penny hardaway: “Penny Hardaway losing control of the program”: Fans skeptical as Memphis star PJ Haggerty makes transfer portal decision

“Penny Hardaway losing control of the program”: Fans skeptical as Memphis star PJ Haggerty makes transfer portal decision

NCAA Basketball: American Athletic Conference Tournament Championship-Memphis vs UAB - Source: Imagn — Penny Hardaway will have to replace the Tigers leading scorer. - Source: Imagn

PJ Haggerty is entering the transfer portal, leaving a big hole to fill for Penny Hardaway's Memphis Tigers. With Haggerty entering the portal, Memphis will now have to replace its starting five as Tyrese Hunter, Colby Rogers, and Nick Jourdain are out of eligibility, while Dain Dainja also entered the portal.

Haggerty's departure is a tough blow for the Tigers, who are losing their leading scorer after finishing last season with a 29-6 record and a fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament. They were upset by the Colorado State Rams.

Some fans reacted to the news, concerned about the status of the program.

"what’s going on in Knoxville, Tennessee? Penny losing control of the program," a fan said.

"Big loss for penny," a fan added.

"I hate to see PJ leave, college basketball is a business now.. I can respect someone offered him a bigger bag 💰, we just signed 3 good point guards.we will be ok 💪🏾👋🏾," another fan wrote.

PJ Haggerty is the leading returning scorer in college basketball. He averaged 21.7 points per game last season, third in college basketball, but with Villanova's Eric Dixon and Northern Arizona's Trenton McDonald out of eligibility, no Division I player will be returning with a higher scoring average.

Fans reacted, hoping to lure their favorite schools and the 6-3, 195-pound shooting guard to work something out in the portal.

"Go to Auburn bro," a fan wrote.

"POPE PLEASE MAN," a fan pleaded.

"Mississippi State Bulldog," a fan said.

Fan reactions to PJ Haggerty's transfer portal decision. - Source: Instagram/@transferportal

With PJ Haggerty leaving, what are Penny Hardaway's options in Memphis?

PJ Haggerty's transfer is a tough loss for the Tigers, who already had to replace three starters. The AAC Player of the Year was expected to be the team's focal point entering next season. Haggerty's scoring ability will be hard to replace, but the Tigers were already looking to add talent to the roster.

Penny Hardaway has been busy in the transfer portal. Memphis got three guards already in former Julius Thedford (Western Kentucky), Quante Berry (Temple), and Zach Davis (South Carolina) through the portal.

All three players were productive at their previous stops. Thedford (12.4 points) and Berry (10.3) averaged double-digit scoring last season, while Davis fell just short at 8.3 points per game.

Point guard Dante Harris and forward Bouna Kebe are also expected to be back in Memphis. While the roster still needs more tweaking, Hardaway is already getting some commitments.

About the author

Allan Wolburg Robles is a College Sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over 17 years of experience in the field writing for publications including Reforma, Yahoo! OddsShark and Apuesta. Allan studied Communications at Anáhuac University, where he learned what would become the basis of a trade that was already a dream of his before starting college.

His favorite team is Army West Point as when he was young, Allan lived in West Point for a couple of years, went to pretty much every home game, a couple of Army-Navy games and even got to meet some of the players.

Allan's favorite players of all time include Tommie Frazier, who was unbelievable during the Nebraska dynasty of the early 90's. Tim Tebow was also a favorite, mainly because of his leadership skills, although he was also awesome on the football field. As a fan of defensive football, (or what's left of it), Sean Taylor could take over a game for Miami.

Allan has always considered himself a student of the game more than a fan of it. So the historical part and evolution of the game, as well as the ins and outs of what happens on the field, and being able to put it into words for the audience, are his biggest strengths.

Besides sports, Allan enjoys reading books, watching movies and spending time with his dogs.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash