Memphis Tigers Basketball

Emoni Bates will be playing college basketball after all.

The highly regarded prospect committed to the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

Bates is a 5-star prospect and the No. 4 overall player in the class of 2021, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He decided to reclassify to the 2021 class in August.

He initially committed to Michigan State but decommitted from the Spartans on April 30.

"I would like to thank Tom Izzo and the coaching staff at Michigan State, but I have decided to reopen my recruitment," he wrote on Instagram. "I'm not sure what my future holds, but I am keeping all of my options open, both college and pro."

His decommitment came slightly more than two months after Enoch Boakye, who was a 4-star prospect on 247Sports' composite rankings, decommitted from Michigan State in February. Boakye eventually joined the Arizona State Sun Devils after he reclassified to the 2021 class.

As for Bates, it was once widely expected he would go the professional route after he decommitted from the Spartans.

Jeff Borzello of ESPN noted Michigan State was the only program that seriously recruited him because many were "skeptical that Bates will actually attend college, thinking he would potentially prefer to go to the G League for a year before the NBA."

In the end, he chose to play for head coach Penny Hardaway instead of following in the footsteps of previous prospects such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix.

Bates, who 247Sports' Brandon Jenkins compared to Paul George, has the skill set to lead his new team to the Final Four as soon as his freshman season.

His versatility on both ends of the floor sticks out, as he can shoot over smaller defenders, take bigger ones off the bounce, facilitate to teammates when he penetrates and draws double teams, and defend multiple positions thanks to his length at 6'8" and his overall athleticism.

If he lives up to expectations at Memphis, he will likely be a high NBA draft pick in the near future.

He can also propel the Tigers to the next step considering they have not made the NCAA men's tournament since the 2013-14 campaign. The program is looking to return to national prominence and the Final Four, which it last reached in 2008.

Landing players like Bates is exactly how it can do just that.

Former NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace is reportedly joining Penny Hardaway's coaching staff at the University of Memphis. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, Wallace has agreed to a deal to become an assistant coach for the Tigers. 

Wallace was best known for his boisterous personality on the court as an NBA player. He was an integral part of the Detroit Pistons' run of success in the mid-2000s after being acquired in a February 2004 trade with the Portland Trail Blazers. 

The Pistons won the 2004 NBA title after adding Wallace to the roster. He averaged 13 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in 23 starts that postseason. He also helped the team reach the NBA Finals the following year and the Eastern Conference Finals every year from 2004-08. 

After retiring from the NBA following the 2012-13 season, Wallace was hired as an assistant by the Pistons on head coach Maurice Cheeks' staff. He remained with the team all season after Cheeks was fired midway through the year. 

More recently, Wallace has worked as a high school head coach at Charles E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, in 2019-20. He was hired by N.C. Good Better Best Academy Eagles to coach the men's basketball team in June. 

Wallace will be reunited with former Pistons head coach Larry Brown at Memphis. Brown accepted an offer to be an assistant for the Tigers in July.

Hardaway is entering his fourth season as head coach at Memphis. The former Orlando Magic star has a 63-32 record at his alma mater, but they have yet to make the NCAA tournament.    

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown revealed that he contracted the Delta variant of COVID-19 while attending the 2021 Nike EYBL Peach Jam Basketball Tournament in Augusta, South Carolina.

"Unfortunately I got sick, right after it was over, I got that delta variant, and I was kind of out for about 10 to 12 days, but I'm all good now and anxious to get back," Brown said on the Jason and John Show on 92.9 FM ESPN (h/t Claire Kuwana of the Memphis Commercial Appeal).

The 80-year-old Brown also said that he is vaccinated and made a full recovery.

Brown now works as an assistant coach under Penny Hardaway for the University of Memphis. The two men were at the tournament to watch Jalen Duren, a 5-star center from the class of 2021 who has committed to Memphis.

Brown's lengthy resume included an NCAA Division I men's championship with Kansas in 1988 and the 2004 NBA title with the Detroit Pistons. He notably coached seven different NBA teams from 1988-2010.

As a player, he won an Olympic gold medal for Team USA in the 1964 Summer Games.

Memphis just got a major boost to its 2021 recruiting class, with 5-star center Jalen Duren reclassifying from 2022 and committing to the school.

Breaking: Jalen Duren, the No. 2 overall prospect in the class of 2022, has reclassified into the class of 2021 and committed to Memphis, according to @PaulBiancardi.

