarterfinal win against Wichita, but he returned for the start of the second half to help Memphis advance to Saturday’s semifinal.
Buckley: The Tigers may not have Tyrese Hunter. But they do have resolve.
“What the Tigers, their roster nearly entirely overhauled, really showed was the resoluteness they failed to exhibit a season ago.”
Depleted Tigers are ‘ready for war’ on the path to secure AAC Tournament title
“Our team is built one through 13 to be ready to play and to be ready for war,” coach Penny Hardaway said Saturday. “So, when one guy goes down, the next guy’s gonna step up.” Memphis escapes upset to beat Tulane, advances to AAC Tournament title game Memphis’ Tyrese Hunter leaves Tulane game with injury Box score: Memphis 78, Tulane 77 Tigers NCAA Bracketology tracker. What seed will Memphis receive?Related content:
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