OT: Mempis Basketball & Penny Hardaway have the #1 class
- Thread starter Richard the LIONhearted
- Start date
One of the kids in the class played for him at Memphis East.
Calipari was at Memphis so the booster bag man are already in place.
I really like Penny and hope he does well at memphis. This is not the Memphis team under Calapari
Not sure why you would say that. Am I missing something? Calamari was the one who ran a shady program.
Well, I’m cynical to a fault, so when a mid-major program has the top class in the country, and the program itself has a history of violations (these things are usually deeper than the coach, you have to have the boosters in place too, and they didn’t leave with Calipari), I’m going to be very skeptical.
Oh, and that coach who is suddenly landing the top class in the country. Only ever a HS coach before that. Yeah, I feel pretty good that this era for Memphis will not be looked back on as a bastion of integrity.
I don’t disagree, but the best recruit in Memphis’ class was coached by Penny both in high school and in AAU. He’s the #1 recruit in the country. Two other top 100 recruits in their class also played for Penny either in high school or in AAU. The kids and their families have a long relationship with and trust him, and even without Boogie, Quinones or Precious those three Memphis kids would still give them one of the best classes in the country. Their whole staff is full of NBA guys, too, which makes them attractive for the one and done types that they’re landing.
Was Penny Hardaway even that good in the NBA? I remember the hype. I don’t remember any talent in what seemed to be a fairly short career (given the ballyhoo)
Why not totally embrace the 1 and dones? Have the school have classes geared to them. Speech class, basic accounting, marketing, nutrition, etc. Open it to all students, but limit it to say 20 and bball players get dibs. These kids and parents only care about going pro, so sell them on the idea that their school will focus 100% on getting them to be good at being a long term NBA player.
Not that I like any of the above, just 1 way to go about it.
Not that I like any of the above, just 1 way to go about it.
Interesting perspective. The traditionalist in me absolutley hates it! But, it would actually benefit the kids a lot more than them wasting time in a basic humanities class that means nothing to them. Would be interested in a deeper dive into this idea.
16 years is short?
I think Orlando went to the finals once when he and Shaq were on the same team. They would have won titles if they kept that team together.
Memphis is not a mid-major program, they have a lot of history and tradition.
I'm not sure that anything is automatically shady about this. Players who want to be in the NBA are signing up to play for an NBA-style staff. I do not think Penny will have an easy time keeping them under control once they get on campus. If there is a scandal it will be about eligibility and players not taking class seriously. The NBA really needs to go all in on its minor league system and end the one-and-done policy.
Plus, four All-Star Games and two times all-league. Not a Hall of Fame career, but hardly anonymous.
Mid-major is universally defined as conferences not in the Power 5. I'm not saying their program is middle of the pack, but that is the type of conference they're in.
Don't know why I don't consider Villanova to be a mid-major despite that definition.
Memphis is a good school with a good history of basketball success. I could definitely see a kid wanting to play for Penny Hardaway. He was a super star for a while....does no one else remember all those "little penny" commercials he had? I always liked Penny hardaway.
I remember it, and it's nice to see a guy who had all of that at a young age continuing his career later in life. It means he really loves the game and loves being a coach. He likely doesn't need much money to get by.
Compare that with Michael Jordan, of whom I was never a fan, who never gave one thing back to the game or helped anyone else.
16 years - wow. I remember Shaq carrying him to the finals one year, I don’t remember Penny being anything to write home about after that one year. 12-15 pts a game type of guy and career productivity faded fast. He was decent at best
Not really true about Jordan; he's been very involved in basketball operations and team ownership with the Wizards and Hornets; he just sucks at that part of the game, and has made some really bad personnel choices.