(📽️ via @jaydoefilms) pic.twitter.com/5jQDHBOX8K

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 6, 2021

Highly-touted recruit Jalen Duren announces he will attend Memphis and join the Class of 2021.

In last week's NBA Draft, each of the top 6 recruits in the ESPN 100 Class of 2020 went in the top 7 in the 2021 NBA Draft (only exception: Josh Giddey at No. 6). https://t.co/XUUUEug70T

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 6, 2021

Duren, a 6'10" center for Montverde Academy in Florida, was considered the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2022, the No. 1 center and the No. 1 player from Florida, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

247Sports' Brandon Jenkins said Duren had an "NBA-ready frame" and is a "total monster in the low post" in a February scouting report.

Jenkins continued:

"He is more physical, athletic, and bigger than his peers which sums up to him being a pro in the making. He runs the floor, can explode off it where he shows value as a conscientious rebounder. His touch around the basket, passing instincts and ability to leap multiple times is noteworthy. He is a motored up workhorse who has an affinity for playing hard. Defensively, Duren is alert while in helpside and alters or blocks shots with great elevation and timing. He has a high ceiling that gives many scouts the reason to believe he can achieve all-pro status someday and have a long career at the highest levels of the sport."

Jalen Duren dominated day 1 of @pangosaacamp 🔥 pic.twitter.com/krHQW45mGR

— BallerTV (@BallerTV) June 7, 2021

The Philadelphia native has earned comparisons to Miami Heat two-way center Bam Adebayo, an excellent defender also capable of running the offense from the top of the key.

Duren told The Athletic's Brian Bennett in June that he believes his distribution is an underrated aspect of his game.

"I think my passing is something that's very underrated, my ability to see the court," he said. "Something I definitely think I can do is run the offense from the elbow or from anywhere. I'm not a player who needs 100 dribbles to get where I need to go. I like to set up my guys and find a scorer."

It was unclear if Duren would go the college route or choose to go pro immediately via the G League Ignite team or the NBL. That answer became clear on Friday, and the Tigers will be happy to have him.

Penny Hardaway isn't going anywhere, despite overtures from the NBA. And he's bringing the top player in the nation to the Tigers. 

Former NBA star Rasheed Wallace is reportedly a "prime candidate" to join the coaching staff for the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team, according to Marc Stein.

Wallace would work under fellow NBA veteran and current head coach Penny Hardaway, while Hall of Famer Larry Brown also works as an assistant coach.

Hardaway and Wallace were each four-time All-Stars during their NBA careers, with Wallace spending 16 years in the league for six different organizations. He helped the Detroit Pistons win the NBA title in 2004.

The 46-year-old transitioned to coaching after retiring as a player in 2013, spending one year as an assistant for the Pistons under Maurice Cheeks. He later became head coach of Charles E. Jordan High School in 2019 before being named to the same position at NC Good Better Best Academy in June.

Wallace now appears poised to move to the college ranks with a role on one of the most intriguing coaching staffs in the sport.

Hardaway has led the Tigers to a 63-32 record in three years at the helm, totaling zero NCAA tournament appearances. The squad still ended last season on a high note with the 2021 NIT title and should have plenty of talent returning, including leading scorer Landers Nolley II.

The coach has also proved he can recruit top talent, bringing in James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa as part of 247Sports' No. 1 recruiting class in 2019.

Adding another former NBA player to the staff could help convince even more top players to come to Memphis. 

On the same night that Penny Hardaway announced he will be remaining at Memphis as the men's head basketball coach despite interest from the NBA, he reportedly added a Hall of Fame assistant. 

According to Shams Charania and Jeff Goodman of The Athletic, Hardaway has hired Larry Brown to join his staff. 

“I couldn’t step away from what I started," Hardaway told Goodman on Tuesday night. "One day it would be a dream to coach in the NBA, and the Orlando Magic, but we still have unfinished business at Memphis.”

Anfernee Hardaway will be remaining at Memphis and will not take the Orlando Magic's vacant head-coaching position, according to multiple reports.

Penny Hardaway announces he will remain head coach at Memphis. https://t.co/uLhsY9h6qp

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2021

Just got off the phone with Memphis coach Penny Hardaway — who told me he is staying with the Tigers.

“I couldn’t step away from what I started. One day it would be a dream to coach in the NBA, and the Orlando Magic, but we still unfinished business at Memphis.”

