NCAA Basketball: Top 25 recruiting programs of the 2010’s

20. Memphis Tigers (CUSA/AAC)

Average recruiting ranking: 34.60

Following the departure of former head coach John Calipari after the 2009-10 season, Memphis attempted to continue their massive levels of success. And while Josh Pastner was able to guide the program to the dance in four of his first five years, the Tigers simply were not the same and then he left for Georgia Tech. Tubby Smith then spent two forgettable years as the leader before giving way to new head coach Penny Hardaway, who posted a solid first season and is building a remarkably bright future.

With regards to recruiting, the Tigers just missed out on a  massive rise in these rankings considering the departure of John Calipari. Thankfully, though, current head coach Penny Hardaway was able to snag the No. 1 overall class in the country for 2019 behind commitments from James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa as five-stars plus five more top-150 prospects. Some of the other players of note in Memphis’ 2010’s recruiting include Will Barton, Joe Jackson, and Austin Nichols.

Memphis is clearly on the rise and there shouldn’t be any questions about that. Coach Hardaway is absolutely killing it on the recruiting trail right now as perhaps the most dangerous recruiter in the country. With that said, the talent level in this program is skyrocketing and so are the expectations. It will be interesting to see if the Tigers are able to live up to the hype but this program could be the dominant force in the AAC for the next several years to come.