“He was a little-bitty, scrawny kid, tiny kid out there handling the basketball,” Hardaway said Monday in a Zoom interview with reporters. “He had good skill, and he was was flashy. He was spectacular in middle school. You could just see the potential in him as he grew and got bigger and stronger going into Ridgeway High School. He started shooting the ball like crazy and controlling the team, becoming a great floor leader and floor general. He played for a really good coach that taught him how to be a college point guard before he actually got to coach (Anthony) Grant at Dayton. He was taught well.”
Hardaway and Crutcher even share the same birthday. They text each other every year on July 18.
“He never lets me forget that,” Hardaway said, “so every year, every time our birthdays come around, we always DM each other or text each other, ‘Happy birthday.’”
Happy Birthday to @Jalen_NoRose1 & @Iam1Cent hope you guys enjoy your day! 😍😍🎁🎊 pic.twitter.com/hhSCOIJRA3
— She She (@she2boys) July 18, 2020
Dayton and Memphis haven’t played since 1995. Their NIT matchup was announced Sunday night when the bracket was revealed on ESPN. Dayton’s chances of making the 16-team field — reduced from the normal 32 — improved when Duke, Louisville, Xavier, St. John’s and Seton Hall all turned down NIT bids. Dayton was one of four Atlantic 10 Conference teams to be selected for the NIT, along with Saint Louis, Davidson and Richmond.
Dayton earned No. 4 seed in its corner of the bracket. Memphis is the No. 1 seed. They will play at University of North Texas Coliseum in Denton, Texas. ESPN will televise the game.
The Dayton-Memphis winner will play No. 2 seed Boise State or No. 3 seed Southern Methodist in the quarterfinals March 25. The semifinals take place March 27 at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The championship game takes place at noon March 28 at the same site.
For Dayton, the NIT game will come 15 days after it lost 73-68 to Virginia Commonwealth in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. Memphis (16-8) settled for a NIT bid after losing 76-74 to Houston on Saturday in the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament.
The Crutcher subplot will be the most interesting storyline as Dayton returns to the NIT for the second time in three years, but it’s also an interesting matchup of two famous alums who returned to coach their alma maters.
Hardaway played two seasons for Memphis (1991-93) before starting a 14-year NBA career. He’s 59-32 in three seasons at Memphis. Grant played for Dayton from 1983-87. He’s 78-40 in four seasons at Dayton.
“I’ve spoken to coach Grant on numerous occasions out on the recruiting trail,” Hardaway said. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for him even when he was at Florida. I just saw the hard work that he put in and that he’s really good coach.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. Memphis, Noon, ESPN, 1290, 95.7
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