College basketball rankings: Memphis a surprising 2-0 after Penny Hardaway started season on hot seat
Hardaway's Tigers crack the Top 25 And 1 after beating VCU on Saturday
• 3 min read
Penny Hardaway has made it clear in his time as coach at Memphis that he wants to schedule in a way that gives his program a chance to annually build an at-large resume for the NCAA Tournament despite playing in a conference that currently ranks ninth nationally, according to KenPom.com.
The approach hasn't always gone well.
Last season, for instance, it went horribly wrong as his Tigers lost seven of their first 11 non-league games en route to what ended up being the program's worst season in 56 years. Things got so bad Hardaway became the face of the hot seat list heading into his ninth year at his alma mater, and yet he still once again assembled a non-league schedule so tough that, this time last week, KenPom was projecting the Tigers as underdogs in each of their first four games.
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But Memphis is 2-0.
Somehow, someway, Memphis is 2-0.
We are now seven full days into the 2026-27 season, and you can reasonably argue nobody had a better first week than Hardaway's Tigers. They opened Monday with an 80-76 neutral-court win over No. 18 Iowa State, then backed that upset Saturday with an 89-88 victory at FedExForum over a VCU team that's picked to win the Atlantic 10 and ranked 57th at KenPom.
It's still early, sure. And everybody schedules with different motivations, obviously. That acknowledged, what you're about to read is true: in this moment, Memphis is the only team in Division I men's basketball with A) a victory over an opponent ranked in the AP poll, and B) another victory over another opponent ranked in the top 60 at KenPom.
"I'm just so thankful," said an emotional Jayden Reid, the transfer from Northwestern who scored 32 points against VCU, buried the game-winning free throws in the final seconds, and is now averaging 29.0 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals for the undefeated Tigers. "I'm just thankful, man. ... I'm just thankful for God. He put me in a great position, coming to Memphis out the portal. I'm so thankful for my coaches, my teammates. It's a big-time win at home."
To understand how big this start is for Hardaway, you have to understand how rough things have gotten for him. He's the program's greatest alum, everybody's favorite Memphis graduate and someone who would've been a Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame player if injuries had not robbed him of his abilities too early. Before the city had the Grizzlies as an NBA franchise, Penny was the city's NBA franchise.
He matters that much to his hometown.
So, yeah, it's been a tough go over the past eight years that have featured just one conference championship to go with four fifth-place-or-lower finishes in the American. The Tigers have only made three NCAA Tournament appearances under Hardaway and won just one game in that postseason event. There have been more top-ranked recruiting classes than wins in the bracket. There have been more NCAA investigations than wins in the bracket.
Every bit of this is depressing to type -- first and foremost as a Memphis alum, but also as a columnist/analyst who very publicly suggested Hardaway should be the person to replace Tubby Smith back in 2018. Things have not gone smoothly -- or the way I hoped they'd go, or the way I anticipated them going. Put DraftKings on it, and, if we're being honest, Hardaway would've been considered an underdog, just a week ago, to still be the Memphis coach on April 1, 2027.
This is a make-or-break year, undeniably.
And who knows where it's headed, still? Long way to go and all that. But, one week in, you can make the case, all things considered, that no team in the country is off to a better start than Memphis, which is No. 26 in Sunday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings.
Up next for the Tigers is another big test -- more specifically, their biggest test of the season to date. Memphis will play Vanderbilt inside Memorial Gym on Tuesday. The Commodores are 2-0 and ranked 24th in the Top 25 And 1.
Is a 3-0 start on tap for Memphis?
