It hasn’t taken very long for Penny Hardaway to make his presence felt at Memphis.
In just one season since the Tigers hired him as head coach in March of 2018, Hardaway has completely flipped Memphis’ program. Most of that work has come on the recruiting trail for the 2019 class.
With the commitment of 5-star forward Precious Achiuwa on Friday, the Tigers have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports Composite rankings.
In addition to Achiuwa, Memphis has signed 5-star center James Wiseman and five other 4-star prospects: forward DJ Jeffries, guard Lester Quinones, center Malcolm Dandridge, guard Damion Baugh and guard Boogie Ellis.
To put this class into perspective, no other program has more than five blue-chip prospects in this class, while Memphis has seven. No team has signed seven blue-chippers in one class since Kentucky signed eight in 2017.
Hardaway also has a commitment from grad transfer Rayjon Tucker, who averaged 20.3 points per game last season at Little Rock. Perhaps more importantly, he made 41.1 percent of his three-pointers on 5.8 attempts per contest.
There’s only question remaining: Will Hardaway’s AAU relationships and recruiting success translate into on-court results?
Oddsmakers seem to think so. Bovada has Memphis at +2000 to win next year’s national championship, which is on par with Kansas. Duke is the current favorite at +600, followed by Kentucky (+750) and Virginia (+800).
The Tigers have the second-best odds among mid-major programs, trailing only Gonzaga at +1600.
Hardaway did lead the Tigers to a 21-13 finish in his first season, equaling Tubby Smith’s final campaign as Memphis’ coach in 2017-18. The fifth-place finish in the AAC landed the Tigers in the NIT, where they were defeated by Creighton in the second round.
Regardless of how Memphis performs in 2019-20, expect the Tigers to play a central role in the college basketball narrative thanks to Hardaway’s recruiting.