Pretty sure I called out possible shady business when a first time head coach at Memphis was landing top 10 recruits - NBA pedigree or not.
Penny and Memphis busted for cheating after just one game of his coaching career. What a surprise. Who could have possibly seen this coming?!?
I don't think you can call it "cheating" per say.
Penny was a high school coach at the time, and he helped Wiseman and family move to Memphis to play under him where they won the state title.
It was only afterwards that Penny was appointed the head coach at Memphis. Nobody could have predicted that at the time he helped James. Nor was he breaking any rules during the time he was helping James.
There is something WRONG with the NCAA system. It needs to be fixed.
If you think Penny is a "bad" guy then watch this documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyX0H-jPkyc
Getting to more important matters... the last name of Wiseman’s attorney is “Ballin”?!? That is awesome. I can think of so many great names for his law firm.
In the words of Tubby Smith's lawyer, "it’s the worst kept secret in America that (Hardaway) wanted the job and there may come a time when coach has exited that he'll get the job.”
It was well known, both nationally and locally, that Penny was angling for Tubby's job, that the folks in Memphis were looking for an excuse to make the change sooner rather than later, and that Penny was expected to bring Wiseman and a couple of other of his AAU kids with him. It is possible these were all rumors, but given that it played out exactly as rumored, it's doubtful. Given how quickly the whispers started after Tubby's hire, the only question seemed to be why Memphis didn't hire Hardaway directly after Pastner and skip The Tubby era altogether.
The NCAA has problems, but I don't believe this ($12,000 moving expenses for the family of the #1 recruit to move in state) is one of them.
Yes, that is true. He is well-known in Memphis. But what is his coaching resume? Why would the top recruits in the country entrust their college basketball experience to an unproven coach like Hardaway? Just because he was a good NBA player 20 years ago and well-known in the area? Maybe that’s enough for some big-time high school recruits and their families; I don’t know. I also don’t know the REAL reasons behind how Hardaway was able to get these top recruits. Let’s just say I have my doubts that everything was done above-board.
From what I understand Hardaway gave Wiseman’s family $11,000-plus to move to Memphis so he could be on Hardaway’s team. I have a hard time believing that he (Hardaway) did it out of the kindness of his heart. I suspect he was simply trying to help ensure he could recruit Wiseman to Memphis if he became the head coach. And it worked. I’m really surprised more DBR posters aren’t skeptical about this whole thing.
Actually, it's not much of a surprise at all. Memphis is a proud, historically strong, program, with an extremely rich recruiting base of local talent. And Penny is the best player in program history, who is a very popular native of the city. And, he'd headed a strong local AAU program before becoming a HS coach there. This does seem to have been some incredibly reckless behavior, though. How Penny didn't think he would be deemed a Memphis booster at the time of paying for Weisman's move is mind boggling.
Eh, you imply that you do know the real reasons.
Memphis is not a mediocre program.
The fact that their three previous coaches include two coaches who have also coached the Kentucky Wildcats to national championships proves that they are not mediocre. This is just wrong.
Hard at work making beautiful things.
I have to question your deductive reasoning on this one. I did not imply I know the actual real reasons Hardaway was able to get top recruits. I just said I’m skeptical that everything was done above board. We already have proof of improper dealings with Wiseman. You don’t consider that to be a MAJOR red flag?
And mediocre means average. You don’t think Memphis has been roughly average during the past few decades (late 80’s to present) outside of the Slimeapari cheating years (which I don’t count)? Mediocre is not bad, it’s average.
A little convenient to ignore the four straight seasons in the second weekend of the tournament.
Sure, he's a turd of a slimy coach, but you can't discount those seasons as a part of Memphis's overall relevance and as a factor in recruiting just because we all hate the coach.
I mean, I guess you can, but it seems like you are willfully ignoring the obvious.
This isn't uniques to either Penny or Memphis. I'm pretty certain it does and has occurred at every big time college hoops program.
How many top Duke, UK, UNC or any other top schools have found close family members suddenly moving to to the areas where their sons are now playing. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least half a dozen Duke players where this has happened. I can't say for certain that they have received financial compensation for doing so. That's just the way the game is played. Wealthy alumni secure jobs for the family members and the families move.
I can't comment on Penny's morals as a person or as a recruiter. But to imply that Penny Hardaway is some sort of also-ran player/coach that no one has ever heard of and that doesn't deserve to be considered by top recruits at a program like Memphis is laughable. Chris Mullin? Patrick Ewing? Juwan Howard? These guys all recruited/are recruiting at a high level on day one. Why shouldn't Penny?
- Chillin
You are putting words into the mouths of posters that were never said. No one said Hardaway is an also-ran. The point was that he is not some huge name weighing heavily on the minds of current high school kids like it would be if, say, Lebron James were to retire in two years and decide to go into coaching. In that case I could easily see James immediately getting the top recruiting class in the nation. But a 20-years-since-he’s-been-relevant Hardaway is not in that same universe.
Also, Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing have not had anything even approaching the top recruiting class in the nation, so why are you listing them as somehow supporting your point? They don’t. And Howard at Michigan is doing alright so far, but not anything like what Hardaway has done in getting the top class in the nation.
And Michigan is in a category well above Memphis. They play in one of the two best basketball conferences in the country and they had huge success immediately prior to Howard taking over. Memphis is below Michigan’s level on both counts. So no, I don’t think your comments support the point you are trying to make and certainly do not indicate that mine or FerryFor50’s comments about this situation are “laughable”.