MEMPHIS — After the season was shut down in March, canceling the NCAA Tournament, what will the college basketball landscape look like this year?
That was just one of the questions posed to Penny Hardaway on Monday when the Tigers coach met with the media.
Hardaway talked about a season played in pods more than a bubble, thought it likely for a January start to the season, maybe playing just conference games.
Hardaway said losing a second straight NCAA Tournament would be devastating to the game.
And for Penny, it is never too early to talk about expectations.
“Hopefully we have everybody eligible, that these waivers go through and that we get our guys all on the floor.” Hardaway said. “To be older, for the freshman to be one year removed from what’s going on to having a full year of what’s going on. The expectations are still the same. We want to win. We want to win at a high level. We understand that we’ve finished fifth two years in a row in this conference. The conference is hard enough but with them understanding what’s going on now, I feel really good about this team.”
Hardaway and the Tigers will move from individual to team training on Thursday.
The NCAA says it hopes to have an answer on the start of the season by mid September.
