AAC Basketball

Four-star forward JJ Taylor announced his commitment to Memphis on Saturday.

Ranked 63rd in 247Sports' composite rankings, he chose the Tigers over schools including Kentucky, Arkansas, Duke and Kansas.

Taylor transferred to Kanye West's Donda Academy before his junior season along with other stars such as Zion Cruz, Robert Dillingham, Jahki Howard and Jalen Hooks.

"It’s very important for me to be that player, to live up to it,” Taylor told reporters of his national status. “It means something. There is some pressure that comes with that, and I know and expect people to come at me. But I am ready for it and want that. I have to keep working to maintain it, live up to it, to represent Chicago. I know I’m being watched.”

Taylor transferred to San Ysidro (California) High School for his senior year after Donda Academy shut down in the wake of Ye's antisemitic statements.

He has joined Mikey Williams, a 5-star prospect who also committed to Memphis on Saturday.

Top-rated prospect Mikey Williams announced Saturday he will play for Memphis at the next level, per Clayton Collier of ABC 24 Memphis.

Williams will be joined by four-star JJ Taylor, who also announced his commitment to play for the Tigers on Saturday.

Williams, a combo guard, is considered a 4-star recruit and rated the No. 22 overall player in the 2023 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Williams has also gained plenty of attention for his social media presence, with millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. The prep star was the first high school player ever to earn a sneaker deal with a global footwear company when he signed with Puma, per Nick DePaula of ESPN.

"His talent on the court and his ability to connect with young athletes and fans alike will help drive hoops culture forward and inspire the next generation of athletes," Adam Petrick, global director of brand and marketing at Puma, said in a statement.

Williams' on-court play should not be overlooked as an elite scorer who can attack the basket or make shots from the perimeter. The 6'2" guard has turned heads nationally since his freshman season:

It got the attention of all the top programs in the country, although he kept his options open during the recruiting process.

Williams ended up selecting Memphis as he tries to put himself on track to playing in the NBA.

The school can help prepare him for the NBA as he looks to reach expectations as a top draft pick. In the meantime, he should be a high-level contributor as soon as he steps on to campus and likely a go-to offensive option during his freshman season.

The University of Memphis men's basketball program has been placed on probation for three years and received a $5,000 fine for Level II and Level III recruiting violations by the NCAA.

The penalty came after allegations that head coach Penny Hardaway paid former player James Wiseman and his family $11,500 to move to Memphis while he was still in high school, per Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

The Independent Resolution Panel also ruled Memphis must vacate all wins involving Wiseman, which amounted to just three games.

Wiseman, who is now on the Golden State Warriors, was the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2019 class, per 247Sports composite rankings. He averaged 19.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks across three games before the NCAA suspended him 12 games for recruiting violations.

The $11,500 from Hardaway came in 2017 when he was a coach at East High School in Memphis, but the NCAA considered him a booster for the Tigers since he had donated money to his alma mater. He didn't become the Memphis coach until 2018.

Once Wiseman's appeal was denied, he left school and instead prepared for the NBA draft.

"I wanted to have a great collegiate career," Wiseman told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski in 2020. "I wanted to win a national championship. But throughout the course of the first two games, everything started to go down in terms of my mental [well-being]. I was getting depressed. It was dehumanizing for me."

Wiseman became the No. 2 pick of the 2020 NBA draft, but his professional career has been limited by injuries.

Kevin Ollie has reached a settlement with the University of Connecticut stemming from his wrongful termination lawsuit.

In a joint statement released on Thursday, the university and Ollie announced he will receive a $3.9 million payout "for claimed reputational damages and attorney's fees."

UConn announced in March 2018 it had begun the process of firing Ollie for just cause. The move came after the basketball program was alerted to an NCAA inquiry into potential recruiting violations.

In June 2018, the school released documents that showed Ollie and former Huskies star Ray Allen had improper training sessions and improper contact with recruits.

The NCAA Committee on Infractions gave Ollie a three-year show-cause penalty for failing to fully cooperate with the investigation.

"This case illustrates the importance of full candor and cooperation in the infractions process, as well as head coach control," the NCAA said in a statement. "The former head coach faltered in both respects, increasing the severity of his violations and allowing violations within the program to occur for most of his tenure."

The basketball program was given two years of probation and lost a scholarship during the 2019-20 academic year. It also vacated all of its wins from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.

Ollie sent a letter to the University of Connecticut shortly after he was fired that was obtained by ESPN's Myron Medcalf. He argued the school violated his "rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution" and he sought the money still left on his deal at the time of his dismissal.

In January, Ollie won his arbitration case against the school and was owed $11.2 million.

UConn hired Ollie, who played for the program from 1991-95, in September 2012 after Jim Calhoun retired. He spent two seasons as an assistant on Calhoun's staff before being named head coach.