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) June 30, 2021

Hardaway would have represented a connection to the Magic's golden era. Orlando reached the 1995 NBA Finals and appeared to be a budding dynasty until Shaquille O'Neal left for the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of the 1996-97 season.

Following a lengthy playing career, the 49-year-old went into coaching and climbed up the ladder to return to his alma mater, Memphis, in 2018. The Tigers have gone 63-32 in his three seasons at the helm.

The Magic finished the 2020-21 season with the NBA's third-worst record (21-51), which was a far cry from reaching the playoffs in the previous two years. But the front office signaled the start of a rebuild in March by trading away Evan Fournier, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic.

The moves altogether weren't surprising. Fournier was in the final year of his contract, and Gordon's value as a trade asset was never going to be higher since he's a free agent in 2022. While he was moved before Gordon, Vucevic was out the door with the front office's priorities shifting.

Here's the deal: The Bulls land Nikola Vucevic and Al Farouq Aminu for Otto Porter, Wendell Carter Jr., and two first-round picks. Huge addition for Chicago, who remains in pursuit of Lonzo Ball. The Magic are moving toward a rebuild now with Aaron Gordon deal on deck.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

In general, Orlando had been stuck on the proverbial treadmill of mediocrity.

The franchise enjoyed a stroke of good fortune when it received the No. 1 overall pick in the 1993 NBA draft lottery for the second straight year, which led the league to tweak the lottery format. The draft gods enacted their vengeance across the 2010s as the Magic were adjusting to the post-Dwight Howard era.

They made the playoffs in 2011-12 and then endured a six-year postseason drought. Here's where they finished in the league and where they fell in the draft lottery during that time.

• 2012-13: 30th (20-62); No. 2 overall (Victor Oladipo)
• 2013-14: 28th (23-59); No. 4 overall (Aaron Gordon)
• 2014-15: 26th (25-57); No. 5 overall (Mario Hezonja)
• 2015-16: 20th (35-47); No. 11 overall (Domantas Sabonis)
• 2016-17: 26th (29-53); No. 6 overall (Jonathan Isaac)
• 2017-18: 26th (25-57); No. 6 overall (Mo Bamba)

Taking Mario Hezonja was a mistake in 2015, but Orlando wasn't the only team that failed to see the potential in Devin Booker, who was off the board at No. 13. Trading Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Serge Ibaka was pretty bad as well.

The Magic also managed to fleece the Milwaukee Bucks when they acquired Tobias Harris in February 2013 and then found themselves fleeced when they dealt him to the Detroit Pistons three years later for Ersan İlyasova and Brandon Jennings.

There were undoubtedly some big missteps when Rob Hennigan worked as the general manager.

Even if you were to undo the Ibaka and Harris trades, you still wind up with the same problem in Orlando, though. The organization's luck in the lottery—or lack thereof—left it without a true franchise cornerstone.

Gordon epitomized the problem. While the 6'8" forward is the kind of player who can meaningfully contribute to a championship contender, he's not somebody you build the entire team around. Fans eagerly awaited a breakout that never arrived.

The same thing applied to Fournier, who averaged 12.6 points and shot 34.9 percent from the field during the Magic's back-to-back playoff runs.

Hitting the reset button was the only sensible option for general manager John Hammond.

One benefit of taking this job now for whoever becomes the next head coach is that he or she should be afforded plenty of time.

A young core of Jonathan Isaac, Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, R.J. Hampton, Chuma Okeke and Markelle Fultz creates some intrigue but doesn't generate a ton of optimism yet. Isaac and Fultz in particular are big question marks as they're coming off torn ACLs.

The Brooklyn Nets are a prime example of how the right coach can drastically change a team's outlook. Kenny Atkinson took over a roster almost totally bereft of long-term assets in 2016-17. Two years later, they were in the playoffs.

Player development will be the primary object right out of the gate.

Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway is trying to lure Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown back onto the sidelines, again. According to John Martin of The Athletic, Hardaway is hoping Brown will join him as an assistant coach after striking out on him three years ago.

Memphis coach Penny Hardaway has once again targeted Hall-of-Fame coach Larry Brown to be a part of his staff as an assistant coach, according to sources. Brown, 80, is the only coach to have won an NBA title and NCAA Tournament.

— John Martin (@JohnMartin929) June 9, 2021

CBS Sports' Gary Parrish reported in 2018 that then-Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen was "hesitant" to add Brown to Hardaway's staff after the former Kansas and NBA coach resigned at SMU in 2016 following an NCAA investigation into the program.

