MEMPHIS, Tenn. — They did it! After eight years, the Memphis Tigers made it back to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, going in as an at-large No. 9 seed, facing off against the 8-seed Boise State Broncos Thursday, March 17, at 12:45 p.m.
To understand the full context of why this matters to the team and the city, it’s worth taking a look back and seeing exactly what it took to get the Tigers to where they are now, starting with the last time they reached the Tournament in 2014.
The Last Dance: 2013-2014
The last time the Tigers would reach the NCAA Tournament was also the last year they would be ranked in the AP Top-25 polls until 2019, entering the season ranked #13 in the brand-new American Athletic Conference.
Great Expectations
The team was coming off a 2012-2013 season that saw them crowned Conference-USA champions thanks to an undefeated conference record (16-0), finishing with a 31-5 overall record.
Three key players from that team were returning; Joe Jackson, the team’s leading scorer, and Chris Crawford and Geron Johnson, two athletic guards who both averaged more than 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists per game.
With the addition of five-star recruits Nick King and Austin Nichols, the Tigers were expected to break the tournament deadlock of the past three seasons, where they never left the tournament’s opening weekend victorious.
Head coach Josh Pastner was entering his fifth season at the helm, showing relative consistency in the wake of John Calipari's dramatic and controversial departure from Memphis in 2009, having posted a winning record each of his last four years, and making the Tournament in each of the past three.
Back-and-Forth
The season itself was defined by back-and-forth momentum; a comeback win against #23 Gonzaga in front of a sold-out FedEx Forum was followed up by a double-digit loss to unranked UConn just two games later. The team finished 2-1 in a stretch of three straight games against ranked opponents to end the year, including a home win against #7 Louisville to secure a season sweep against the defending national champions.
Despite a second-round exit in the AAC Tournament, the Tigers secured an 8 seed in the Big Dance, winning their first round game against 9-seed George Washington.
Two days later, the Tigers were blown out by No. 1 Virginia 78-60 in a game that was never really close after the Cavaliers ended the first half on a 19-4 run.
That would mark the last Tournament action for the Tigers for eight years.
Revolving Doors: 2014-2018
The next four seasons of Tigers basketball were mired in inconsistency.
The Tigers could not add to their Tournament appearance streak after losing three of their top scorers, and five seniors overall. They ended the season with an 18-14 record, falling in the first round of the AAC Tournament.
Austin Nichols developed as a legitimate scoring threat for Pastner in 2014-2015, but transferred to Virginia at the end of the season, in what would become a theme in the coming years; top talent developing at Memphis then transferring elsewhere.
Pastner's Departure
The highlight for the next two seasons of Tigers basketball was newcomer Dedric Lawson.
In his Freshman campaign, 2015-2016, he averaged 15.8 pts and 9.3 rebounds per game, leading the team alongside Senior Shaq Goodwin.
The team never found consistent results, however, finishing with a 19-15 record. Despite losing six of their last 11 regular-season games, the Tigers made a run to the AAC championship game, ultimately losing to UConn.
Empty seats and lost money were the themes of those two seasons, and many fans were starting to question if Josh Pastner was the coach moving forward.
Pastner stated on March 18, 2016 that he would be staying with the team, but signed a deal to become the next head coach at Georgia Tech less than a month later, leaving many fans feeling bitter about his departure.
The Tubby Smith Era
With Pastner gone to Georgia Tech, the Tigers turned to former Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith, who won a national title with the Wildcats in 1998.
Lawson followed up his Freshman season with an even more impressive Sophomore run, scoring 19.3 pts per game and nearly 10 rebounds.
The Tigers could not capitalize on Lawson's performance though, finishing 19-13, with seven of those losses by more than 10 points, including a 103-62 demolition by SMU to close out the regular season, one of the worst losses in school history.
Lawson transferred to Kansas after the 2016-2017 season, and the Tigers' next three leading scorers followed him into the transfer portal.
The Tigers entered the 2017-2018 season with the 92nd-ranked recruiting class, a far cry from the consistent top-10 classes of recent years, and seemingly no direction.
Seats continued to go empty and fans continued to become disinterested as the Tigers kept losing.
2017-2018 saw the emergence of Jeremiah Martin, who scored 18.9 pts per game for the Tigers and eventually left for the NBA.
The team finished with a 21-13 record, an improvement over the previous year, but not enough for Tubby Smith to keep his job.