According to the computers, no. But, don't forget, just a week ago, the computers had Memphis starting 0-4. Now Memphis is 2-0. So it's possible the computers just don't have a great grasp for these Tigers quite yet, which is both understandable and also the thing that could reconnect the city to the coach and program that once had its heart.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Rueben Chinyelu finished with 21 points and eight rebounds in Thursday's 88-57 win over Jacksonville. The Gators' next game is Tuesday at Florida State. | -- | 2-0 |
| 2 |  | Patrick Ngongba II finished with 28 points and nine rebounds in Thursday's 113-52 win over Coastal Carolina. The Blue Devils' next game is Tuesday against Michigan State. | -- | 2-0 |
| 3 |  | Andrej Stojakovic finished with 25 points and five rebounds in Thursday's 112-70 win over Penn. The Illini's next game is Tuesday at Texas Tech. | -- | 2-0 |
| 4 |  | Braylon Mullins finished with 23 points and four rebounds in Friday's 85-77 win over Michigan. The Huskies' next game is Monday against Wagner. | -- | 2-0 |
| 5 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Friday's 89-45 win over Middle Tennessee. The Jayhawks' next game is Tuesday against Kentucky. | -- | 2-0 |
| 6 |  | Matas Mokietaitis finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in Thursday's 98-50 win over Gardner-Webb. The Longhorns' next game is Monday against Grambling State. | -- | 2-0 |
| 7 |  | Jasiah Jervis finished with 16 points and five rebounds in Thursday's 91-61 win over Toledo. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday against Duke. | -- | 2-0 |
| 8 |  | Obinna Ekezie Jr. finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's 107-57 win over Morehead State. The Cardinals' next game is Nov. 15 at Memphis. | -- | 2-0 |
| 9 |  | Sam Lewis finished with 20 points and four assists in Friday's 97-72 win over Northeastern. The Cavaliers' next game is Sunday against Arkansas. | -- | 2-0 |
| 10 |  | Jeremiah Wilkinson finished with 23 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 106-61 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. The Razorbacks' next game is Sunday against Virginia. | -- | 1-0 |
| 11 |  | Davis Fogle finished with 22 points and six assists in Saturday's 83-62 win over New Mexico State. The Zags' next game is Saturday against LSU. | -- | 2-0 |
| 12 |  | Keyshawn Hall finished with 26 points and nine rebounds in Monday's 78-63 win over Monmouth. The Red Storm's next game is Sunday against Iona. | -- | 1-0 |
| 13 |  | Dedan Thomas Jr. finished with 16 points and five assists in Monday's 94-55 win over La Salle. The Cougars' next game is Sunday against Cal. | -- | 1-0 |
| 14 |  | Nikola Kusturica finished with 29 points and six rebounds in Friday's 114-63 win over North Florida. The Bruins' next game is Wednesday against Arkansas Pine Bluff. | -- | 2-0 |
| 15 |  | Motiejus Krivas finished with 30 points and eight rebounds in Thursday's 104-84 win over Cal Poly. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against Northern Arizona. | -- | 1-1 |
| 16 |  | DeWayne Brown II finished with 17 points and 17 rebounds in Tuesday's 90-59 win over Wofford. The Vols' next game is Monday against Radford. | -- | 1-0 |
| 17 |  | Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn finished with 25 points and three rebounds in Thursday's 76-58 win over Bethune-Cookman. The Red Raiders' next game is Tuesday against Illinois. | -- | 2-0 |
| 18 |  | Shelton Henderson finished with 19 points and five assists in Friday's 83-57 win over Wagner. The Hurricanes' next game is Monday against North Alabama. | -- | 1-1 |
| 19 |  | Zoom Diallo finished with 16 points and three rebounds in Friday's 89-80 win over James Madison. The Wildcats' next game is Tuesday against Kansas. | -- | 2-0 |
| 20 |  | Qayden Samuels finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Friday's 101-86 win over Arkansas State. The Crimson Tide's next game is Monday against Oakland. | -- | 2-0 |
| 21 |  | Elliot Cadeau missed eight of the 11 shots he attempted in Friday's 85-77 loss to UConn. The Wolverines' next game is Wednesday against Marquette. | -- | 1-1 |
| 22 |  | Adonis Ratliff finished with 25 points and six rebounds in Monday's 95-63 win over Milwaukee. The Trojans' next game is Sunday against Wichita State. | -- | 1-0 |
| 23 |  | Robert Wright III finished with 19 points and two steals in Friday's 108-67 win over Omaha. The Cougars' next game is Tuesday against Queens. | -- | 2-0 |
| 24 |  | Tyler Tanner finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Thursday's 74-51 win over Wake Forest. The Commodores' next game is Tuesday against Memphis. | -- | 2-0 |
| 25 |  | Pryce Sandfort finished with 25 points and four assists in Saturday's 67-58 win over Providence. The Cornhuskers' next game is Wednesday against Lindenwood. | -- | 2-0 |
| 26 |  | Jayden Reid finished with 32 points and seven assists in Saturday's 89-88 win over VCU. The Tigers' next game is Tuesday at Vanderbilt. | NR | 2-0 |
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