Memphis becoming ‘villain’ on the recruiting trail

Hardaway has other teams on notice with key signings

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis is back on the college basketball scene, thanks to Penny Hardaway’s strong recruiting game. Sports analyst Jerry Meyer, on The 247Sports College Basketball Show, went so far as to say that Coach Hardaway’s recruiting at Memphis may be the No. 1 story in all of college basketball this off-season.

The Tigers currently have the No. 4 recruiting class in the 247Sports Composite, and have been a big player on the transfer circuit as well, landing a commitment from wing Rayjon Tucker, arguably the top graduate transfer talent available.

And that class could get even better, just shortly after adding former Duke signee Boogie Ellis. Meyer said he liked Memphis’ chances to pick up five-star Precious Achiuwa, the No.

4 small forward and No.

14 player in the 247Sports Composite, potentially propelling the Tigers to the nation’s second-best class.

“I do find it interesting we see Memphis and Kansas in competition with these top guys. Kentucky is involved too, Duke — do you see where Memphis is recruiting now? This is like Calipari when he was at Memphis,” Meyer said.

“They’re right there with the bluebloods in recruiting now.”

247Sports editor Trey Scott said the sudden reemergence of Memphis has made them “kind of suddenly villains” to national power programs.

“Memphis has always kind of had that aura, from back in the day, Memphis State, ‘We are Memphis.’ A regional feel, because there’s so many players and talent in Memphis, they were fielding their team with pretty much all Memphis guys, the city took a lot of pride in it,” Meyer said. “They kinda liked that bad boy image, to an extent. Dana Kirk was that kind of guy, he didn’t mind that swirling around, that maybe we’re the villains.”