Greener pastures under Pastner

ST. LOUIS – One is a future Hall of Famer with a national championship ring. The other had just coached his second collegiate game.

Still, when Kansas’ Bill Self crossed paths with 32-year-old Josh Pastner in the handshake line following his squad’s 57-55 victory over Memphis on Tuesday, the coach of the nation’s No. 1-ranked team was the one paying his respect.

“Your guys played great tonight, Josh,” Self told Pastner. “Good job.”

Self echoed the sentiment 20 minutes later when he saw Pastner near the Memphis locker room.

“Hey, Josh,” Self said. “Great job. Great job.”

Self was talking about the last two hours – but he could’ve easily been referring to a seven-month stretch that has seen Pastner ascend from his position as John Calipari’s fourth assistant to one of the best stories in college basketball.

After spending the offseason re-energizing a fanbase that was devastated by Calipari’s departure to Kentucky, Pastner couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his first season. Along with nearly beating No. 1 Kansas, Pastner signed a seven-man recruiting class that was ranked as the nation’s best by Rivals.com.

Let’s repeat that: The guy’s first-ever recruiting class was ranked No. 1.

What’s Pastner going to do for an encore? Win the national championship?

That seems unlikely, but then again, Memphis on Tuesday nearly beat the Kansas team that almost every pundit picked to claim this season’s title. Talent-wise, the Tigers were no match for the Jayhawks – not that it mattered.

Kansas’ players seemed arrogant and, as a team, the Jayhawks lacked cohesion. Memphis, meanwhile, used pesky defense and hustle plays to stay in the game. The Tigers forced 21 turnovers while fighting back from a 10-point deficit midway through the second half.

With 15.3 seconds remaining, Memphis got the ball, trailing by two.

“I was going to call a play and go for the tie,” said Pastner, who had no timeouts remaining. “But then I thought, ‘Hey, let’s go for the win.’”

Instead, Elliot Williams’ 3-pointer from the right wing bounced off the back of the rim as the final horn sounded, giving Kansas the win. Afterward, though, a funny thing happened. While Kansas fans immediately filed out of the Scottrade Center in disgust after nearly losing a close game, Memphis fans stayed and celebrated in the stands.

It was a loss, sure.

But in so many ways, it felt like a win – even to Pastner, although he’ll never admit it.

“If the games are going to be like this …,” Pastner said. “I’m 32 right now. I’m going to be out at 35.”

Pastner laughed and talked about how neat it was to be standing in front of a podium, answering questions about a basketball team. His basketball team.

“Hopefully this shows our guys what effort can do,” Pastner said.

Pastner knows all about effort. It wasn’t long ago that he was shooting baskets at his high school while a dance was going on in an adjacent gym. Sometimes the ball would roll out the door and, when he went to retrieve it, he’d see couples mingling in their tuxedos and extravagant dresses. They’d look at him like he was strange, but he didn’t care.

Instead he went back inside to keep shooting, and then it was home to draw up plays for the Houston Hoops AAU team for which he both played and coached. Arizona coach Lute Olson signed Pastner not because he was a good basketball player, but because he envisioned him becoming a good recruiter – Pastner once ditched a date in a movie theater to take a call from a prospect – and a good coach.

“If I was a Memphis fan, I would be really pleased,” Self said. “Not because of how hard they played tonight. I don’t think there are moral victories. The fact is that they could’ve easily won this game tonight. They’ve got a really good team [right now]. And they’ve got a really good team coming [next year].

“They’re recruiting at a level … I mean, they haven’t gotten guys like this consistently. They’ve had premier players. But they’ve never had a class like this.”

Three of Memphis’ seven recruits are ranked among Rivals.com’s Top 12 prospects, including No. 8 Jelan Kendrick from Georgia and No. 11 Will Barton from Baltimore.

“He was able to get some good players locally,” Self said. “But when you go get those two cats he’s got outside your area that everyone would love to have, it speaks volumes of how hard you’re working.”

On Tuesday, though, it was all about the game.

Pastner took the court to watch pregame warmups and immediately had his picture made with Dick Vitale. When he checked his phone 30 minutes before tipoff he saw a text from his father, Hal, who was sitting across from Memphis’ bench.

“Just another game in your journey,” it read. “Have fun, do your best.”

As the starting lineups were announced, Pastner wrote a message to his team on a dry-erase board: “Play Hard, Stay Unified, Complete Effort.”

Moments later, Memphis broke the huddle. Even during an emotional game, Pastner remained calm. He said he was proud of himself for not cursing or riding the officials too hard. During timeouts, the Tigers said Pastner was a calming force.

“He’s only 32, but he has so much poise,” Williams said. “He acts like he’s been there before. The way he acts rubs off on us and gets us ready to play. I was pretty impressed on how he handled things tonight.”

So, too, were the Memphis fans, who were the loudest group in the arena Tuesday – both before and after the game. Memphis – an 11-point underdog that was supposed to be rebuilding under a young, inexperienced coach – nearly beat the top team in the land.

Never has a loss felt so good.

“People had us losing to Kansas bad,” forward Will Coleman said. “I’m talking about absolutely stomped. But we came out, hit them in the mouth and only lost by two.

“That was a big wake-up call, a big message for everyone: Don’t count us out. We’re going to be the same Memphis that makes it to the Elite Eight, Final Four, the championship game. We’re still here. Memphis is still here.”