NCAA investigating Memphis basketball for alleged academic scandal involving Malcolm Dandridge

Memphis basketball is under fire from the NCAA once again.

Multiple sources confirm to Bluff City Media that the NCAA is investigating Penny Hardaway’s program for the alleged academic scandal that prompted Memphis to suspend former Tiger Malcolm Dandridge from its final five games last season. The school officially self-reported the case to the NCAA sometime this spring, sources say.

Bluff City Media first reported Dandridge’s alleged involvement in the scandal on Feb. 23, shortly after Memphis fired former athletic academic advisor Leslie Brooks. The school then officially announced Dandridge’s suspension the next day.

The 23-year-old, who played five seasons with the Tigers, has adamantly denied any wrongdoing on his part since the allegations became public. Neither Hardaway nor anyone else in the men’s basketball program has publicly spoken about the case since February.

”I hope them punks that wasn’t letting me play [are] satisfied. The truth will come out,” Dandridge wrote on social media on March 14. “Be careful who you allow yourself to be around. Them snakes will smile and say they love you, and stab the s*** out of you!”

Hardaway’s program has already been involved in two NCAA investigations in his six-year tenure. The first was in 2019 when Memphis played 5-star freshman James Wiseman despite being advised not to by the NCAA due to eligibility concerns. This triggered an investigation of the entire program, which was later charged with four Level I violations in March 2022, including a Lack of Institutional Control charge against Hardaway. The Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), however, opted to soften Memphis’ penalties in October 2022. And the Tigers ultimately received three years of probation and no postseason ban.

But the program earned a fourth year of probation after Hardaway was suspended for three games last season season due to a recruiting violation, which was triggered after he and a former assistant illegally visited a Texas high school recruit in 2022.

This latest investigation involving Dandridge’s case marks Memphis’ third NCAA incident under Hardaway, who will coach his seventh season with the Tigers this year.