Amidst March Madness, Shaquille O’Neal Reflects on Penny Hardaway’s Career as Memphis Tigers HC

Shaquille O’Neal recently gave Penny Hardaway a shoutout for his amazing work with the Memphis Tigers. Hardaway started his NBA career in 1993 with the Orlando Magic and was teammates with Shaq for four years in Orlando. He retired from the NBA in 2007 with the Heat and about eight years later took up his first job in coaching.

In 2018, Hardaway joined the Memphis Tiger’s men’s basketball team as their head coach and has held the position ever since. Recently, Shaq uploaded a post by ‘The Field Of 68‘ on his Instagram story to appreciate the NBA veteran’s success in Memphis.

The post highlighted that Hardaway, in his six seasons in Memphis, has a record of 133-61 and has one NCAA tournament win in two appearances. He also won the 2023 AAC Championship and the 2021 NIT Championship with the team.

Shaq highlights Penny Hardaway’s career at Memphis pic.twitter.com/7BRXpXQua6

— What are NBA Celebs Upto? (@NBACelebsUpdate) March 23, 2024

 

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Hardaway is an ex-Memphis player himself and has received a legend status with the team over the years. His jersey number #25 was retired by the Tigers. He represented them in 66 games, averaging 20 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.9 assists while shooting 45.6% from the field.

Penny Hardaway’s Memphis Tigers have to look away from this season

There were a lot of expectations set on the Memphis team at the beginning of the season. However, they have not lived up to those expectations, this season. By the looks of it, it seems like their run is over for the time being as they finished up with a record of 22-10 after they lost to Wichita State 71-65 in the second round of the AAC tournament.

Even though they began the season on a strong footing, Tigers’ run this season was completely derailed in the end. They will miss the March Madness first time, since 2021. After the loss, coach Hardaway stated that they would not accept the offer to participate in the NIT. When asked by a reporter about their chances of playing, he said, “Zero. No sir. I’m not accepting any invitations.”

His overall tenure so far in Memphis has been good. With back-to-back NCAA appearances, multiple titles, and a winning record, Hardaway’s addition has only put things in better shape for the team.