The rumor turned out to be a reality. Sure enough, the best player from last season’s University of Memphis basketball team had surgery last Monday.

To be exact, Jeremiah Martin – the guard who averaged 18.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.3 steals – had an inguinal hernia repaired. So confirmed a UofM press release

2. Notice Served: Penny Taking Recruiting Fight Straight to Calipari - Friday, August 3, 2018

How’s this for a headline, not to mention rock-solid truth: “John Calipari vs. Penny Hardaway is college basketball’s best new recruiting rivalry.”

3. Memphis Basketball's New Players, Holdovers Pledge Unity and Common Goal: Winning - Friday, July 6, 2018

They are a blended family, this collection of players left over from Tubby Smith’s two-year tenure and the new guys – some dripping with hype – who have arrived with Penny Hardaway.

4. Good Vibrations - Friday, June 22, 2018

The first game in the next University of Memphis college basketball season is still more than four months away. But what’s four months when you’ve been waiting four years, or maybe even longer, for Tiger basketball to feel whole again?

5. Tigers Men’s Basketball Releases AAC Schedule - Saturday, June 16, 2018

The American Athletic Conference has released the 2018-19 men’s basketball league schedule and the University of Memphis, under first-year coach Penny Hardaway, will play single games against four opponents – UConn, SMU, Houston and USF – and home-and-away games with the seven other league schools.

6. Tigers Men’s Basketball Releases AAC Schedule - Friday, June 15, 2018

The American Athletic Conference has released the 2018-19 men’s basketball league schedule and the University of Memphis, under first-year coach Penny Hardaway, will play single games against four opponents – UConn, SMU, Houston and USF – and home-and-away games with the seven other league schools.

7. Penny Mania - Saturday, May 19, 2018

Derek Jett was coming home from a business trip on the West Coast and making a connection at the airport in Dallas. It was football season, and because it was football season (and not basketball season), he was wearing his University of Memphis cap.

8. Memphis Adds Guard David Wingett to Its Recruiting Class - Thursday, May 10, 2018

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Memphis has added shooting guard David Wingett to new coach Penny Hardaway's first recruiting class.

9. Players’ Experience - Friday, April 27, 2018

In his piece on John Calipari at theringer.com, writer Jordan Ritter Conn makes the case that the former University of Memphis coach is the best recruiter in college basketball history. His evidence includes this statistic: Since coming to Kentucky in 2009, Calipari has landed 30 McDonald’s All-Americans and sent 33 players to the NBA.

10. Hardaway's First Memphis Recruiting Class a Winner - Monday, April 23, 2018

The latest recruiting rankings from 247sports.com for the college basketball Class of 2018 has the University of Memphis ranked No. 27 and first among American Athletic Conference teams, 23 spots ahead of No. 50 Wichita State.

11. Cordova’s Tyler Harris Chooses Memphis Tigers - Saturday, April 21, 2018

Cordova guard Tyler Harris on Friday signed a national letter of intent to play at the University of Memphis. Harris led the city in scoring this past season with a 30.3 average.

Harris joins East High’s Alex Lomax in new coach Penny Hardaway’s first wave of recruits. They’re the first local players to sign with Memphis in three years.

12. Hardaway and Tigers Get Two More Signees - Wednesday, April 18, 2018

University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway has added two more players to his roster. Shooting guard Antwann Jones signed with the Tigers after being released from his national letter of intent with Texas A&M. Isaiah Maurice signed after playing one season at Kansas State and one season at South Plains junior college.

13. Cordova’s Tyler Harris Chooses Tigers; Hardaway’s Staff in Flux - Monday, April 16, 2018

Cordova guard Tyler Harris on Friday signed a national letter of intent to play at the University of Memphis. Harris led the city in scoring this past season with a 30.3 average.

Harris joins East High’s Alex Lomax in new coach Penny Hardaway’s first wave of recruits. They’re the first local players to sign with Memphis in three years.

14. Prospect Lomax Signs With Memphis Tigers - Saturday, April 14, 2018

Guard Alex Lomax (East High School) officially signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday, April 11, to play for Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis.

