From an outside perspective, the Memphis Tigers have consistently been one of the more entertaining teams to watch in the offseason. There’s either a transfer situation going on or someone dealing with eligibility. And that’s the same in this case, with starting center Dain Dainja looking to get another year of eligibility via waiver from the NCAA.
Besides that, there’s the transfer saga of PJ Haggerty, the team’s MVP and AAC Player of the Year from this past season. He entered the transfer portal a few weeks ago, and there’s technically a chance he could return since he’s yet to find a landing spot. But the odds of that are slim at this point.
Memphis has moved on from Haggerty, landing a few perimeter guards from the transfer portal. The most notable name is Dug McDaniel, a 5’11 guard who averaged 11.4 ppg and 4.9 apg at Kansas State and put up even bigger numbers at Michigan in the year prior. They also added Quante Berry (Temple) and Sincere Parker (McNeese State) at the two-spot, while adding yet another ball-handler last week.
Curtis Givens III is a former four-star prospect who averaged 4.8 ppg and 1.6 apg in 18 mpg at LSU as a freshman last season. He showed some flashes of good play, and in the AAC, could be a future standout contributor. On paper, he’s slated to be the backup to McDaniel at point for the Tigers. And if that happens, this would push Dante Harris out of the rotation. And that caused him to enter the transfer portal this past week.
Here’s the problem. The deadline for players (including graduates) to enter the portal had already passed, and only players who went through a late coaching change (IU Indy and North Florida) can enter right around now. This means Harris would have to get a waiver from the NCAA in order to be eligible for next season. That’s a specific issue for him because even if he were to be forced to sit out next year, he can’t do so via a redshirt since he already used one after transferring to Virginia a couple of years ago.
Of course, this is the era where players sue the NCAA to be able to play, with some having success. But in terms of eligibility cases, the governing body has been able to win some. Harris’ best case scenario may be to play his last year at Memphis but as the potential 5th guard in the rotation, minutes could be very limited.
Either way, this will be another Memphis player looking to the NCAA in hopes of being able to transfer out after the deadline. We’ll see if Harris has any luck in that.