The wide-ranging national reaction to Penny Hardaway's explosive postgame rant

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The soundbite has been replayed over and over at this point. "Stop asking me stupid (bleeping) questions" will forever be part of the Memphis basketball lexicon from this point forward.

Penny Hardaway's postgame tirade after Thursday's loss to SMU went viral quickly, and the reaction has been all over the map nationally. Many have come to Hardaway's defense, including many of Tiger fans who were happy to see him punch back at critical media members.

Stephen A. Smith used two minutes of ESPN's First Take Friday to offer his support and words of advice for Hardaway.

"Penny Hardaway, I believe, is a damn good coach who’s only going to get better and better, and we know he’s a helluva recruiter, and Memphis should be lucky to have him," Smith said in part. "You got some supporters out there, because it’s impossible, because anybody that knows you should support you. I support you. Penny Hardaway, I just want you to keep your cool. Remember my brother, it’s about the marathon not the sprint. Sure, they’re going to try to break you. Some people. Not all. Some of them, whoever they are. That ain’t new to you, bro. You’ve been here before. You can handle it. Just be cool and do what you’re doing.”

Jay Williams addressed why he believes the questions Hardaway faced are fair to ask at this point in the season on ESPN radio.

“I’m all about Penny defending himself. He has every right to," Williams said. "That’s something we know, as athletes, how hard it is every single day to grind it out. But the reality is for a guy like Penny Hardaway, when your team misses the NCAA tournament last year and you won the NIT and you return three starters and you combine this crazy freshman class, guys like Emoni Bates, Jalen Duren, guys at the top of the class, expectations are for you to be dominant. Not to lose eight of your last 12 games. So I like him defending himself, but the on the court performance speaks for itself to lean towards those types of questions being asked.”

Michael DeCourcy, a former Memphis Tiger basketball beat writer for The Commercial Appeal, used Hardaway's rant to comment on his tenure overall.

"In some ways," DeCourcy wrote for The Sporting News, "Memphis’ meager performance as a program under Hardaway, in this season and the three that preceded it, might be less disconcerting if he were teeing it up every morning and playing poker with his buddies each night. If he truly is putting all the energy necessary into making the Tigers a successful college team -- and there’s no reason not to take him at his word – then the only reasonable conclusion is he’s not very good at being a high-major Division I head basketball coach."

There was plenty more said in light of explosive Hardaway's comments. Whether they will frame and define the remainder of the season remains to be seen, starting with Sunday's game at Tulsa when the Tigers try to snap their three-game losing skid.

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You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: National reaction to Penny Hardaway's explosive postgame rant