Ugly loss could mark the end of Penny Hardaway's Memphis tenure

Where does Memphis go from here?

After suffering an upset loss in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Tournament to 12-seed Wichita State, 71-65, the Tigers might have no other choice than to move on from head coach Penny Hardaway.

Memphis (22-10, 11-7 in AAC) entered Thursday on the NCAA Tournament bubble. According to ESPN's Joe Lunardi, it needed a win against the Shockers to remain in contention.

The Tigers finished the regular season fifth in the conference. They suffered a precipitous drop after reaching as high as No. 10 in the Associated Press top 20 poll on Jan. 15.

Over its final 15 games (including the conference tournament), Memphis went 7-8. 

The conference tournament result marks another disappointing end to the season for Memphis under Penny Hardaway, who took over as head coach in 2018.

In six seasons, he has a 133-61 record. However, Hardaway has only two NCAA Tournament appearances and one tourney win, despite his teams reaching the top 10 of the AP poll in three different years.

Talent has never been the issue for Hardaway at Memphis.

He made waves in 2019 with the top-ranked recruiting class, which included forward Precious Achiuwa, center James Wiseman and guard Boogie Ellis. 

However, Wiseman only played three games for the Tigers after the NCAA handed him a 12-game suspension for "recruiting inducements his family received," and he declared for the 2020 NBA Draft.

After the program dipped to No. 25 in the overall recruiting rankings in 2020, it rebounded with another No. 1 class in 2021, including five-star prospects Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren.

Hardaway has proven he can compete with the best coaches in college basketball on the recruiting trail. Despite his success off the court, after six seasons, Memphis still hasn't had its major breakthrough on the court under Hardaway's watch.

It wouldn't be shocking if his clock strikes zero.