Memphis football is the talk of the town after a buzzworthy defensive performance powered the Tigers to a 27-21 Week 0 win at UNLV.

Charles Huff and Co. hope to hit another high note by christening the newly renovated Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium with a win over Arkansas State on Sept. 5. 

On this week's episode, Tiger football beat writer Jonah Dylan and Tiger basketball beat writer Jason Munz relive some key under-the-radar moments from the victory in Vegas and set up the Group of 6 showdown against the Red Wolves. 

Dylan and Munz also update where things stand with Nemanja Popovic's eligibility and explain why the American Conference's recent ban on professional players returning to college has no bearing on the situation. 

First impressions can be powerful.

So, after catching our first in-person glimpse of the 2026-27 Memphis basketball team, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan are leaning into them. 

Fresh off observing a portion of the team's summer workouts on July 23, Munz and Dylan parse through their primary takeaways and try to decide whether it was enough to actually convince them of anything. 

Also, on this week's episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Munz and Dylan discuss the latest scheduling news and welcome Bartlett High 4-star guard Dylan Jones for a guest appearance (starting at the 1:13:53 mark of the episode). They also recap Dylan's trip to SEC and American Conference football media days and predict how many conference titles the Tigers will win in 2026-27. 

Kendric Davis recently returned to Memphis for a few days to train with his former coach, Penny Hardaway, and the new Tiger basketball team. 

On the heels of that visit, the Sydney Kings' superstar point guard sat down for an extended interview with Commercial Appeal reporters Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan, which covered a wide range of topics. Including:

• His impressions of the 2026-27 Tigers roster (27:15)
• Becoming "the new standard" for Memphis point guards in the transfer portal era (28:03)
• A previously untold story that speaks to his connection with the city (32:36)
• The NBA opportunity that has so far eluded him (36:32)
• The landmark contract he signed with the Kings earlier this year (38:18)
• The NCAA Tournament loss to FAU (39:35)
• Never being 100% healthy at Memphis (42:14)
• The very real, very intense rivalry with NBL MVP Bryce Cotton (44:06)

On this episode, Munz and Dylan also discuss behind-the-scenes chatter from the Tigers' summer workouts, among several other topics. 

Penny Hardaway is not leaving anything to chance.

Hence the pursuit of 24-year-old Serbian center Nemanja Popović, which yielded a commitment from the All-Polish Basketball League first-team selection. 

All that's left for he and the Tigers is the formal signing. While we await clearance of that final hurdle, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan dive into what Popović's addition might mean for Memphis. How it might affect the starting lineup. How the rotation might shake out. What it might do for the Tigers' ceiling. And more. 

Also, on this week's edition of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Munz and Dylan get into the contract that former Memphis star Jalen Duren might soon be signing (and the significance of it) and field some listener-submitted questions on both football and basketball. 

There is a high degree of surface-level significance to University of Memphis athletics' plan to fully fund revenue sharing in 2026-27. 

There are also what feels like a proverbial metric ton of layers to the news that are at least equally significant. Some might argue even more significant. 

On this week's episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan recap the announcement Memphis athletic director made regarding revenue sharing, explain the difference between revenue sharing and NIL payments, and unpack the implications associated with the announcement. 

Also, Munz and Dylan field questions from listeners. Among the topics discussed are whether basketball coach Penny Hardaway will fill his final roster spot and the outlook for Tiger football. 

The start of Memphis basketball's 2026-27 season is still more than five months away.

But coach Penny Hardaway already has everything he needs to start making lineup decisions and rotation choices. 

Hardaway likely won't officially settle on anything for a long while. After all, summer workouts don't even begin for another two weeks. But, on this week's episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan dig into all the pieces the Tigers have added over the past six weeks.

Munz and Dylan discuss, in-depth, some of the more prominent newcomers (including Tylik Weeks and Jayden Reid), then forecast who is most likely to be Memphis' five starters for the season opener against Iowa State on Nov. 2, and which players figure to be first off the bench. 

Does Memphis basketball have enough money to compete in today's day and age? 

That issue is unequivocally at the forefront of the Tigers' offseason, as coach Penny Hardaway works to retool his roster in hopes of rebounding from a dreadful 13-19 season. 

On this episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan unpack that topic and highlight some of Memphis athletic director Ed Scott's comments to Munz during a recent exclusive interview. Also, Commercial Appeal high school beat writer Wendell Shepherd Jr. joins the podcast to break down what the Tigers are getting in Briarcrest stars Fred Smith Jr. and Parker Pounds. Then, Munz and Dylan get into the latest transfer portal news, highlight the job new women's basketball coach Hana Haden is doing to rebuild her roster, and answer a handful of listener-submitted questions. 

Intrigue always accompanies the Memphis basketball offseason under coach Penny Hardaway. 

It hasn't even been a month since the Tigers' 2025-26 season mercifully ended, and the amount of notable developments we're still sorting through and processing is already substantial. 

And, undoubtedly, there is still much more to come. 

With that in mind, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan recently convened to digest it all. From the new hires on the coaching staff to the addition of a general manager to Hardaway's track record with the transfer portal to an examination of some potential Tiger targets, there is plenty to discuss. 

Despair and desolation. 

If Penny Hardaway and Memphis basketball are to eradicate the feeling of misery that has enveloped the program, a lot has to happen between now and Nov. 2. 

Perhaps nothing is more important than getting the roster right. So, how does Hardaway do that? Where did he go wrong in 2025-26? Which players (if any) should he bring back? What are the Tigers' biggest needs positionally?

And, what should be Hardaway's top priority when evaluating incoming players? 

On this week's episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Jason Munz and Jonah Dylan get into all of that. Plus: Munz and Dylan look back on the season and wonder whether the most memorable moments are likely the ones most hope to forget. 

The Memphis Tigers won the American Conference Tournament last season. 

Will they repeat? They'll have to win five games in five days and eliminate four teams more well rested than them to do it. But isn't that the very essence of March Madness? 

On this week's episode of the Tiger Basketball Podcast, Jonah Dylan and Jason Munz pore over the reasons why you should feel optimistic about Memphis' chances, as well as reasons why the odds against it are very tall. 

Dylan and Munz also get into the school's firing of women's basketball coach Alex Simmons (and discuss some candidates to replace her) and rank which conference tournaments are consistently the most entertaining.