How Memphis basketball is approaching the AAC tournament and its long March Madness odds
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Memphis basketball’s mission is simple.
To make its third straight March Madness appearance, the Tigers must win four games in four days at the AAC tournament next week at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
How Memphis accomplishes that is not as simple, mainly because it’s never been done. No team has ever won the AAC tournament having to play more than three straight games on consecutive days. Penny Hardaway’s Tigers (22-9, 11-7 AAC) put themselves in that position with a putrid monthlong stretch in January and February where it went 3-6 with losses to Rice, Tulane and North Texas, among others.
On Saturday, Memphis needed a win at FAU to give itself an at-large path to the NCAA tournament. Beating the Owls would have improved the Tigers’ overall resume’ and increased their odds of securing a double-bye in the conference tournament.
But that didn’t happen. FAU’s 92-84 win means Memphis will be either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in Fort Worth. Which one depends on the outcome of Sunday’s UAB-SMU game (2 p.m., ESPN+). The Tigers will play on Thursday, but their opponent and tip-off time will not be set until the Mustangs and Blazers game ends.
Following Saturday’s outcome, which Hardaway called “heartbreaking,” he and his players acknowledged the degree of difficulty in winning four games on consecutive days. But the plan is to keep the approach as simple as the mission.
“We’re going to do what we’ve always done,” said Hardaway. “(And that’s) to play one game at a time. Whatever your matchup is in that game, win that matchup and get to the next game. It’s win-or-go-home, but you’ve played a full season. There are no surprises at this point.
“You’ve just got to have pride and effort.”
The Tigers’ primary rotation is made up almost exclusively of veterans, and Hardaway is leaning on them extensively of late. David Jones, Jahvon Quinerly, Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Jaykwon Walton have each averaged 30 minutes or more over the past five games, while fifth starter Nicholas Jourdain has averaged 25.8 during that stretch.
Hardaway’s oldest son, Jayden, came off the bench at FAU to score a season-high 8 points. The super-senior guard has averaged 13½ minutes in his last four games. He said the Tigers will need to rely on their experience to pull off what hasn’t been done in the AAC since it was founded in 2014.
“The regular season is over with now,” said Jayden Hardaway. “We have to be mature enough to just focus on the task ahead. We know what’s in front of us now.”
Jayden Hardaway continued, pointing out that avoiding close, competitive games early in the tournament will be critical.
“We can’t let teams hang around,” he said. “Every game can’t be close, because fatigue might settle in and make the road much harder. We’ve just got to be locked in from the jump. We’ve got to punch first and keep punching every game.”
GIANNOTTO: After losing at FAU, Memphis basketball must do what it has never done before
Walton, after Saturday’s loss, painted a picture of a team that is confident about its prospects in spite of the odds.
“Some losses, everybody has their head down,” he said. “Today, when we lost, we came in (the locker room), it was positive. We were talking about the (AAC) tournament and what we can do to win."
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: How Memphis basketball is approaching its long March Madness odds
