Three-Point Play: Penny Hardaway expectations, important freshman
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Today in the Three-Point-Play, National Analyst Eric Bossi takes a look at expectations for Penny Hardaway at Memphis and what’s reasonable. Plus a look at Jeremiah Robinson-Earl’s recruitment and a scorching hot take on the nation’s most important freshman.
1. What’s a reasonable expectation for Penny Hardaway in year one?
Ever since the day Penny Hardaway was hired to coach Memphis, a buzz has been building. At this point, the hometown hero and former NBA star has Tiger fans whipped into a complete frenzy.
I’m really looking forward to seeing what Hardaway can do myself. I greatly enjoyed watching him coach Memphis (Tenn.) East on the high school level and Team Penny in Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League during the summers. I’ve seen him implement a style, I’ve seen his players respond and I’ve seen enough of his results that I’m confident he can get the job done at the NCAA level.
So Penny has already energized the fanbase, he’s made waves on the recruiting trail by getting the Tigers deeply involved with potential college stars like James Wiseman, Precious Achiuwa, Trendon Watford, Jalen Green and R.J. Hampton among others. Now the question is, what’s a reasonable expectation for Hardaway and Memphis? Especially in year one.
The Tigers haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since the 2013-14 season. However, they have been .500 or above in the American Athletic Conference each of the last two seasons and on Monday the AAC coaches selected Memphis No. 4 in the league's preseason poll. That would suggest the Tigers are a team that will be in contention for an NCAA berth and I think that’s totally reasonable. They return their four leading scorers and rebounders and have added some good talent via Hardaway’s first recruiting class. So, I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 22-24 wins and a real shot at a NCAA Tourney invite are a good starting point for 2018-19 expectations.
2. Five-star Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is done with visits.
After wrapping up an official visit to Arizona on Monday, five-star forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has completed his official visits.
To recap, the skilled big man from Kansas City who is completing his high school career at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG has also seen Kansas, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Villanova. He’s also seen all of his finalists, save for Villanova, unofficially as well. Because of the homework he’s done on the programs recruiting him, I doubt that Robinson-Earl has many more questions that he needs answered. With that in mind, I would expect that a decision would be rendered in the relatively near future.
He hasn’t yet set any kind of decision date, but from talking to Robinson-Earl throughout his high school career, he’s never been one to drag things out or lead schools on for more attention and I expect that to be the case here. That leads to the obvious question, where’s he going?
By now, anybody who follows recruiting knows that he has plenty of family ties to Kansas and that the Jayhawks have been recruiting him aggressively for pretty much his entire career. It’s awfully tough to pick against the Jayhawks here. Being tough to pick against is one thing, being a lock to land a player is another and I don’t think we can call Kansas a lock for Robinson-Earl.
At least headed into the Arizona visit, both Villanova and North Carolina were making things interesting and it’s important to note that Arizona got into the mix thanks to a strong unofficial visit last winter. Notre Dame, does look like it would be a bit of a surprise.
This is a situation that we’ll be monitoring very closely over the next week or so and if I have to pick I’ll still give Kansas the edge, but again I don’t label Robinson-Earl as any kind of lock.
3. Why Tre Jones is the most important freshman in America.
This time of year we spend a lot of time discussing freshmen who could make a huge impact on their team's success. Rightfully so. We’ve covered these guys for years and it’s simply human nature to be excited to see what those next in line can do.
As I spend more time looking at who could come in and put up big numbers right away and who is most important to their team’s success this season, I’m more convinced than ever that Duke’s Tre Jones is the single most important freshman in America.
Like they are every year, expectations are again high for Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils. After last year’s freshman-heavy team fell to Kansas in the Elite Eight, Duke is once again loaded with freshman firepower and the likes of R.J. Barrett, Cameron Reddish and Zion Williamson have already started to capture the attention of fans nationwide. But, somebody has to find a way to keep those guys happy and that’s why Jones is so important.
Barrett, Reddish and Williamson each spent their high school years dominating the ball and taking any shot they wanted, when they wanted to do it. Even this year on their trip to Canada, Williamson and Barrett dominated the action and took the vast majority of the shots while Reddish and Jones were held out for injuries. Add in another shot hunter like Reddish once the real action gets started and the importance of a true pass-first, playmaking point guard like Jones is ratcheted up.
It’s going to be a lot to ask, but Jones is going to be the one who has to find a way to keep everybody – including those not named Barrett, Reddish or Williamson – happy and to serve as a quarterback of everything. How well he’s able to manage that task will play a huge role in the Blue Devils’ success this year and for that reason he’s the most important freshman in America.