Rumors began circulating before the end of the season in 2018 that Penny Hardaway was going to become the next head coach of the Tigers. Penny, who starred for the Tigers in the early 1990s, coached East High School at the time, leading them to three straight state championships.
It was a wildly popular idea among Tigers fans at the time. Penny, who grew up in the Bluff City, was an icon to fans who have been with the team since the beginning. Hiring him would immediately propel Memphis back into the national conversation.
Even though it would cost the U of M nearly $10M to end Smith's contract, before the end of the Tournament in 2018, it was confirmed; Smith was out, and Penny was in.
The Days of Penny Hardaway: 2018-Present
Penny Hardaway's hiring brought immediate excitement back to the team from around the city.
The 2018 recruiting class shot up to top-30 in the country after being 92nd the year before, thanks in large part to Penny's commitment to developing young players for the NBA.
The 2018-2019 season saw little improvement, with the team finishing 22-14 and reaching the second round of the NIT.
The Tigers upset UCF in the AAC Tournament, ultimately falling in the semifinal round to top-seeded Houston 61-58.
While the season on a whole was disappointing, the close contests to top teams like Tennessee, UCF and Houston were promising for the future.
James Wiseman and COVID-19
There was excitement buzzing around the team even before the start of 2019 when five-star recruit and NBA draft lottery prospect James Wiseman announced he was committing to the Tigers.
Wiseman played for Penny Hardaway at East High School, but it still came as a surprise to some Tigers fans that such a highly-sought-after recruit would decide to stay in Memphis and play for the hometown team.
In May, 2019, fellow five-star recruit Precious Achiuwa committed to the team, giving the Tigers the top recruiting class in the country, and its first Top-25 ranking since 2013, entering the season at #14.
The team got off to an auspicious start, winning its first game by 30 points with Wiseman scoring 28.
However, before the start of their next game, devastating news came: James Wiseman was ruled ineligible by the NCAA to play, citing recruiting violations.
According to the ruling, Penny gave Wiseman $11,500 to move from Nashville to Memphis in order to play for him at East High School.
While Penny was not the Tiger's coach at the time, he was still a U of M booster, meaning the move was still an NCAA violation.
The U of M allowed Wiseman to play his next two games while they appealed the ruling, but ultimately sat the star Freshman before the NCAA suspended him for the next 12 games.
Wiseman would not play another game for the U of M.
Despite the loss of Wiseman, the team seemed unfazed by the ruling, going on a 14-3 run to start the season, including a road win against #19 Tennessee.
After the strong start, the Tigers only went 7-7 the rest of the way, posting a 10-8 record in conference play.
Precious Achiuwa shined in Wiseman's absence, averaging 15.8 pts and 10.8 rebounds per game.
Going into March, 2020, Memphis was considered a bubble team to make the NCAA Tournament. Some experts said a strong showing in the AAC Tournament would give them the wins they needed to sneak in as one of the Last Four In, but that tournament, and the whole season, was cancelled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S.
The abrupt and unexpected end to the season put a cap on a disappointing year for Tigers fans. For a team that was expected to really contend, being on the bubble at the time the tournament was cancelled stung.
The Tigers entered the 2020-2021 season with dampened expectations. Precious Achiuwa departed to play in the NBA and COVID caused issues with recruiting, causing the team to slip in the rankings once again.
The team started the year 6-5, but ended on a 14-3 run capped off with the school's first NIT championship, with a punishing defense becoming the team's signature in the tournament.
Where we are today
The NIT championship re-ignited Memphis' faith in the Tigers. Penny Hardaway went to work in the offseason, signing two five-star recruits in Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren, again giving the Tigers the best recruiting class in the country.
The lineup was enough to earn the Tigers the #12 ranking in the preseason Top-25 poll.
The Tigers won their first five games, climbing to #9 in the rankings before immediately losing five of their next six.
The inconsistency began to mount as the Tigers sat with a record of 9-8 on January 20, a far cry from preseason expectations, and fans were questioning the resolve of the team.
Calls for Penny to step down started to come from fans, as the head coach let out a now-infamous rant to media members following a home loss to SMU.
Since that day, the Tigers have gone 12-2, crawling back into the Tournament conversation and earning a 9 seed in the big dance.
The run was thanks in large part to Jalen Duren, who posted multiple double-doubles that allowed the Tigers to enforce a stifling defense in the AAC.
Two wins against Houston, including a road win when the Cougars were ranked #6, certainly helped.
While it's unknown whether they can make any noise in the Big Dance, what's known to Tigers fans around the Mid-South is that Memphis basketball is back where it needs to be.
