MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It’s never boring.
People can say a lot of things about the basketball program Penny Hardaway is running at Memphis — and, boy, people sure have been saying a lot of things about the basketball program Penny Hardaway is running at Memphis — but one thing nobody can ever say is that it’s boring.
It feels like there are allegations of Level I recruiting violations and academic fraud and NCAA investigations and lawsuits and just about anything else you can imagine all the time. The program recently wanted to accept a young man who is now a felon after being convicted of firing a gun into a car filled with people. More recently, the program was reportedly recruiting a young man who had bounced through two schools already, the latter of which after being charged with sexual assault. And now this, with Memphis acknowledging Wednesday to Sports Illustrated that it has handed over a letter to the NCAA from an anonymous author that alleges multiple rules violations within the men’s basketball program.
It’s never boring.
Those keeping track of things already know that Hardaway, the seventh-year coach of his alma mater, has thus far enrolled more top-ranked recruiting classes (two) than he has won NCAA Tournament games (one). He’s also endured more NCAA investigations than the number of times he’s finished in the top two of his mid-major conference — and he’s still never secured even one regular-season conference championship even though, again, he’s coaching in a mid-major conference and, again, he’s already enrolled two recruiting classes that literally ranked No. 1 in the entire country, according to 247Sports.
It’s never boring.
But the question that needs to be asked now is whether it’s all just too … exhausting. I mean, is anybody, other than folks who just love to bang on Memphis, enjoying this anymore? Are any Memphis graduates — even the ones like me who wanted…
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