Penny Hardaway claims he does One and Done better than anyone

Penny Hardaway is going to be a thorn in John Calipari’s side until Cal puts him in his place or he falls flat on his face at Memphis.

After Tubby Smith was let go as the head coach of the Memphis Tigers, the administration was quick to hire Penny Hardaway. As we all know, Penny is a legend at Memphis and he has direct ties to the Memphis AAU scene. He coaches James Wiseman and UK commit DJ Jefferies.

The thought is that at the very least Penny could mine the vast talent resources in Memphis; something that Tubby absolutely didn’t do.

Hardaway is going to battle Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats for the services of James Wiseman who is one of the best players in the class of 2019. Wiseman was seen as a lock to Kentucky before Penny landed the job at Memphis.

While having to battle for players is annoying enough, Penny is now making the bold claim that no one coaches one and done better than him and assistant coach Mike Miller.

There’s no one better to coach one-and-dones than me and Mike Miller,” Hardaway said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast, noting that both he and Miller both have NBA experience. “If you’re trying to get to the NBA, there’s no one better to get you there than me and Mike. That isn’t a slight to any coach, but we’ve been there. We know what it takes.

This is a ridiculous statement. Penny hasn’t coached a second of college basketball. He hasn’t gotten one player to the NBA. If this assertion is true, then why aren’t Dan Majerle, Chris Mullins. and Avery Johnson producing more guys to go to the league? All of them are NBA legends and all of them have had more coaching experience at the college level than Penny.

This is a direct shot at John Calipari. Penny sees Cal as his main competition, which is completely absurd.

The good news is that Calipari is at his best when he is challenged. Once he gets that chip on his shoulder, it’s usually lights out.

Thanks for the motivation, Penny!