After weeks of speculation, PJ Haggerty made the decision on April 17 to put his name in the transfer portal.
A consensus All-American, Haggerty ranked third in the country in scoring at 21.8 points per game and led the Tigers to an AAC Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament. He also picked up first team All-AAC honors and won the conference's Most Outstanding Player award and enters the portal with two years of eligibility.
The likeliest reason for his choice, as Coach Penny Hardaway has alluded to, was NIL money from larger schools. Haggerty currently has an NIL evaluation of about $1.7 million and has entered the portal with a "do not contact" tag.
It'll be difficult to replace the value Haggerty brought to Memphis, but Hardaway has already been hard at work in the portal, landing South Carolina guard Zachary Davis, Western Kentucky guard Julius Thedford, Temple guard Quante Berry and brought Ashton Hardaway back after a stint at Saint Mary's.
While entering the portal doesn't necessarily rule out a return to Memphis for either player, it is a massive blow to a Tigers team that was already looking to reload after losing Jared Harris, PJ Carter, Baraka Okojie and Damarien Yates.
