Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway has added McNeese State transfer Sincere Parker to his 2025-26 backcourt on April 18.
The Tigers’ eighth-year coach is in the process of reloading after leading his team to a regular-season AAC championship, an AAC tournament title and a 5-seed in the NCAA tournament.
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Hardaway has so far secured commitments from multiple transfer guards, including Parker, Zachary Davis (South Carolina), Julius Thedford (WKU), Quante Berry (Temple). It remains unclear whether All-American guard PJ Haggerty and point guard Dante Harris will be back with the Tigers next season, although Haggerty entered the transfer portal April 17.
Memphis is also bringing back forward Ashton Hardaway (Saint Mary’s) and presently has verbal commitments from junior college guard Felipe Patino and incoming freshman guard Daniel Vieira-Tuck. In addition, starting center Dain Dainja (the AAC’s Newcomer of the Year this season) is seeking an additional season of eligibility.
Parker’s addition leaves Hardaway with at least four open scholarships.
Parker − a 6-foot-3 guard − has one season of eligibility remaining. He averaged 12.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 31 games (zero starts) for the Cowboys in 2024-25. He averaged 0.5 assists and shot 29.5% (33-of-112) at the 3-point line.
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It was an up-and-down season for Parker, who was coming off a breakout junior campaign at Saint Louis. In 2023-24, the Illinois native averaged 15.9 points and 4.3 rebounds, while shooting 42.6% from three (26-of-61) in 16 games (six starts) for the Billikens. He was sidelined for 17 games when he broke a bone in his right foot four games into the season. But Parker came on strong late, averaging 17.7 points over Saint Louis’ final 10 games.
Parker got off to a hot start with McNeese State, averaging 16.2 points in 11 regular-season non-conference games − which included a 31-point game versus Longwood, 19 points against Alabama, 18 against North Texas and 16 against Mississippi State.
Parker began his collegiate career at Moberly Area (Mo.) Community College, where he was a first-team junior college All-American in 2021-22, when he led all junior college players in scoring (21.9 points per game).
The deadline for Division I players to enter the transfer portal is April 22. Players who enter after that date would need a waiver to be eligible for competition in 2025-26.
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While players can commit to a school at any time, the regular signing period begins April 16 and ends May 21.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X, and sign up for the Memphis Basketball Insider text group.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball picks up McNeese State transfer Sincere Parker