Ollie went 127-79 in six seasons with the Huskies. He led the team to two NCAA tournament appearances, including a championship in the 2013-14 season.

After spending three years out of basketball, Ollie was hired as head coach and director of player development for Overtime Elite in 2021.

Former University of Cincinnati basketball coach John Brannen has agreed to a settlement with the school over his firing in April 2021.

Per The Athletic's Justin Williams, public records revealed the school agreed to pay Brannen $2.75 million as part of a settlement signed by both parties on Wednesday.

Cincinnati fired Brannen on April 9, 2021, one week after he was placed on administrative leave.

"The decision to move in a new direction comes after a thorough review of our program, which included conversations with student-athletes, coaches and staff, as well as with Coach Brannen," athletic director John Cunningham said in the statement announcing the decision.

Brannen's dismissal came after the school opened an investigation into allegations about the men's basketball team.

In a March 2021 report from Williams, the team "experienced a mass roster exodus" with six players entering the transfer portal following a "rift" with Brannen.

Williams noted at the time that seven players recruited by Brannen following his hiring in April 2019 had left the program, with four of the team's five high-school signees from the 2020 recruiting class leaving after less than one year with the Bearcats.

Brannen originally filed a lawsuit against the university in May 2021, but he withdrew the lawsuit and refiled it in state court five months later. The 48-year-old was seeking more than $5 million in buyout money, as well as compensatory and punitive damages.

According to Williams, Brannen was fired with cause by Cincinnati. He would have been owed $5.25 million for being fired without cause, per the terms of his contract.

Brannen went 32-20 in two seasons at Cincinnati. Dayton head basketball coach Anthony Grant announced earlier this week Brannen will join the program as an analyst and senior special assistant.

Wes Miller was hired as Cincinnati's new head coach in April 2021. He went 18-15 in his first season with the program.

The University of Memphis has thrown its hat in the ring for Bronny James.

Per Joe Tipton of On3.com, the Tigers have offered the Sierra Canyon High School star a scholarship.

According to Tipton, Memphis is believed to be the fourth college program to make James a scholarship offer. USC, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central are the others.

James' recruitment is going to be one of the biggest stories around college basketball until he makes a decision.

Earlier this week, Jamie Shaw of On3.com reported Oregon and Ohio State are also in the recruiting mix for James.

Shaw noted Oregon was considered the front-runner, but Bronny's father, LeBron James, seemed to dismiss the notion that any school was in the lead at this early stage in the recruiting process:

The 17-year-old James appears to be carving out an excellent path on his own. He is a 4-star prospect and No. 43 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class, per 247Sports composite rankings.

In his scouting report of James for 247Sports, Eric Bossi noted the 6'3" shooting guard has "added some pop on drives to the rim through traffic or in transition" and he is a "fantastic passer."

Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the other notable programs with at least some level of interest in James.

Since taking over as head coach at his alma mater, Penny Hardaway has made the Tigers a force in recruiting. They had the top-ranked class in 2021 with six total commits, including 5-stars Emoni Bates and Jalen Duran, per 247Sports composite rankings.

Memphis has won at least 20 games in each of Hardaway's first four seasons. The program made the NCAA tournament last season for the first time since 2013-14 as the No. 9 seed in the West Region.

The Tigers defeated Boise State in the first round before falling to No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga in the second round.

Emoni Bates' time on the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team has ended after one season.

"I'd like to thank Coach Penny, my teammates, and the entire coaching staff at the University of Memphis for giving me the opportunity to be a Tiger," he said in a statement, per Joe Tipton of On3Sports. "Thank you Tiger Nation for embracing me and all of you who supported our team throughout this season. With that being said, I have decided to enter the transfer portal."

Bates failed to live up to the sky-high expectations that surrounded him as a 5-star prospect, as rated by 247Sports' composite rankings. He was a key part of Memphis' No. 1 class in 2021, but the Tigers also struggled to establish much consistency and finished as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament.

As Tipton noted, Bates had quite the journey before even arriving at Memphis.

Michigan State was the only program that seriously recruited him in the early going because most teams expected him to go a professional route before eventually playing in the NBA. Yet he reclassified to the 2021 class and decommitted from the Spartans before choosing Memphis over the G League.

Bates appeared in just 18 games for the Tigers and missed all of February and some time in March because of a back injury. He averaged 9.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per night while shooting 38.6 percent from the field and 32.9 percent from three-point range.

While he flashed his potential with 15 or more points in each of his first three games, he never reached that mark again all season.

Bates also finished with just three points in three minutes in a Big Dance win over Boise State and had five points in 12 minutes in the team's loss to Gonzaga in the second round.

Tipton explained the 18-year-old Bates cannot just go into the NBA at this point because players must turn 19 years old during the calendar year of the draft to be eligible. That means transferring to another school or playing in the G League could be an option.            

