Penny Hardaway Sick And Tired Of People Making Fun Of Memphis Having College Basketball's Oldest Player

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DeAndre Williams is a veteran leader for the Memphis Tigers basketball team, not only due to his ability on the court but because of his age and experience as well. Head coach Penny Hardaway, however, is tired of hearing about Williams' age.

Williams, 26, is the oldest player in college basketball. It's a fact that is hard to ignore, especially for broadcasters who are on the call for Memphis games, but Hardaway would rather the broadcast talk about anything else when it comes to Williams.

READ: NCAA FINDS PENNY HARDAWAY DID NOT VIOLATE RULES, BUT PUNISHES MEMPHIS BASKETBALL

Things reached a boiling point with Hardaway last week when ESPN analyst Mark Adams brought up Williams being 26 years old and joking that he's "only 39 years away from Medicare."

Hardaway took time during his weekly radio show on Monday to defend Williams and explain why he got such a late start to his college basketball career.

"He got tricked by some guys to leave his high school to go to a virtual school," Hardaway said, per the Commercial Appeal. "Stayed there to play basketball, was promised he was gonna get these different scholarships. He did not get the scholarships and the guys just left him hanging. Found out that none of the accreditation would carry over for him to get into college. He has to go to night school and work until he got his credits back up to go to college. Didn't get into college until 21 years old."

Penny Hardaway doesn't want people talking about DeAndrew Williams' age anymore. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Williams was 22 when he played his first season at Evansville during the 2018-19 campaign before transferring to Memphis.

"Every time we have a telecast, these commentators are talking about his age in a negative fashion," Hardaway said. "I think that's so bad. I think it is unfair how they always talk about his age during the games. I hate that for DeAndre."

While Hardaway is simply sticking up for one of his players, broadcasters not pointing out Williams' age on a telecast would mean they're not doing their job. If you're calling a game with the oldest player in college hoops, and don't mention that, you missed out on telling the audience a very unique fact.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.