SEATTLE — During the Maui Invitational, Penny Hardaway would walk four miles before sunrise, talking to himself and praying to God.

“If you give us this victory, then I’ll come back after the game and walk four more and just praise you,” the Memphis men’s basketball coach bargained.

It was quite the negotiation, considering how NBA stardom wrecked Hardaway’s left knee and complicated his gait. At 53 years old, he moves like a man who loves basketball too much. Still, he keeps the faith.

He walked a lot that week in Hawaii. The Tigers beat then-No. 2 Connecticut, the two-time defending national champion, in overtime. Then they took care of Michigan State, which has developed into a Final Four contender. They didn’t fall until they met Auburn — now the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament — in the championship game. By then, Hardaway’s pensive, prayerful early-morning walks had become routine.

This season, Hardaway fortified belief in more than a divine power. He strengthened the confidence he has in himself. In November, when the Tigers opened play in Maui, they were recovering from upheaval. Little was expected of them beyond chaos. Two months earlier, the athletic department had fired four members of Hardaway’s staff. An anonymous letter alleging NCAA violations had emerged. Hardaway was on the hot seat, and many in the sport found an unsettling amount of joy in his struggles.

His response has been louder than the controversies. Memphis has a 29-5 record, the most wins of Hardaway’s seven seasons. It enters the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed, the highest of the three teams he has led this far.

Hardaway spotted the Memphis decal on a wall inside Climate Pledge Arena late Thursday morning and slapped it, high-five style. Back in the show after a late-season collapse a year ago, he was getting comfortable. As he stood in front of the Tigers’ logo, he turned reflective.

“It’s almost like people were saying: ‘Well, the Penny era is over. Let’s move on,’” Hardaway said. “It was kind of weird. Then this year happened.”

His mood wasn’t celebratory. He was grateful. As the coach of a tradition-rich program that he played for, Hardaway has more ambitious goals than making the field of 68. Even though the Tigers are dancing again, they’re underdogs in their matchup with No. 12 Colorado State. They must manage without injured senior point guard Tyrese Hunter. Whenever the season ends, it will go down more as a correction than a statement. After all he has been through, Hardaway appreciates the opportunity to adjust.

In recent years, he has taken care of his mother, Fae, as she dealt with health issues that included a stroke and throat cancer. She went into remission last June. At one point, the son was struggling to find perspective as Fae lay ill while criticism of his coaching peaked.

“My mom was in a life-or-death situation, and then my career was in jeopardy at the same time,” Hardaway said. “It was crazy. When my mom was declared cancer free and rang the bell, that was when my emotions started moving back towards, mentally, thinking, ‘Hey, we got to get back to the NCAA tournament.’ I really wanted to come back, reset and say, ‘I know I can do better.’”

In 2018, when Memphis hired its favorite son, Hardaway ascended to the job without any college experience. He had been successful at Memphis East High and with his AAU program, Team Penny. He became a prominent member of a much-maligned era of college coaching, with superstar players such as Juwan Howard, Jerry Stackhouse, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin skipping the traditional career path and receiving high-profile jobs.

Of that group, Hardaway is the last coach still roaming the sidelines. He has a 162-67 record, a .707 winning percentage, as a first-timer. He has won at least 20 games every season. After inheriting a program that had succumbed to mediocrity under former coaches Tubby Smith and Josh Pastner, Hardaway has re-established plenty. But his name carries greater expectations.

“It’s been hard because I’ve been judged as Penny Hardaway and not as a new coach,” he said. “Everybody’s judged me because I have a brand and who I am, and they never gave me any grace.”

In our conversation, his words didn’t come across as a complaint. Hardaway spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. This is who he is. His government name is Anfernee Hardaway, but to us, he’s Penny. He took over his alma mater and said he wanted “all the smoke.” His words were taken too literally. As controversy and constant turnover on the staff and roster consumed the program, fire alarms kept going off.

But this reset has been impressive.

“When I got here, it was kind of funny,” said Mike Davis, a current Memphis assistant and former longtime head coach who led Indiana to the title game in 2002. “Everybody was like: ‘He won’t listen. He won’t listen.’ I said, ‘What about our assistant coaches listening to him? He’s the head coach.’”

Davis and assistant Nolan Smith arrived in mid-September after the unexpected staff purge. They’ve been ideal complements to Hardaway.

“I know people around the country were like, ‘Wow, what is going on?’” Davis said. “But it was a great move because he needed to coach his team. I can’t say he wasn’t able to coach his team, but when you look to your left and look to your right and you have support on both sides, it means a lot for a coach.”

In the past, Hardaway has had staffs with polarizing voices. Now he hears his own. Hunter called him “demanding, but also very open” in dealing with players. He seeks their input. He lets them play free. But this is a disciplined, cohesive team.

“It’s straight leadership,” Hunter said. “Being Mr. Memphis, he holds himself to the highest standards.”

It was once thought that Hardaway would simply recruit his way to success. In the beginning, he had highly rated high school classes. They didn’t turn into great teams. Now, in the transfer portal era, the game is played on the fly. It’s the perfect challenge for one of the game’s greatest point guards.

“I’m just understanding that we’re in this transactional era,” Hardaway said. “And you have to flow with the times. You can complain all you want. It’s not going to change. All you can do is adapt, and I’ve adapted to it. I just try to still have some old-school values and old-school ways within there, but understand that there’s a lot of new things that you have to adapt to.”

The superstar player coach fad is over, but Hardaway keeps growing. He moves at his own pace, thinking, revising, believing.