Category: Tiger Blue

I rarely laugh at a postgame press conference. Not out loud. The setting is one for listening (carefully), taking a few notes, and absorbing the vibe of a coach or player after a ball game. But I almost cracked Tuesday night after the Memphis Tigers’ 16-point handling of Saint Louis at FedExForum. Near the end of his session, Tiger coach Penny Hardaway was asked about his team’s turnovers, perhaps the lone blemish on the squad’s three-game start to the 2021-22 season. Hardaway’s reply: “Most teams have one or two ball-handlers . . . they don’t have eight or nine.” Glad I wasn’t drinking milk at the time.

Such is life for the 11th-ranked Tigers these days. The team has so much talent that the coach and players don’t seem to care who is anointed “point guard,” still a position of priority in the game of basketball. Senior Alex Lomax started against the Billikens and would technically assume the title, being (A) a guard and (B) the shortest player in the Mempis starting lineup. “A-Lo” played 19 minutes and tied for the team lead with four assists, but he was but one of seven Tigers to dish out a dime against SLU, and Landers Nolley — by no definition a point guard, and currently the team’s sixth man — also had four. Now, back to that question about ball-handling: Memphis turned the ball over 24 times, with nine Tigers coughing up the ball at least twice. A 15-24 assist/turnover ratio is not the way Hardaway, or any other coach in the country, envisions winning basketball.

But it didn’t matter Tuesday night. The Tigers faced an undermanned team for the third time in three games. (SLU star Javonte Perkins injured a knee during the preseason and will miss the season.) The Tigers turned the ball over four times in the game’s first four minutes, but freshman Emoni Bates drained a long three-pointer, freshman Jalen Duren slammed home a lob, the home team was up by six (19-13) nine minutes into the game, and firmly in control (42-27) by halftime.

Hardaway is right. Among the 10 Tigers who played at least a dozen minutes Tuesday night, you might not see Duren — a “center” by purest definition — dribble the ball up the floor (though he is a skilled passer), but any of the other nine players are in the mix. This can be very healthy for the Tigers, big picture, as it makes the team virtually impossible to trap, literally or as measured by late-game tactics to isolate a team’s primary ball-handler. And forget about foul trouble leaving the Tiger offense without a playmaker. It’s merely next man up. And next . . . . 

The Golden State Warriors made “positionless basketball” vogue in winning three NBA championships from 2015 to 2018. Is Steph Curry a point guard or a shooting guard? Klay Thompson: shooting guard or small forward? Draymond Green may look like a power forward when he steps off an elevator, but don’t call him one to his face. The sport has become one of blended strengths and yes, the ability to handle the ball (regardless of a player’s size or other skills) earns time on the floor.

After Hardaway left Tuesday’s presser, Bates and senior “guard” Tyler Harris shared their takes on the win, and each corroborated his coach’s view of this team’s point-guard-by-committee. At one point, Harris smiled and actually said, “It doesn’t matter who has the ball.” Based on three blowout wins to open the Memphis season, he appears to be right. It’s enough to bring on the giggles.

The Tigers host Western Kentucky Friday night (7 p.m.) at FedExForum. They travel to New York City next week for a pair of games (Wednesday and Friday) in the NIT Season Tip-Off.

It’s hard not to feel somewhat giddy after the Memphis Tigers’ season-opening win Tuesday night at FedExForum. With the Golden Eagles of Tennessee Tech playing the role of lamb, Tiger coach Penny Hardaway unleashed his pair of five-star lions — freshmen Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren — and watched the home team roar to an 89-65 victory that was never in doubt. The crowd of 13,000 barely seemed to glance at the NIT championship banner unveiled before the opening tip. There are bigger prizes, surely, ahead. (As with blue-chip recruits, the Tigers have a surplus of flags hanging from the FedExForum rafters. With the new addition, you can gaze at 19 NIT banners. But that’s another column, for another day.)

Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant had a courtside seat for this show. Perhaps more importantly, so did Bates’s father. Neither fan left disappointed. Bates hit six of his nine shots (including four three-pointers) and dished out four assists (one a no-look feed to Duren for a first-half dunk) in 30 minutes of action. Duren hit seven of his ten shots (most of the rim-rattling variety), pulled down six rebounds and blocked five shots in 31 minutes of action. In a rare convergence of hype and reality, the stars were stars Tuesday night and, for now, all is well in “Tiger Nation.”

