Penny Hardaway called me back on Saturday morning around 11 a.m. ET. I was inside the Turner Sports Broadcast Center in Atlanta, getting ready to cover the Players Era Festival quadruple header. Penny and I spoke for nearly an hour. Then I hustled into makeup and into the studio, where I began a long “work” day that ended somewhere after midnight. It was yet another day in my multitasking life that never quite feels like “work.”

The result of that conversation, plus plenty of additional labor, leads our email this morning. My deep dive on Penny Hardaway’s rocky tenure as the head coach at Memphis, his alma mater, is an example of the type of hard-hitting, access-driven journalism that Hoops HQ will consistently deliver. For all my work on television and the work I do covering the game on a granular basis (Hoop Thoughts, Picks Against the Spread, etc.), the deep dive is the task I enjoy completing the most. I look forward to hearing your feedback on the piece.

Tonight also represents one of the best weekday slates you’ll see all season, thanks to interconference challenges between the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12/Big East. The night will culminate on Tobacco Raod, where North Carolina hosts Baylor and Duke hosts Auburn. If you don’t want to know who is going to win those games, please don’t read my picks against the spread. Cause your boy is on a heater (13-6-1, so far this season!).

Tomorrow will deliver a similarly packed lineup in women’s hoops, as our Eden Laase details below. It’s a great week to be a fan (and bettor!) as we steadily make our way towards the end of 2024. Happy reading, and enjoy the games. — Seth

Penny Hardaway’s Team Is a Work in Progress. So Is He.

By Seth Davis

Penny Hardaway tries to watch at least seven basketball games a day. He prefers to do his watching alone, tapping thoughts into his Notes app so he can share them with his staff later on. “I’m trying to study what teams are doing, maybe steal a play here and there,” he says. “I just love the game, man.... The only motivation for me right now is to win and win and win.”

Hardaway is the first to admit that there hasn’t been enough winning since he took over at his alma mater in the spring of 2018. They’ve been to just two NCAA Tournaments and won only one game there. Beyond that, the program has been beset by chronic controversy and massive turnover, both on the roster and the staff.

GAME OF THE DAY — No. 2 Auburn @ No. 9 Duke: The Wednesday slate is absolutely stacked, but this is the one game you can't miss. Auburn might be the best team — and Johni Broome might be the best player — in college basketball right now. With Cooper Flagg leading the way, can the Blue Devils hand the Tigers their first loss of the season? We know one thing for sure: Cameron Indoor will be ROCKING. 9:15 p.m. ET on ESPN.