Penny Hardaway had his most successful season yet, but his biggest hurdle still remains intact

Penny Hardaway proved the doubters wrong countless times in his seventh season as Memphis basketball’s coach.

They said he couldn’t guide Memphis through one of the nation’s strongest non-conference schedules, only for the Tigers to finish that slate 10-3 with six Quad 1 victories (vs. Missouri, at San Francisco, vs. UConn, vs. Michigan State, at Clemson and vs. Ole Miss). They said he couldn’t lead Memphis to an American Athletic Conference (AAC) regular-season title. His fellow AAC coaches even picked UAB, which Memphis defeated three times this year, to win the league over the Tigers.

Hardaway made those predictions look silly too—helping Memphis win both the regular-season and conference tournament championships. The Tigers dominated the ever-annoying Blazers in the final round too.

Critics also questioned Hardaway’s ability to establish a good culture, especially after he fired four assistants in September and dismissed transfer forward Tyreek Smith shortly before Memphis’ regular-season opener. But the Tigers ultimately finished with the best record in Hardaway’s tenure (29-6) and made it through 2024-25 with minimal drama.

Hardaway’s skeptics are still right about one thing, though—he has yet to lead Memphis back to the Sweet 16. That remained true Friday, since the No. 5 seed Tigers suffered yet another first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament to No. 12 Colorado State in Seattle. The 78-70 final drops Hardaway to 1-3 in March Madness games as a coach.

“We wanna make deep runs in March, and we haven’t done that yet,” he told reporters postgame. “I understand that’s gonna be the subject. You just have to grow from it and just keep getting better, and that’s what I’m doing.”

Hardaway’s three NCAA Tournament defeats have occurred in different ways—each one being as heartbreaking as the last.

Memphis held a 10-point halftime lead over top-seeded Gonzaga in the 2022 Round of 32, but foul trouble to DeAndre Williams and Jalen Duren and a second-half takeover from Drew Timme brought the Tigers’ upset bid to a screeching halt. Memphis then controversially lost to Florida Atlantic in the next year’s Round of 64 after the Owls were rewarded a jump ball (and possession) in the final seconds despite multiple Tigers calling timeout whilst Jayden Hardaway had the ball on the floor. FAU’s Nick Boyd then delivered the game-winning layup to send Memphis home.

Memphis seemingly had things in hand this year against Colorado State. Dain Dainja dominated the Rams’ small frontcourt (no rotation player above 6-foot-8) with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks on 7-for-9 shooting in the first half alone. He ultimately finished the game with a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Colby Rogers, who shot just 29.6% from 3-point range in AAC play, scored 12 of his 18 points in the opening period while shooting 5-for-6 overall and 2-for-3 at the 3-point line. He and Dainja primarily aided Memphis to a 36-31 halftime lead.

The Tigers’ offense, however, suddenly turned to dust in the second half. Rogers’ third 3-pointer put them up by 7 points with 18:32 remaining, but Colorado State cut the deficit to a point with a 6-0 run over the following minute and 17 seconds. PJ Carter later extended the margin back to 3 with two free throws at the 15:10 mark, only for Rams guard Kyan Evans to drill a game-tying 3-pointer eight seconds later.

That was the first basket of a 9-0 run that gave the Rams a 54-48 lead with 12:44 to play. Evans drilled two more from beyond the arc over the following four minutes to put CSU up by 10 points with a touch under nine minutes left. Memphis never got within 6 points for the rest of the contest, and Colorado State led by as many as 12.

Consensus All-American guard PJ Haggerty, only the seventh Tiger to achieve the honor, struggled mightily with 18 points on 7-for-23 shooting (1-of-8 from 3-point range). He didn’t score for the first nine minutes of the second half, as Memphis shot just 34.5% in the period compared to CSU’s 46.4%.

Hardaway’s club dearly missed both starting point guard Tyrese Hunter (foot) and backup Dante Harris (ankle) for the second straight game. Hunter (13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game) went down in last weekend’s AAC Tournament semifinals against Tulane. Harris (2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 steals) hasn’t played since March 4 at UTSA.

Baraka Okojie, who made his second consecutive start in place of Hunter, didn’t score in 22 minutes. Hardaway acknowledged how much Hunter’s absence specifically hurt the Tigers postgame.

“We missed our leader. That’s our vocal leader, our best defensive guard, the guy that gets after people. His leadership and his experience (six NCAA Tournament wins in first three seasons), we definitely missed that,” he said.

Hunter’s devastating injury—and how his hypothetical availability could’ve changed this year’s outcome—is one reason Hardaway’s head isn’t completely down. After all, Memphis still cut down nets not once, but twice in a nine-day span, helping it secure its best NCAA Tournament seeding since 2009. It still took down the defending national champions (UConn) along with other power-conference foes, and finished second in the legendary Maui Invitational.

Memphis fans still witnessed a resurgence from last year’s disastrous finish (7-8 in last 15 games) and enjoyed monumental campaigns from Haggerty and Dainja, whose “Dainja Zone” takeover is forever entrenched in Tiger lore. Haggerty, who has two years of eligibility remaining, can also return next season.

Hardaway won’t let Friday’s disappointment undermine what the 2024-25 Tigers accomplished, but his postseason woes now loom larger than ever.

His biggest hurdle—even after his finest campaign—remains firmly intact.

“The season we did is not a failure, obviously because we won the regular-season and the conference championship, just unfortunate how it ended here,” Hardaway said. “[But] I fully understand what the postseason is all about, and it’s just really unfortunate for us that we haven’t been able to get over the hump for various reasons…I know how it’s viewed and I just have to continue to get better and keep growing.”