Tennessee basketball: Vols should love Penny Hardaway escalating Rick Barnes feud
Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway continued his feud with Rick Barnes and Tennessee basketball Tuesday. But Volunteers fans should love it.
Penny Hardaway just won’t quit. After claiming Jordan Bone “disrespected” Alex Lomax and that the Vols’ bench cleared in Tennessee basketball’s win over the Memphis Tigers Saturday, two claims that video evidence directly contradicts, he doubled down on both things Tuesday.
In his weekly press conference, he responded to jokes Rick Barnes made on “Vol Calls” Monday night. Barnes made a joke to radio host Bob Kesling, asking if he had his fists balled up ready to fight another commentator.
Hardaway went off on this Tuesday. He called Barnes’s comments “low class” and doubled down on his story. And he also took offense at accusations of flopping. You can see all of his comments in the video below.
As you saw from that presser, at one point he tried to cite video evidence as to what happened. Here’s the problem: that video evidence directly contradicts his claims. Anybody with eyes could see that Lomax started the jawing and that the UT bench never cleared.
So here we are again, with Tennessee basketball’s rivalry against the Memphis Tigers escalating into this week. Hardaway is clearly in the wrong here, and Vols fans have every right to troll him for it.
However, they should also be grateful. Hardaway may be salty, but that means that this rivalry is not going anywhere. Compared to Josh Pastner, who backed out of the series due to fear, this is a welcoming incident. It’s what everybody needs.
Even when you get to the point of flopping, it’s true Hardaway’s team did flop. And him being offended by that accusation is something for Tennessee basketball fans to laugh at. But with an undersized team, can you blame him for coaching his players to do that? It was their only chance to win on Saturday. And can you blame him for then denying it?
Simply put, this is what’s needed. Hardaway is wrong in every way, but getting this salty over a loss to the No. 3 team in the country in early December shows that he actually has the right mentality. And when his recruits come in, things will be even more competitive. Gary Parrish had a tweet that described this perfectly.
Let me make this simple for you nerds: 1) Yes, Memphis flopped a lot. 2) Rick called Memphis on it and goofed on Penny’s “UT was ready to fight” comment. 3) Penny responded today. 4) I don’t have a problem with any of it. 5) I like both guys and find the back-and-forth funny. https://t.co/8E1WWRXxmS
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) December 18, 2018
Everything Parrish said was right. As bad as Hardaway looks here and as much of a line as he crossed, he knows what he’s doing to motivate his players. And he, unlike Josh Pastner, knows it’s good to have this rivalry get as bitter as possible.
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As a result, yes, Vols fans should be annoyed. And it’s worth laughing at Hardaway as much as possible for his ridiculous comments. But let’s also put this into perspective and know that Tennessee basketball, along with Memphis, will benefit in the long-term from this. So take part in it up close. But appreciate it from afar.