Brown was suspended for 30 percent of the Mustangs' season in 2015-16, and the program was banned from postseason play, after the NCAA cited Brown for failing to report academic fraud violations. He last coached with Auxilium Torino in 2018, but was fired from the Italian league following a 5-19 start to the season. 

Still the only head coach to win an NCAA title and NBA championship, the 80-year-old New Yorker hasn't served as a college assistant coach since working under Dean Smith at North Carolina from 1965-1967, though he's occasionally returned to KU—where he won the 1988 NCAA tournament—to unofficially sit in on practices.

Brown told Martin an offer from Memphis has been discussed for a while now, but nothing has been made official—even as Hardaway continued to pursue him. 

I talked about Larry Brown on the show earlier this week. It’s been in the works for a while. Hardaway never stopped wanting Brown after encountering resistance from the previous administration in 2018. Brown would obviously bring unparalleled coaching acumen to Memphis.

— John Martin (@JohnMartin929) June 9, 2021

Brown briefly coached Hardaway from 2004-2006 when the two overlapped during stints with the New York Knicks. 

Hardaway, 49, led Memphis to an NIT title in 2021 but is just 63-32 in three seasons without an NCAA tournament appearance despite stellar recruiting classes. The program appeared on track for the 2020 tournament before it was canceled because of COVID-19 .

The head coach hopes the next time he takes the court, he has Brown by his side helping lead the charge to the Tigers' first Final Four since 2008. 

Moussa Cisse's time with the Memphis Tigers is reportedly over after just one season.

Jeff Borzello of ESPN reported on Monday that the big man entered the transfer portal following his freshman campaign on Penny Hardaway's team. 

According to 247Sports' composite rankings, Cisse was a 5-star prospect and the No. 10 overall player in the recruiting class of 2020.

The 18-year-old averaged 6.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field during his one season with the Tigers. Cisse was a key rotational player in the frontcourt even though he was far from a go-to option.

Cisse flashed his potential at times with double-doubles against SMU, Wichita State, Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas State, but consistency on the offensive end was something of an issue. He would disappear for extended stretches as a reliable offensive force, although he helped make up for that by contributing on the boards and protecting the rim.

He earned American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year honors in large part due to those efforts in areas outside of scoring.

Jason Munz of the Memphis Commercial Appeal noted this development comes after Cisse announced he would enter the NBA draft without signing with an agent so he could keep his eligibility.

Munz also reported the big man is the fifth player from Memphis' team last season to enter the portal. Boogie Ellis (USC), D.J. Jeffries (Mississippi State), Damion Baugh (TCU) and Jordan Nesbitt (Saint Louis) have already chosen their destinations.

Cisse's departure leaves Malcolm Dandridge and incoming freshman Sam Onu as centers for the Tigers.

Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers landed a significant addition from the transfer portal.

Guard Earl Timberlake told Jonathan Givony of ESPN that he is transferring from Miami to Memphis to play for the Tigers during the 2021-22 season.

"I felt like I can learn a lot from [coach] Penny Hardaway—all he's done in his career," Timberlake said. "I like the way they defend, they have the No. 1-ranked defense in the country. I can add to that. I like how they see my game. They know I can pass and they'll help me get back to defending the way I know I can defend and try to win a national championship. I appreciate everyone for recruiting me and I'm going to do my best at Memphis."

That the defense stood out for Timberlake is notable because the Tigers finished last season No. 1 in the country on that side of the floor in KenPom.com's rankings. They used that defense to go 9-2 in their final 11 regular-season games and eventually win the NIT championship over Mississippi State.

Maintaining that defensive presence figures to be key for the 2021-22 campaign, especially given the overall roster changes.

Givony noted Boogie Ellis, Damion Baugh, Jordan Nesbitt and D.J. Jeffries all entered the transfer portal, while Moussa Cisse declared for the NBA draft but is yet to hire an agent. An impressive recruiting class that is No. 8 on the 247Sports' composite rankings is coming in, and Davion Warren transferred to the Tigers from Hampton.

Timberlake arrives as another key addition and someone who could play his way up NBA draft boards with a successful season.

He dealt with ankle and shoulder injuries in his freshman season with the Hurricanes and appeared in just seven games while averaging 9.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals a night.

At his best, he is someone who can impact the game in a number of ways, including on the defensive end.

That should fit in well with Hardaway's squad.