Memphis basketball's DeAndre Williams dilemma has officially become 'weird' | Giannotto

Jordan Brown has never met DeAndre Williams.

When Brown confirmed that Thursday night, in the aftermath of Memphis basketball’s final exhibition game, the increasingly bizarre circumstances surrounding the start of the Tigers’ season really sank in.

Here we are, just a few days away from Memphis’ opener against Jackson State, and most of this promising team hasn’t actually been around their best player. Or at least the player who could be the best player if the NCAA allows him to be on the team.

“We want a chance to win a national championship and I think he enhances that by a lot,” Penny Hardaway said of Williams once the Tigers beat Division-II LeMoyne-Owen 104-63 at FedExForum.

So yes, this whole situation involving the 27-year-old graduate student’s eligibility is officially crossing the threshold from offseason curiosity to just plain “weird.” That's the word Hardaway used, by the way. And until it’s figured out, determining exactly where this season might lead is exceedingly complicated.

It has been 155 days since Williams made public that he was exploring a return to Memphis with the help of the same attorney Hardaway used to escape largely unscathed from the James Wiseman-related IARP investigation. Williams was hopeful he could get a waiver for another year of eligibility from the NCAA. But during those 155 days, Hardaway also built the Tigers’ roster into perhaps the most experienced, well-rounded he has assembled, adding veterans like David Jones, Jahvon Quinerly, Jaykwon Walton and Brown.

The program has gone through offseason workouts, it has gone to the Dominican Republic for a series of summer exhibitions and practices, and it has gone through an entire preseason with Williams not around. Hardaway confirmed Thursday it was Williams’ decision to train in Houston while his eligibility case was in flux, even though he would have been permitted to practice with the Tigers if he desired.

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“Because he chose not to be here in Memphis, to be back home in Houston, it has made it tougher,” Hardaway admitted. “But we’ll deal with that. When the waiver gets passed, we’ll deal with that then. But he’s going to come back and be DeAndre. He’s been here three years already, so we’d welcome him back with open arms. He’d have to get acclimated to the system with the guys and getting used to them, but his energy would be wanted right now.”

Hardaway conceded his optimism is more a reflection on trying to “speak it into existence” than any actual developments in the waiver process. Memphis doesn’t yet have clarity on whether Williams will be able to play. His waiver request has been denied twice already, The Commercial Appeal’s Jason Munz reported. Williams and Memphis are now awaiting a decision on their final appeal attempt.

It seems unfair for Williams and for Memphis that the season might start without a definitive ruling, but the NCAA and fairness aren’t normally associated with one another. Williams' chances are anyone's guess. He's attempting to claim he lost a year of eligibility as a non qualifier out of high school due to being advised incorrectly. Hardaway knows enough about this enterprise by now to understand “no news is good news, meaning they haven’t come back and said it’s a no go.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a distraction. If he came back, I think it’d be more everybody excited about our chances,” Hardaway said. “I’m staying very positive because I want DeAndre to stay very positive as well.”

This can work because who couldn’t use a player like Williams. He was great a year ago, peaking right along with Memphis at the end of last season. He could have been a hero in that NCAA tournament loss to Florida Atlantic had the Tigers gotten that timeout awarded or one more stop. He would immediately raise the ceiling for this group, as Hardaway noted. He should be the leader of the team.

But can he be that after spending so much time away from this new-look roster? The way this has dragged on will make those dynamics delicate for Hardaway. It will hover over the program until there’s a resolution. If it goes in the Tigers’ favor, they’ll have to adjust on the fly in the midst of a mostly unforgiving nonconference schedule. The 10-man rotation Hardaway leaned on Thursday will expand, a starter will have to accept a role off the bench, and a bench player who was supposed to be in the rotation might get bumped out.

Normally, this could be settled over the course of preseason practices. But this has never felt quite normal.

The season is almost here and most of the Memphis basketball team has never met the player their coach thinks could be the key to achieving their wildest dreams.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on X: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball's DeAndre Williams dilemma is officially 'weird'