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.

As for Dainja, he was a key piece for the Tigers down the stretch, averaging 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on an extremely efficient 61.5% from the field, which is good for eleventh in the country. The first team All-AAC big man doesn’t have any eligibility as of now, he’ll look to get a waiver from the NCAA for one more year.

It’ll be difficult to replace the value both Dainja and 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.