Hansel Enmanuel, a high school basketball player who has gone viral for his impressive skills, said Friday that he has received a scholarship offer to play college basketball at the University of Memphis.

According to On3's Joe Tipton, Enmanuel, who had most of his left arm amputated as a child, now has three scholarship offers from Division I schools with Memphis being the highest-profile institution to date. Enmanuel has also received offers from historically Black universities Bethune-Cookman and Tennessee State.

Enmanuel, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is a 6'4" guard and senior at Life Christian Academy in Kissimmee, Florida.

An accident when he was six years old resulted in the amputation of his left arm below the shoulder.

Enmanuel is rated by 247Sports as a 3-star prospect and the No. 34 combo guard in the recruiting class of 2022.

Enmanuel's highlight reels show off his impressive skill set, including shooting three-pointers with a unique stroke and throwing down emphatic dunks.

Enmanuel has also gotten himself on the radar by recently appearing in a video for rapper J. Cole's Dreamer brand.

On3 estimates that Enmanuel has a name, image and likeness (NIL) value of $1.2 million, which is the third-highest among current high school basketball players.

With college athletes now able to profit from NIL deals because of new NCAA rules, Enmanuel should have no shortage of endorsement opportunities.

University of Memphis men's basketball coach Penny Hardaway issued an apology for his expletive-filled rant directed toward the media after Thursday's home loss to SMU.

Hardaway posted a video Friday on Instagram saying he let his "emotions get the best of" him: 

Memphis entered the 2021-22 season with sky-high expectations. It was ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press preseason poll and reached as high as No. 9 amid a 5-0 start.

The Tigers have gone just 4-8 over their past 12 games, however, and the loss to SMU extended their current losing streak to three.

Injuries and COVID-related absences have started to take a toll with two of the team's top four scorers, DeAndre Williams and Landers Nolley II, missing the clash with the Mustangs.

The main point of Hardaway's rant centered around the unfairness of judging either the team or his coaching performance based on games where they are missing key players.

"It is what it is, man. I don't like to get out of character. We're hurt, man," he told reporters. "Our roster is depleted right now of guys that can definitely make a difference and help the young guys get through this. Right now they're having to learn on the fly. It's hard."

Nevertheless, the former NBA All-Star guard added it was also important to fight through some adversity.

"We gotta be tougher as a group. We gotta stop feeling sorry for ourselves when things aren't going right and just keep fighting," Hardaway said. "Right now we're not fighting. This isn't a Memphis team. We're not fighting hard enough for the entire game."

While there's no doubt the absences have hurt Memphis, a lot of teams have been forced to juggle their rotations during a season heavily impacted by COVID-19 over the past few months.

The Tigers must get hot down the stretch to earn a berth in the NCAA tournament—they're likely on the outside looking in at the 68-team bracket—and at that point they can press the reset button and hope their talent shines through during March Madness.

Hardaway has posted a 72-40 record across three-plus seasons leading the Memphis program and has consistently delivered strong recruiting classes, so he shouldn't be on the hot seat despite the fact that this season has yet to meet expectations.

Former Connecticut men's basketball head coach Kevin Ollie has won his arbitration case against the school. 

Per David Borges of The Hour, Ollie's attorney, Jacques J. Parenteau, said the school has to pay his client $11.2 million within the next 10 business days. 

Mark Irvings, the arbitrator in the case, ruled Connecticut violated the collective bargaining agreement in firing Ollie with "just cause" in March 2018. 

Ollie signed a five-year contract extension with the Huskies in May 2014 that tied him to the program through the 2018-19 season. 

In January 2018, the NCAA notified the University of Connecticut it had opened an investigation into the men's basketball program. 

The school announced on March 10, 2018, it had started the process of firing Ollie for just cause. The NCAA handed down discipline that included two years of probation and loss of a scholarship during the 2019-20 academic year for the program and gave Ollie a three-year show-cause penalty because of violations that were deemed to have "exceeded the allowable amount of activity" during the preseason.

Connecticut also vacated all of its wins from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. 

Per Creg Stephenson of AL.com, Ollie's show-cause penalty expires on July 2, 2022. He could potentially be hired by another school before that date, but it would have to meet with an NCAA infractions committee to justify the move.

After the NCAA discipline was announced, Ollie issued a statement through his lawyer saying he was "disappointed with the NCAA Committee on Infractions decision but not surprised that the Committee acted to support its member institution in the dispute" between the two parties. 

In a letter to the university shortly after his firing obtained by ESPN's Myron Medcalf, Ollie argued the school violated his "rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution" and he was seeking to receive the remaining money still left on his contract. 

Ollie spent six seasons as Huskies head coach from 2012-18. The 49-year-old went 97-79 with two NCAA tournament appearances, including a national title in 2013-14.