Penny Hardaway made it clear when he was coaching at Memphis that he wanted to plan in a way that gave his program a chance to build an overall NCAA Tournament resume every year, even though it was playing in a conference that currently ranks ninth nationally, according to KenPom.com.
The approach has not always gone well.
Last season, for example, things went horribly wrong as his Tigers lost seven of their first 11 non-league games en route to what ended up being the program’s worst season in 56 years. Things have gotten so bad that Hardaway has become the face of the roster heading into his ninth year at his alma mater, and yet he has once again put together a non-league schedule so tough that, this time last week, KenPom was projecting the Tigers as underdogs in each of their first four games.
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But Memphis is 2-0.
Somehow Memphis is 2-0.
We’re now seven full days into the 2026-27 season, and you could reasonably argue that no one has had a better first week than Hardaway’s Tigers. They opened Monday with an 80-76 neutral-court victory over No. 18 Iowa State, then followed up that upset Saturday with an 89-88 victory at FedExForum against a VCU team picked to win the Atlantic 10 and ranked 57th in KenPom.
It’s still early, of course. And everyone plans with different motivations, obviously. That being acknowledged, what you’re about to read is true: Right now, Memphis is the only Division I men’s basketball team with A) a win over an opponent ranked in the AP Poll, and B) another win over another opponent ranked in the top 60 in the KenPom.
“I’m so grateful,” said an emotional Jayden Reid, the Northwestern transfer who scored 32 points against VCU, buried game-winning free throws in the final seconds and is now averaging 29.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals for the undefeated Tigers. “I’m just grateful, man. … I’m just grateful to God. He put me in a great position, coming into Memphis through the gate. I’m so grateful to my coaches, my teammates. It’s a big home win.”
To understand how important this debut is for Hardaway, you have to understand how difficult things have become for him. He’s the program’s greatest alumnus, everyone’s favorite Memphis graduate and someone who would have been a Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame player if injuries hadn’t robbed him of his abilities too soon. Before the city had the Grizzlies as an NBA franchise, Penny was the city’s NBA franchise.
He counts that much to his hometown.
So, yes, it’s been a tough time over the past eight years that have featured just one conference championship and four fifth-place finishes or lower in the United States. The Tigers only made three NCAA Tournaments under Hardaway and won just one game in that postseason. There have been more top recruiting classes than wins in this category. There have been more NCAA investigations than wins in this category.
This is all depressing to write – first and foremost as a Memphis alum, but also as a columnist/analyst who very publicly suggested that Hardaway should be the person to replace Tubby Smith in 2018. Things didn’t go smoothly – or the way I hoped, or the way I expected them to go. Put DraftKings on it and, if we’re being honest, Hardaway would have been considered an underdog just a week ago to still be Memphis’ coach on April 1, 2027.
This is undeniably a decisive year.
And who knows where this leads us yet? Long way to go and all that. But, a week later, you can argue, all things considered, that no team in the country is off to a better start than Memphis, which is No. 26 in the daily CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings updated Sunday morning.
Next up for the Tigers is another big test – more specifically, their the biggest test of the season so far. Memphis will face Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym on Tuesday. The Commodores are 2-0 and ranked 24th in the Top 25 And 1.
Is a 3-0 start possible for Memphis?
According to computers, no. But remember, just a week ago, the computers had Memphis starting 0-4. Now Memphis is 2-0. So it’s possible that computers don’t quite understand these Tigers yet, which is both understandable and also what could reconnect the city to the coach and program that once had its heart.
Rankings Top 25 And 1
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