But don’t tell Hardaway. According to the fourth-year coach, the Tigers didn’t capitalize on fast breaks as they should have. “Our subs weren’t ready to play,” he added. (More on that in bit.) Once the Tigers took a big lead — they scored the game’s first 13 points — some players “went through the motions,” according to the coach, allowing Tennessee Tech to stay within reach on the scoreboard. This was quibbling, a coach’s first motivational tool after a blowout win. A team dripping in freshman talent won its first game by 24 points . . . but has another game to play Saturday night. Fix that fast break!

How deep is the 12th-ranked Tigers’ talent? Swingman Landers Nolley earned first-team all-conference honors last season, when he led Memphis in scoring. Nolley came off the bench Tuesday night (and scored 10 points in 20 minutes). Josh Minott — merely a four-star freshman — hit three of four shots and scored seven points in 13 minutes. And Hardaway’s son, Jayden, delivered eight points and three steals in 13 minutes. All three players would start for many of the Tigers’ opponents this season.

A roster that appeared 15 deep in the preseason has already been shaved to 13 players, with Hardaway confirming after Tuesday’s game that freshmen Sam Onu and Johnathan Lawson will redshirt this season to retain a year of eligibility. Four players who are not redshirting each saw minimal playing time in the opener: Malcolm Dandridge, Chandler Lawson, Tyler Harris, and John Camden. This is the abundance of riches — and egos — Hardaway must manage for 29 more regular-season games, a conference tournament, and (giddy hope) an NCAA tournament run.

And there is room for improvement, even for Bates (age 17) and Duren (who turns 18 on November 18th). Between the dunks Duren completed Tuesday night, he actually missed one, and committed an offensive foul, when he tried to jump over a defender. When asked about the misplay after the game, Duren smiled and said, “The missed dunk . . . that won’t happen too often.” Stars as confident as they are talented. Tiger basketball is back, and then some.

When it comes to breakfast meetings, it’s safe to say the one I had on August 29, 2018, is the most memorable. I joined Harold Byrd, Herb Hilliard, and Dr. David Rudd at the Holiday Inn on the University of Memphis campus. The names alone will tell you this was no friendly “catch-up” over scrambled eggs and biscuits. Byrd is the president of Bank of Bartlett and a significant, active booster of U of M athletics. Hilliard is another local titan in the banking industry, and just happens to have been the first African-American to play basketball at the University of Memphis. Dr. Rudd, of course, is the president of the U of M.

I’d written recently (but not for the first time) about the need for a Larry Finch statue somewhere in Memphis. It was high time this regional legend receive a proper memorial, and particularly during a time divisive statues were being taken down all across the country. If nothing else, Larry Finch was a unifier, both on the basketball court (where he led the Memphis State Tigers to the 1973 national championship game) and off the court (where he somehow made Memphians forget skin color or background in defining themselves as a community).

Dr. Rudd had a few questions for me. He felt like the right kind of statue — along with a memorial plaza, where people could linger — would cost more than my column suggested. But he emphasized his skills at fund-raising and explained, on the scale of a major university in a metropolitan area like Memphis, the cost of the Larry Finch memorial would be no tall hurdle. Finch would get the bronze treatment.

It took more than three years (two of them under pandemic conditions), but the Larry Finch statue now stands proudly in front of the palatial Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center on the U of M’s south campus. It was unveiled Thursday in front of a few hundred Finch family, friends, and fans (the largest contingent representing his beloved Melrose High School). 

Penny Hardaway got choked up at the microphone and needed a solid 60 seconds before sharing his feelings about his college coach. Elliot Perry described spending a few of Finch’s final hours with him. (“I mostly thanked him for being him,” said Perry, the most prominent member of Finch’s first recruiting class as Tiger coach.) Finch’s widow, Vicki, shared a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one she feels reflects the love Larry Finch had for the game of basketball.

Memphis is a happier place today. A better place? That’s up to you and me, the actions we take and decisions we make every day. But Memphis is a happier place today. Larry Finch brought so much joy to so many people in the Mid-South, and across generations. (My paternal grandmother adored Larry Finch and shared the first stories I heard of him and his impact.) It’s criminal that Finch died so young (age 60, in 2011 after a series of strokes). He would have relished Thursday’s celebration, primarily for bringing together — yet again — Memphians who shared something . . . in this case a love for Larry Finch.

We can’t pose for a selfie with “Coach Finch.” (I always refer to him with the title he held for 11 years — from 1986 to 1997 — at the U of M.) But for generations to come, Memphians and their lucky guests can take a selfie with the Larry Finch statue, and read about his legend, his impact, his significance over the precious 60 years we had him.

I’ve come to believe that we can channel the souls of our heroes when near a statue that embodies the right message. Memphis has such a monument now, and there will be some soul channeling, you can be sure, in the years ahead. Larry Finch once again stands proudly. Here’s to all he represents, then, now, and tomorrow.