15. Prospect Lomax Signs With Memphis Tigers - Friday, April 13, 2018

Guard Alex Lomax (East High School) officially signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday, April 11, to play for Penny Hardaway at the University of Memphis.

16. Third Tigers Basketball Player Transferring - Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Guard Malik Rhodes has joined David Nickelberry and Jamal Johnson in announcing his intention to transfer out of the University of Memphis basketball program.

17. Grizzlies Set to Pick in Top Five; Bickerstaff’s Future Cloudy - Tuesday, April 10, 2018

On Wednesday, the Memphis Grizzlies will play their last game of this difficult season at Oklahoma City. They are on track to finish with the second-worst record in the NBA and to have just under a 20 percent chance in the NBA Lottery to wind up with the overall No. 1 pick.

18. Tigers Coach Hardaway Lands First Commitments - Saturday, April 7, 2018

Penny Hardaway’s first commitments as head coach at the University of Memphis are his son, Jayden Hardaway, and East High point guard Alex Lomax.

19. Last Word: I Am A Man Plaza, Graceland Clears EDGE and Filing Deadline Action - Friday, April 6, 2018

Sometimes the simplest concepts say more than an elaborate explanation can – even when the history it depicts is complex. A plaza dedicated to the 1,300 city sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968 formally opened Thursday on what had been a vacant lot just across Pontotoc from the south side of Clayborn Temple. And the occasion included more of the small moments that have made this week so compelling. Watching civil rights icon Rev. James Lawson walk around the plaza and discover it includes one of his quotes from the 1968 strike.

20. Under Hardaway, Memphis Again Can Have Hometown Heroes - Friday, April 6, 2018

Headline from the future: “Alex Lomax Leads Memphis Tigers into the Sweet 16.”

A certainty? Of course not. But it’s a possibility because Lomax has committed to Penny Hardaway and the University of Memphis. You know, as opposed to staying with his earlier choice of Gregg Marshall and Wichita State.

21. Last Word: MLK50s Big Day, Hotel Changes and Murica on Capitol Hill - Thursday, April 5, 2018

The peak of the MLK50 events came Wednesday with a chill but some sunshine and lots to consider. Understand -- this isn’t over. There are still a few more events to go through the weekend and even into next week. If nothing else, a lot more Memphians and visitors got a good look at most of South Main in the best way possible – on foot. And if the Beale Street District ever expands east to Danny Thomas, the intersection there makes a really good place for a party.

22. Lomax Commits to Memphis Tigers, Hardaway Staff Hire May be Near - Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Penny Hardaway’s first commitments as head coach at the University of Memphis are his son, Jayden, and East High point guard Alex Lomax. Jayden announced his commitment Tuesday, April 3, and Lomax made his official through social media early Wednesday morning.

23. Right Call: Hiring Penny Hardaway Already Paying Dividends for U of M - Friday, March 23, 2018

Penny Hardaway appeared and fans cheered, hooted and hollered. Their deliverer, formerly a Memphis State star and All-American wearing No. 25, had come home in a gray suit and blue tie to rescue their beloved Tigers.

24. Last Word: SCS Plans For $15, IRIS Matinees and The Hard Hit Fund - Wednesday, March 21, 2018

“From a financial standpoint, we need our fans back and we need them back now.” University of Memphis president David Rudd breaking the university’s silence on the basketball coaching change that was made formal Tuesday with the announcement that Penny Hardaway is indeed the new coach. And Hardaway had a lot to say that Tigers fans and Memphians wanted to hear.

25. Slip Sliding Away … Tubby’s Tigers And Season On Downward Plane - Friday, February 9, 2018

After his Tigers had suffered the ignominy of losing a college basketball game to East Carolina, Tubby Smith questioned his players’ sanity.

“We probably need some psychological help,” Smith had said after the 88-85 overtime loss at ECU on Saturday, Feb. 3. “Really, I’m serious. There’s some strange things.”

26. Memphis Basketball: A Program in Decline - Friday, November 17, 2017

They’ve only played two games. The early signing period for the class of 2018 has just passed. And yet it feels like the University of Memphis basketball program’s ceiling for this season and the foreseeable future is dropping.