Penny Hardaway brings Memphis back to NCAAs after long absence

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Alex Lomax remembers watching as a kid as Memphis made a run to the national title game in 2008, just as Penny Hardaway remembers watching great Tigers teams from when he was a kid on a TV that had been rolled into his classroom.

Their combined memories are an indication of Memphis basketball's connection to the community and what it means for the Tigers to be back in the NCAA Tournament.

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"The more the Tigers win, the happier the city is. That’s just a feeling that I can remember back when my family, my uncles and my aunties just being very excited every time the Tigers was playing, and every time they got a win in March Madness, the city would just go crazy," said Lomax, the Tigers' starting guard. "Everybody would tune in, and the energy would just be ecstatic. A couple years later, here I am."

Memphis’ first game in the tournament since 2014 is Thursday when the ninth-seeded Tigers face No. 8 seed Boise State in the West Region first round.

The No. 9 seed for the Tigers (21-10) could be seen by some as an underachievement considering the expectations that accompanied Memphis to begin the season. The Tigers began the season ranked No. 12 in the preseason AP Top 25. They were coming off an NIT championship and had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country led by Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren.

Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway instructs his team during a timeout the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against SMU in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, March 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

Regardless, the Tigers are