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The Memphis basketball program received a notice of allegations in July that included four Level I violations and two Level II violations, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported Saturday.
The investigation marks back to the 2019-20 season when the NCAA deemed star Memphis’ freshman James Wiseman ineligible. Wiseman reportedly received improper benefits from Penny Hardaway in high school when Wiseman transferred from Nashville’s Ensworth High School to Memphis East High School.
At the time, Hardaway was the East head basketball coach and Wiseman played for his Team Penny AAU program.
Hardaway would parlay the success he had as Memphis East head coach — including the 2017 and 18 TSAAA Class AAA State titles — into becoming the head coach at his alma mater following the 2018 championship.
Memphis played Wiseman for a game despite being ruled ineligible, but the center eventually opted out of the season. The Golden State Warriors selected Wiseman with the second overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft.
The Commercial Appeal report — which includes excerpts of the notice of allegations — shows that the investigation goes much deeper than just the Wiseman incident.
Memphis committed seven separate violations spawning from “lack of institutional control” to “failure to monitor” from the head coach position. The notice of allegations claims Hardaway “failed to demonstrate that he promoted an atmosphere of compliance within the men’s basketball program.”
The report also states that Memphis turned in a hard drive belonging to assistant coach Mike Miller into the NCAA with significant portions of it deleted.
Memphis received this notice of allegations in July and has since responded to the NCAA disagreeing with the findings of the report.
On the court, Hardaway brought the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. Memphis beat Boise State in the first round of the tournament before falling to Gonzaga in the Round of 32.
Tennessee’s matchup with Memphis was cancelled due to COVID-19 cases in the Tigers’ program.
