Penny Hardaway calls Memphis basketball's No. 1 recruiting class 'as advertised'

The Memphis men's basketball team stood in a line, towering over the children seated in front of them on the floor of the Larry O. Finch Center for coach Penny Hardaway's basketball camp.

One-by-one each of the team's stars — most of whom are a part of nation's No. 1 recruiting class — took turns stepping to the front and introducing themselves to the younger audience.

"Woo!" the children yelled, clapping twice after each introduction. 

Fittingly, Hardaway had a similar response when his new players stepped on the floor for the team's first summer practice Saturday.

"It was a great feeling seeing them on campus, but it was an even better feeling seeing them on the court in practice, and doing things together," Hardaway said. "It's been a great couple of weeks."

Hardaway noted that the Tigers haven't had any bumps quite yet, and from what he can tell the entire team has been working hard. The second-year coach intends to hold practice three times a week this summer. 

"(The signees) are as advertised, honestly," Hardaway said. "They are freshmen and they are going to make mistakes, but as far as talent — very, very talented."

The only player missing from the first workout was five-star forward Precious Achiuwa. Hardaway said the late signee had some "minor things" he needed to work out, but he was expected arrive Wednesday night. 

Four-star guard Boogie Ellis was also missing from the camp Wednesday because he returned home to San Diego for his high school graduation. 

But this Saturday all of the Tigers will get back to work.

"I'm seeing toughness," Hardaway said. "I'm seeing a commitment to stay together, and a commitment to allow themselves to be taught. It's like they are all in, everybody is buying in."

According to Hardaway, the returning players and incoming freshmen have already battled each other during workouts, which he said has translated to "high-level" competition.

"The only thing that I have heard from (Tyler Harris) and (Alex Lomax) is that they are competitive and they want to win," Hardaway said. "Obviously, at some point there is going to be a competition. Someone is going to start and someone is going to come off the bench. That is going to be settled on the court."

The Tigers returned guards Harris, Lomax, Ryan Boyce and Jayden Hardaway, as well as post players Lance Thomas and Isaiah Maurice. 

"I want to do more teaching of what we want to do early," Hardaway said. "(Last year), I think we got into that so fast because we got into the job kind of late, so we had so much going on. This year we are a lot calmer. Especially how they changed the rules on how you can recruit in the summer, so it gives us more time to develop the players better this summer."

The Tigers will also receive 10 extra practices in preparation for a trip to the Bahamas from Aug. 12-19. The Tigers will play four games overseas at the Baha Mar resort.