NCAA places Memphis basketball on two-year probation

The NCAA has come down on the Memphis Tigers, reportedly levying multiple penalties on the men’s basketball program. That includes putting the program on a two-year probation.

Along with the probation, Memphis is facing a one percent budget fine. This comes after two softball players were paid $550 to do what is described as “complete coursework” for a former Memphis basketball player. It was an academic counselor, Leslie Brooks, who paid the softball players. Brooks has also received a 10-year show-cause penalty.

Memphis was hit with a $30,000 fine in total, plus 1% of the combined budgets of the basketball and softball programs. The NCAA also called for a vacation of all records for contests when athletes played, despite now being deemed ineligible.

In total, Memphis had three athletes, two softball players and the one basketball player, who competed in games while ineligible. Together, they combined for 20 games competed in, which now need to be vacated.

The $550 was divided into $150 for the first softball player. That athlete completed three assignments for the basketball player. The second softball player was paid the remaining $400. That second softball player would provide answers to five tests and four quizzes.

Memphis Tigers basketball coach Penny Hardaway has not publicly commented on the NCAA penalties at the time. Current Memphis softball coach Trena Prater, who took that job in the summer of 2024, has also not publicly commented. In the NCAA’s announcement of the penalties against Memphis, the year the violations occurred and all the names of players involved were not mentioned directly.

However, The Commercial Appeal reported the violations were related to basketball player Malcolm Dandridge, and that they occurred before Prater became the school’s softball coach. On top of that, multiple anonymous sources have reportedly told The Commercial Appeal that Ally Callahan and Aaliyah Dixon were the softball players.

Malcolm Dandridge spent five seasons with Memphis and played in a total of 128 games. During that time, he averaged 5.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game.

Memphis fired Brooks on February 23rd, 2024. The next day, it was announced that Dandridge would be withheld from competition. That would effectively end his college career.

Under Penny Hardaway, the Memphis program has had issues with the NCAA in the past. In 2023, Hardaway was hit with a three-game suspension for two impermissible in-home visits in 2021 with a recruit.

Then, in 2022, an infraction investigation charged the program with committing four Level II violations and five Level III violations during its handling of James Wiseman‘s eligibility. That came back in 2019. That came after the NCAA initially identified at least four Level I violations. Still, at the time, the program avoided serious penalties and instead was put on probation for three seasons. Now, the Tigers find themselves on probation again.