(Photo: Joe Rondone, Joe Rondone/The Commercial Appeal)
There was risk and reward to be had in hiring Penny Hardaway as the Memphis men’s basketball coach.
The rewards have been plentiful thus far. A No. 1 recruiting class. A full FedExForum. A national championship contender. A return to relevancy, both locally and across the college basketball world.
The risk arrived Friday night, in the hours leading up to the Tigers’ 92-46 win over Illinois-Chicago. The risk was how this all happened.
It’s a question that lingered beneath the surface throughout the past 12 months, once James Wiseman committed to Memphis.