| 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 | 