It’s been seven years in the making, but Coach Penny Hardaway has led the Memphis Tigers to an outright regular season championship. They are positioned to play deep into March as a legitimate contender to reach the Final Four for the first time as a program since 2008. Something about the 2024-2025 Memphis Tigers team feels different; we saw it in the celebration a little over a week ago when the Tigers went on the road and beat their arch-rival, the UAB Blazers. Penny even discussed that with the media following the game, saying the team hadn’t been that close since all the early success in Maui, where they beat Michigan State and UConn.

The Tigers have had to overcome everything over the seven years under Coach Penny Hardaway. From the ups and downs of people doubting Coach Hardaway’s coaching to injuries, bad losses, and dealings with the NCAA, this program has seen it all in the last seven years for the Tigers to be in their position right now as AAC regular season champions and heading to Ft. Worth with the one seed is nothing short of amazing.

In the program’s history, no team and no Head Coach have deserved this moment more than the 2024-2025 Memphis Tigers team and Coach Penny Hardaway. This group is likable, including PJ Haggerty, Dain Dainja, Tyrese Hunter, and others. There’s not an ego problem, and there’s not somebody who wants to get their own before the team; what the Tigers have is a group of guys who care more about playing for the blue and grey uniforms that say Memphis more than they do anything else. When they drop a game, promises get made, and more times than not, promises are kept and held in the highest accord amongst those. It’s nearly impossible to pinpoint what it is that makes this team different as the story of the season still has a few chapters left; there’s a real possibility when it’s all said and done that the 2024-2025 Memphis Tigers Basketball team could be among one of the favorites to ever play for the program.

Heading into the AAC Tournament, the Tigers will head to Ft. Worth looking to add to the trophy case as they look to bring another AAC Tournament Championship, their second in three years and the second under the leadership of Coach Penny Hardaway. As far as seeding in the NCAA Tournament goes, nobody knows. Joe Lunardi keeps flipping Memphis’s seventh and eighth seed line despite coming into the conference tournament ranked inside the top 15 and having one of the best strength of schedules in the country. No matter what happens at the AAC Tournament, Memphis deserves a five seed at the highest and a seven at the lowest. Every year, the committee does something different; there’s guessing to it; the Tigers NCAA Tournament seed line will come down to what those inside the selection room find essential this season. Winning basketball and surviving is all that matters when it comes to having success in March Madness. No matter the seed line, if you’re one of the 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament, then you have all the potential to beat anybody remaining and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Winning the AAC Tournament might come with its challenges, but winning the Tournament would give the Tigers an extra boost of momentum before it comes down to the one-game season of the NCAA Tournament, where a wrong bounce could send you home without anything. Despite what some may say, winning a conference tournament is important, and it gives the program something to celebrate; it doesn’t matter if that conference is the AAC, the ACC, or even the Southeastern Conference; winning a conference tournament is essential and leaves teams like a Memphis with something to celebrate for years to come.

Memphis will open its March Madness journey on Friday against the winner of the Wichita State and South Florida game on Thursday. The Tigers will have the first game on Friday, with a tip-off slated for noon on ESPN2. With how the bracket happened for the Tigers, Coach Hardaway and the boys will avoid the likeness of UAB and North Texas until Sunday for the AAC Tournament Championship game.