Memphis basketball's eight-week offseason training program is winding down.
For the first time since Penny Hardaway became coach, the majority of the Tigers' roster spent the majority of the summer together in Memphis focusing on individual skill development and team-building. Teams are allotted eight total hours a week, only four of which can be dedicated to skill-related instruction from the coaching staff.
Most Tigers reported the last weekend in May, and workouts began June 3. All but Nicholas Jourdain and Noah Stansbury are newcomers, and all but Rice transfer PJ Carter and junior college transfer Damarien Yates, who both joined the team earlier this month, have been on campus since May. Once the team's eight weeks are up, it will take a short break before reconvening when the fall semester begins Aug. 26.
Hardaway has been vocal about the significance of bringing everyone together so soon.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand that not getting your team until September every year is putting you behind the 8-ball in a lot of ways," he said last month.
With that in mind, let's get into this week's Memphis basketball mailbag.
How are the Tigers looking in practice? Is everyone jelling and buying into the team? — Roy Oliver, via Tiger Basketball Insider text group
While Hardaway's practices are closed to the media, it sounds like everything is running smoothly behind the scenes. As smooth as can be expected, at least, when you're talking about nine scholarship players who are new to Memphis.
Since strength and conditioning workouts and skill development comprise the bulk of activities during the summer, it can be tricky to get super accurate reads or make individual projections. But the backcourt trio of Tyrese Hunter, PJ Haggerty and Colby Rogers have made strong impressions. The frontcourt (Dain Dainja, Tyreek Smith, Moussa Cisse and Jourdain) has given the staff a lot to like as well. In addition, freshman guard Jared Harris is rapidly making strides on and off the court.
How's the team chemistry? Smith and Cisse, the only players on the roster who have ever been teammates before (besides Jourdain and walk-on Noah Stansbury), spent two seasons together at Oklahoma State.
"I feel like (the team has) bonded together real quick," Smith said during a recent video Q&A posted on the program's social media channels. "We're still learning each other as far as, like, playing-wise."
Dainja said the biggest thing he's noticed about summer workouts is the intensity level each player brings to the table every day.
"Just how hard everybody goes," he said. "Feel like, the group of guys we've got, it's a mature group. It's a little older group. Just feel like everybody on the team pushes each other real hard. We go hard every single day."
Are we done with roster additions? Or, at least, significant contributor additions? — Blaine Kidwell, via Tiger Basketball Insider text group
Awww, c'mon now − if we've learned anything about Hardaway by now it's that you can never say never.
So, while I would not completely rule out another player or two being added to the roster considering there are still at least two open scholarships, any subsequent additions will likely be depth-bolstering moves.
The 6-foot-4 guard and Texas native committed to Memphis in May.
That's when he told The Commercial Appeal he would be playing in the U20 FIBA Worlds tournament in Turkey and that he planned to report to the Tigers in late July.
Vieira-Tuck has still not signed with Memphis. Whether he will be eligible or not remains to be seen.
Does the AAC ever plan on moving the men's basketball tournament? — Wendell Tuggle, via Tiger Basketball Insider text group
Not anytime in the near future.
Both the men's and women's tournaments are locked into Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, for the next four years, at least. It's reasonable it will stay there even beyond that. The one potential caveat is new AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti. If he wants to see it moved, maybe things will change.
But I'll believe it when I see it.
MEMPHIS BASKETBALL 2024-25 SCHEDULE: Tigers' AAC pairings announced
Are there any talks about conference realignment? — Preston Hubbard, via Tiger Basketball Insider text group
Only from the standpoint that there does not seem to be anything imminent on the horizon − at least as far as the ACC goes.
New Memphis athletic director Ed Scott, who officially starts Monday, was upfront during his introductory press conference last month. He said the Big 12 and ACC present the most reasonable opportunities for Memphis in the conference realignment landscape. If the Big 12 expands again, Memphis hopes to get in. If Florida State and Clemson bail out on the ACC, Memphis hopes it will get a call.
On Monday, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported the latter scenario does not appear imminent.
"... there's no expectation for Florida State or Clemson to notify the ACC they intend to leave by the Aug. 15 deadline to depart after the upcoming year," Thamel posted on X. "That’s the deadline to declare intentions to exit for the 2025-26 year."
Will Jeff Crane remain part of the staff for the foreseeable future? — Terry Waggoner, via Tiger Basketball Insider text group
Crane, who has been deputy AD since 2019 and has served as interim AD since April, is still here.
A key figure in Memphis' Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovation project , Crane addressed the media on Monday, as Phase 2 got under way.
Whether he will stay at Memphis once Scott starts is unclear.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball: A Penny Hardaway rarity, roster outlook, conference realignment
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