Why Daniel Vieira-Tuck, freshman guard, will not play for Memphis basketball in 2024-25

Daniel Vieira-Tuck will not play for Memphis basketball in 2024-25.

More than two months after making a commitment to Tigers coach Penny Hardaway , the 6-foot-4 guard's father, Mack Tuck, confirmed to The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday his son is signing with Overtime Elite.

While Vieira-Tuck will not be at Memphis this season, Mack Tuck said the plan is to play for the Tigers in 2025-26.

"We are still committed to Memphis next year," he told The Commercial Appeal via text message.

The well-traveled Sulphur Springs, Texas, native most recently spent a year playing in his mother's home country of Portugal. Before that, he played for Colorado Prep (Westminster, Colorado), BigTyme Sports Prep (Rockwall, Texas) and Mansfield Timberview (Arlington, Texas).

Vieira-Tuck had been enrolled at Imagine Learning Excellence Academy, whose website describes it as "an online alternative to a traditional high school education, including learning options specifically tailored to NCAA athletes." But his father said school employees made multiple mistakes that caused transcript problems. He added his son would have been a non-qualifier had he opted to attend Memphis.

Mack Tuck said his family has been working hard this summer to straighten everything out, but they simply ran out of time.

“We had emails from the school acknowledging their mistakes,” said Mack Tuck. “We were trying to get a waiver, but the school just basically disappeared. We haven’t been able to contact that. We had to get a lawyer to contact the school and they haven’t responded to that, either.”

Mack Tuck said his family is planning to take legal action against Imagine Learning Excellence Academy. But they are also focused on keeping a positive outlook.

“We just have to keep pushing and keep working,” he said. “Everybody at Memphis – Penny and the compliance people – everybody worked as hard as we could to get it done. But it’s pretty much impossible when a school disappears like this.”

“I want Daniel with Penny and we still do. That’s still our plan.”

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Mack Tuck added his son has already begun taking college courses in an effort to obtain an associate's degree, which would make him a Division I qualifier.

Vieira-Tuck was not expected to be a prominent part of the rotation for the Tigers in 2024-25. That's because Hardaway has rebuilt his roster with a solid mix of veteran transfers and younger players with strong potential − especially at the guard position. Tyrese Hunter, PJ Haggerty, Colby Rogers, Baraka Okojie and Jared Harris make up a deep backcourt. Hunter and Rogers are both seniors, while Haggerty was a top-10 scorer nationally as a freshman last season at Tulsa and Okojie made the A-10 all-freshman team last season at George Mason.

Memphis currently has 10 scholarship players on the roster, leaving Hardaway with three open scholarships.

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: Why Daniel Vieira-Tuck, freshman guard, will not play for Memphis basketball in 2024-25